There was plenty of speculation throughout 2023 regarding the status of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett. The team's fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft spent the entire 2023 season on the reserved/non-football illness list.
While nobody knows what happened for him to be placed on that list, it did force the Rams to sign Carson Wentz last season to back up Matthew Stafford and could have also incentivized them to sign Jimmy Garoppolo. This was obviously a private matter to Bennett and the Rams kept it under wraps for good reason.
In a recent interview on News19 in Alabama, Rams general manager Les Snead discussed Bennett's year-long absence. While Snead didn't outright say what specifically caused Bennett to be placed on the reserved/non-football illness list, he did shed some light on Bennett's mental health last season.
"I know this: Last year was very beneficial for him. I think he took advantage of that year away from the game..You know what, he’s an exhausted human being based on everything he had done to walk on, to go to JUCO, to come back, to turn down small schools, say ‘I’m going to try to do this Georgia thing.’ To win a job, then to win the thing, and then to determine, ‘I’m going to come back.’ And when you come back, it’s really win it again or you failed. And that does take a toll on a human being, so I was jacked for Stetson to be able to take that moment and breathe a little bit."
Snead was asked whether he’s glad the Rams drafted Bennett, and he emphasized just how much he and the Rams are happy to have drafted the former Georgia quarterback on the roster heading into 2024.
"Looking back, for sure. I think our ecosystem was going to be very good for him and we had a plan for him, whichever direction it went,” Snead said. “And so there was a luxury that we had. We had gone through it the year before where we had won a Super Bowl and it really started when we lost our first one but...we were an exhausted building so there was an element of understanding the toll it takes to put a team, to do your part. The responsibility of the QB, and in our sake, we saw what taking a break, giving some guys a break from the game to get refreshed, to get bored and fall back in love with the game you grew up playing in the backyard."
Snead also added how ecstatic he was to see Bennett play this summer and fall because “preseason football, and I’ll probably get in trouble for this, is absolutely boring to watch.”
"But when you get a player like Stetson, he’s fun. He’s got a little backyard ball to him where he uses his mobility to make some off-schedule plays, that makes preseason football fun. So I look forward to seeing how he evolves."
At Georgia, Bennett helped lead the Bulldogs to two national championships, passing for 8,428 yards and 66 touchdowns in his collegiate career. The Rams drafted him in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft with the 128th overall selection.
