Stetson Bennett a part of Los Angeles Rams draft plan all along

Many expected to see former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett fall during the 2023 NFL Draft, possibly even having to wait until after the draft to figure out his next home in undrafted free agency. That’s far from what happened however as the Los Angeles Rams had a plan and made him the seventh signal caller off the board, picking him 128th overall in the fourth round.

“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.”

“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.”

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.

Among Bennett’s many strong performances on the season was an especially impressive one in the National Championship Game – played at the Rams’ home stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Bennett earned Offensive MVP honors for Georgia in a 65-7 win over TCU throwing for 304 yards and four touchdowns while added 39 more and two touchdowns on the ground. His combined six scores ties a National Championship Game record with 2020 No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, now of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Rams general manager Les Snead said that the process to coming upon identifying Bennett as their target for a backup quarterback was an interesting one. With Georgia having such a strong offensive line the past few seasons and the SEC having many of the top defenders, Snead and the scouting department decided that watching how defenders handled playing against the Bulldogs was the best way to evaluate them. In doing so though, time and time again he came away impressed with a different player than the one he had originally set out to scout. That would be Bennett.

“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.”

Bennett was among the 10 Georgia players to get picked over the course of the three-day 2023 NFL Draft. Jalen Carter (Philadelphia Eagles), Broderick Jones (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Nolan Smith (Eagles) went in the first round before Darnell Washington (Steelers) had his name called on night two in the third round. Then, on Saturday, Kelee Ringo (Eagles), Bennett (Rams), Christopher Smith (Las Vegas Raiders), Robert Beal (San Francisco 49ers), Warren McClendon (Rams) and Kenny McIntosh (Seattle Seahawks) joined the Georgia draft party.

The Bulldogs; 10 players picked tied them with Alabama for the most among any school in the country in this year’s draft while their 25 over the last two drafts, as well as their 34 over the last three, is tops in the nation. Overall, through seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia, Kirby Smart has seen 55 players get picked, more than Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, the only other active college coaches with multiple National Championships, through their first seven seasons at their current schools.