Los Angeles Rams 'best fit' for Stetson Bennett per Kirby Smart
Stetson Bennett began his NFL career on Wednesday, and according to his former head coach, there couldn’t be a better place for him to do so than Los Angeles.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart joined the guys of The Next Round last week at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham. His comments on Bennett and the fit with the Rams came out on Wednesday, the same day video surfaced from the Rams of Bennett throwing deep balls to wide receivers Van Jefferson (12) and Sam James (83).
“He’s talented,” Smart said. “He’s a great athlete. He fits their scheme. I think Sean (McVay) liked him playing in Monken’s system. There are a lot of similarities there. He loves Stafford. He’s got a chance to learn under one of the best. I don’t think you can find a better fit for him.”
Smart said he didn’t speak with McVay during the pre-draft process but did talk to others from the Rams organization. General manager Les Snead seems particularly high on Bennett’s ability.
“Anytime you go into the draft, you never know with a QB, there’s only so many of them, but we did think that it could be very beneficial if we could find a young quarterback to develop as a backup,” Snead said during a recent interview on the Rich Eisen Show. “That way you don’t get into, let’s call it, renting QBs for a year. And also, with our cap situation, veteran backups do cost more in salary against the cap than players on their rookie contracts. So there’s a lot of variables in that.”
“The vision was, ‘Hey, let’s try to find the best backup QB available, and if we can do that in the draft, that’s even more of a benefit to us.’ If not, we would’ve pivoted into a different direction,” Snead added.
Both Snead and McVay said immediately after the draft that they had their eyes on Bennett throughout the process. A Georgia Bulldog – just like their starter Matthew Stafford – who impressed in their building during the National Championship Game, Bennett continued to impress whenever the Rams were scouting the SEC.
“When you identify a guy that’s got a lot of the traits and characteristics that you look for and you’re able to get him when we did, that was something we had kind of targeted from the jump. It worked out the way that we hoped,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said after the draft. “Being able to move back yesterday allowed us to get that fourth round pick, and that was always our thought in mind, to be able to use that on Stetson.”
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“The guy is a winner. He’s a competitor. He’s been able to overcome some different things. You know, he’s got a lot of athleticism. He’s got a natural stroke,” McVay continued. “You can see, I thought they did such a great job at Georgia which makes it a little bit easier of an eval, a lot of the concepts that you’re going to try to ask guys to activate and execute. He’ll get to learn under a great former UGA Bulldog, Super Bowl champ Matthew Stafford. It’ll be fun. We’re excited about getting to work with him. He was one of the guys we really targeted from the jump, and fortunately we got him.”
RELATED: Stetson Bennett a part of Los Angeles Rams draft plan all along
Bennett started his college career at Georgia as a walk-on in 2017. He transferred to junior college and came back to the place it all started on scholarship. Not only that, Bennett ended up leading the Bulldogs to their first National Championship in 41 years before doing it AGAIN the very next year, becoming the first back-to-back champions in the College Football Playoff era and only the sixth since the latter half of the 20th century.
Bennett became the first Georgia quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in program history during the 2022 season, completing 310 of 454 passes for 4,127 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also added 10 more scores on the ground. Doing so earned Bennett a spot in New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist while he also won the Burlsworth Trophy as the top former walk-on and the Manning Award as the nation’s top quarterback, including postseason play in the decision process.
“It was interesting, you come away going, ‘Wow. I thought people said that guy was just maybe a manage the game type QB,’” Snead said. “‘Wait a minute, look at that guy move. Look at him buy some time. Look at him anticipate some throws.’ You come away thinking, ‘He was a weapon for Georgia.’”
“I think because of his journey people take for granted that this guy is a really good football player,” McVay added. “Because of the background and the way that he became the starter at Georgia, it’s a little bit unconventional and it wasn’t the five-star route, I think it minimized the athleticism, the ability to create off schedule. He’s a natural thrower of the football, he can play with great anticipation, throws the ball with accuracy, plays within the timing … He’s around great players but he elevated those guys.”
