Why keeping Stetson Bennett makes sense for the Rams

Stetson Bennett is expected to be back with the Rams. This is a good thing whether you realize it or not.

The Rams do not have a fourth round pick in 2024 but they spent one in 2023 on Georgia star quarterback Stetson Bennett. To make a long story short, Bennett flashed some potential in preseason for the Rams, had some ups and then some downs. Shortly after preseason ended it was revealed that Bennett would be taking time away from the team but the reasoning was never revealed.

For Bennett, we may never know truly why he took his rookie year off from football. He was certainly scrutinized for not being available when starting quarterback Matthew Stafford went down with an injury. However, this, as the Rams representatives told the media was in fact “bigger than football” and so the team stayed loyal to Bennett and never allowed any info to leak about his absence.

Fast forward to now and Bennett is expected to be back with the Rams. He was hoping to get that opportunity and had been reportedly training and working out in Dallas, Texas. General manager Les Snead came out and explained that Bennett was in fact working out in Dallas and that we should expect Bennett to be with the Rams this off-season.

Besides the fact the Rams spent a fourth round pick on Bennett, this is actually very good news and makes a lot of sense for the team. For starters, Jimmy Garoppolo will serve a two-game suspension to start the year. That means, for those first two games the Rams will not have their backup quarterback ready behind Stafford. However, they would be able to carry Bennett on the roster since Garoppolo wouldn’t even count against the roster until week three. Bennett gives the Rams a backup option behind Stafford when Garoppolo is out and that’s valuable in itself.

The second thing here is that the Rams did draft him with the purpose of being their franchise backup quarterback. He still has years left on his contract while Garoppolo was signed for just one year.

The third thing and the most important in my mind is what this means for the Rams in the draft this year. In my mind, the Rams would be best to use this draft to load up on talent regardless of position by going best player available. Now, sure, if the best player available on day three is a quarterback then fine you are going to likely take the quarterback. However, if the Rams do trust Bennett, I like the idea of the Rams spending all eleven of their draft picks on other positions.

The bottom line is Matthew Stafford has plenty left in the tank, the Rams have one of the best backup options in Jimmy Garoppolo and have a potentially killer third option in Bennett. They do not need to take another quarterback especially not this early.

So, in conclusion, keeping Bennett gives them flexibility for the first two weeks of the season, a longer-term backup option, a guy who has familiarity with the team, culture, offense and allows the Rams to avoid the draft when it comes to the quarterback position. Plenty of reasons why Bennett makes sense for the Rams to welcome back with open arms.