Stetson Bennett showing signs of growth early in Rams training camp
Remember how excited Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams were to add Stetson Bennett in the 2023 NFL Draft? With the way Bennett has started his first training camp strong, you won’t hear any of them complaining about their return on investment with the fourth round pick.
While the big story out of McVay’s Saturday press conference was the retirement of former Georgia running back Sony Michel, Bennett’s development stole some attention too.
“He’s done good. I thought he had a good day today. I thought the receivers and tight ends, I thought guys made plays for him, but he’s pretty steady,” McVay said of Bennett. “What I really like about him is, if a play doesn’t go well, he’s able to reset himself and go to the next play. You can definitely feel the athleticism show up that you guys saw on display throughout his career at Georgia, and I think he’s getting more and more comfortable.”
“Zac Robinson (Rams quarterback coach and passing game coordinator) does such a good job with that group in general. Obviously he’s got a great example in Matthew Stafford for what it should look like,” McVay continued. “I thought today was a real bright spot for him, and over the last couple of days, I thought today seemed like, you know I’ll go back and look at the film, his sharpest day of camp up to this point. It was a good day, good to see him be able to make some plays.”
Bennett was taken by the Rams with the 128th overall pick, the seventh quarterback to come off the board. While nobody is expecting him to come in and compete for a starting spot right away as is the case with higher round picks, Bennett has the advantage of being able to sit back and learn from a veteran like Stafford.
This past season, Bennett became the first Georgia quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in program history, 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.
Asked if he can see the development playing out before his eyes – using Bennett’s ability to make changes on the fly based on what he’s learning in practice as the evidence – McVay admitted he feels that’s fair to say. Without pads on and no fear of the quarterback getting hit, it can be hard to make a fair assessment of a player like Bennett, who adds an element to his game with his legs. Furthermore, he’s only five practices in to his first training camp. However, the signs are already showing up that he’ll continue to get better and better.
“I think he could tell you that, but that’s a fair evaluation from afar,” McVay said. “He definitely looked more comfortable today. You can see, he’s getting more comfortable with some of the concepts because it is very different. Football is still football, and when the ball is snapped, there are some things that just kind of make sense to him, but I think what you said – today was his best day, like I mentioned, and those things I think are fair to say.”
Bennett and the Rams take on their cross-town rival, the Los Angles Chargers, Saturday, August 12th to open the preseason.
