The Los Angeles Rams selected national champion quarterback Stetson Bennett in the 2023 NFL Draft in the hopes that he could serve as the backup to Super Bowl champion Matthew Stafford. It was important for the Rams to have someone with a winning pedigree as a rookie after a season in which Stafford was lost due to injury.
However, just before the season began, it was revealed that Bennett would be placed on the reserve/non-football illness list and that he would be out indefinitely, leaving Brett Rypien to serve as Stafford’s backup. It was a disappointing turn of events given that Bennett had looked solid in preseason. The Rams would not go into any detail regarding the reason for his absence.
With the regular season nearing the halfway point, Rams head coach Sean McVay gave a long-awaited update on Bennett, but unfortunately, that update involved potentially closing the door on the backup quarterback returning to play this season.
“Yeah, he’s doing well. I would say there’s really no updates in regard to him returning back with us,” McVay said. “I’m not ready to say that he won’t be back with us at all this year, but it’s probably less likely than it is likely he would be.”
This is obviously a difficult outcome for Bennett and the Rams, as the two sides seemed to have a good rapport and had high hopes for what he could bring to the team. But whatever Bennett’s personal reasons are for his extended absence, the most important thing is that he takes care of what needs to be taken care of off the field.
It seems his place with the Rams is secure for the time being and they look forward to welcoming him back when he is ready to do so. Until then, Rypien — or potentially a new backup — will lead the way behind Stafford.
McVay hopeful RBs can return right when eligible
Two other members of the Rams backfield — Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers — remain sidelined with various lower leg injuries. McVay, though, is hopeful that both will return from injured reserve right when they are eligible to do so.
“I hope so. I think like what you said, I think the first part is it’s still a little bit early, but there was a debate on whether or not we were even going to do that with Kyren knowing that the buy fits in between there and that still doesn’t count as one of the four games that you have to miss. So definitely that would be the goal with him and then as it relates to Ronnie, he’s a guy that we’re hopeful on that but we’ll see how he continues to respond from his knee injury.”
