Stetson Bennett is back with the Los Angeles Rams after missing all of last season under mysterious circumstances.
While he declined to go into detail about the reasons for his absence, he told reporters after the training on Tuesday that they fall under the umbrella of mental health care. The 26-year-old reportedly said he spent last season at home and that he and the team would keep the details “in-house.”
It was a big surprise last year when the Rams placed Bennett on the reserve/non-football illness list three days after their season opener. The team selected Bennett with a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and installed him as the backup quarterback behind Matthew Stafford.
Rams head coach Sean McVay declined to provide any explanation for Bennett’s time away from the team, but did tell a reporter, “I understand 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 “a toll” taken by the stress of his college career. Bennett was coming off back-to-back national championships at Georgia, a wild underdog story after moving on with the team, transferring to a junior college, moving back and taking over the starting job from former five-star recruit JT Daniels.
Snead’s comment, from Rams Wire:
“I know this: last year was very useful for him. I think he took advantage of that year outside of the game,” Snead said. “You know what, he’s a worn-out human being, based on everything he’s done to walk on, go to JUCO, come back, turn down small schools, say, ‘I’m going to try this Georgia- to make a fuss.’ To win a job, then to win that thing, and then to decide, ‘I’ll be back.’ And when you come back, it’s really either win again or you’ve failed. And that takes a toll on a person, so I was asked that Stetson could take that moment and breathe a little bit.
Luckily, Bennett is back now. It may be harder to find a consistent roster spot with both Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo on board, but he could see primary backup duties early in the season due to Garoppolo’s upcoming two-game suspension.
