THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Speaking for the first time since being placed on the reserve/non-football illness list last September, Los Angeles Rams backup quarterback Stetson Bennett confirmed that his time away from the team was related to his mental health.
Bennett said he wanted to keep the reason for his absence “at home,” but when asked if it was “accurate to say it fell under the mental health umbrella,” Bennett said, “Yes, I would say that.” “
Bennett, a 2023 fourth-round Draft pick out of Georgia, was expected to back up Rams starting quarterback Matthew Stafford last season. Instead, Bennett went home.
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“Thank God (general manager) Les (Snead) and coach (Sean) McVay and everyone involved allowed me to do that,” Bennett said.
Bennett said he was “nervous the first day” he was back during the team’s offseason program, but “he’s gotten better every day.” When asked if he hoped to return to the Rams this season, he said “Yes.”
“It’s been a pleasure to work with him,” offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said. “I’m not going to go into too much detail obviously, but he’s in a good place and he’s out here. He’s done a great job being a sponge… He’s come to work every day focused with the intention of getting better. And that’s “That’s all you can ask these guys. Only if their intention is right, like Stetson’s is right now, that’s all you can ask. And it’s definitely been proven.”
Without Bennett on the roster last season, Brett Rypien was the Rams’ No. 2 quarterback. He started a game for an injured Stafford in Week 9, but was released the following week after the Rams scored just three points.
Los Angeles replaced Rypien with veteran quarterback Carson Wentz, who won the final regular-season game for the Rams even as McVay rested several of his starters against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Rams signed Jimmy Garoppolo in free agency to back up Stafford this season, but the veteran quarterback will miss the first two games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy.
Bennett said his time away from the team last year reminded him how much he loves football and gave him a glimpse of what his life would be like without it.
“And then you come here and you’re hungry every day,” Bennett said. “And I don’t know, he made me say, ‘Hey, this is… You want to do this and you want to work hard every day and get better.'”
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