Stetson Bennett is less than a week into his first NFL training camp but the rookie quarterback out of Georgia has performed relatively well in practice thus far. He’s been on the passing end of several big plays in camp, including a deep shot to Demarcus Robinson and a long touchdown throw to Tyler Johnson in the first three practices.
Bennett figures to be the Rams’ No. 2 quarterback this season, so long as he can hold off Brett Rypien, and he’s off to a strong start in Irvine. Sean McVay shared his early impressions of Bennett thus far, pointing out that he’s made steady progress each day, culminating in his best performance yet on Saturday.
Here’s what McVay said of Bennett over the weekend as the Rams get ready for their first padded practices this week.
“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. “You know, 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. (QBs coach) Zac Robinson does such a good job with that group in general. Obviously, he’s got a great example in Matthew Stafford for what it looks like, but I thought today was a real bright spot for him and over the last couple days – I think today seemed like, and I’ll go back and look at the film, like his sharpest day at camp up to this point and it was a good day. It was good to be able to see him make some plays.”
There’s no steeper learning curve from college to the pros than the one quarterbacks experience, from the speed of the game to the defensive coverages they see to the play calls in the huddle. There’s a lot for them to grasp and learn, which is why it can take some quarterbacks longer to develop.
While Bennett may not be fully comfortable in the Rams’ offense yet, McVay sees him making progress and improving on the mental side of the game each day.
“He definitely looked more comfortable today,” McVay said. “You could see he’s getting more comfortable with just 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.”
With Stafford expected to be held out of the preseason again, Bennett will get plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills in the coming weeks. These games may not count toward the team’s record, but they’ll matter a lot to the Rams’ young players.
