Stetson Bennett is back with the Los Angeles Rams after missing all of last season under mysterious circumstances.
While he declined to go into details about the reasons for his absence, he told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. that fall under the umbrella of mental health. The 26-year-old reportedly said he spent last season at home and said he and the team would keep the details “.internally“.
It was a big surprise last year when the Rams placed Bennett on the reserve/non-football illness list three days after the season opener. The team had selected Bennett with a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and installed him as a backup quarterback behind Matthew Stafford.
Rams head coach Sean McVay declined to provide any explanation for Bennett’s time away from the team, but he told a journalist “I understand that you have a job to do, but there are certain things that are much bigger and more important.”
Last week, however, Rams general manager Les Snead said Bennett was “exhausted” and needed to recover from the “toll” the stress of his college career had taken on him. Bennett was coming off two straight national championships at Georgia, a wild underdog story after he left with the team, he transferred to a college, transferred back and took over the starting job from former five-star recruit JT Daniels.
Snead’s comment, rams wire:
“I know: last year was very beneficial for him. I think he took advantage of that year away from the game,” Snead said. “You know what, he’s a human being exhausted by everything he had done to move on, go to JUCO, come back, turn down small schools and say, ‘I’m going to try to do this Georgia thing.’ To win a job, then win it, and then determine, “I’m going to come back.” And when you come back, it’s really either win it again or you failed. And that takes its toll on a human being, so they asked me for a Stetson so I could take advantage of that moment and breathe a little.”
Fortunately, Bennett is now back. It could be harder to find a consistent roster spot with Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo on board, but he could see primary backup duties early in the season due to Garoppolo’s pending two-game suspension.
