After a rookie season lost to the non-football injury/illness list, Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett has been back in the fold. With starter Matthew Stafford getting a day off on the first day of padded practices, Bennett and primary backup Jimmy Garoppolo got more work.
Following Monday’s practice, Rams coach Sean McVay praised one specific aspect of Bennett’s game — his ability to run with the ball when things break down.
"[H[e had some really good reps [and] some things where we can be a little bit cleaner, but what you do see from Stetson is the athleticism,” McVay told reporters. “If we lose contain up front, he can break it and make plays with his legs and I think that’s good for whether it’s our first group or our second group to understand because there’s going to be some guys like that on the schedule that we can’t get lulled to sleep and just thinking they’re always going to be in that spot if we lose the integrity of our rush lanes.”
That makes Bennett perfectly suited to playing the role of scout-team quarterback in the practices preceding those games.
McVay’s praise for Garoppolo was more conventional.
“I thought Jimmy did a really good job,” McVay said. “He has great command. You can see he’s played a lot of football. He got through some progressions. I thought he made some really good decisions based on some different things that they had covered. [I] thought we got in and out of the huddle.”
Bennett needs to be ready to go, at least during the first two weeks of the regular season, because Garoppolo will serve a two-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy. The only other quarterback currently on the roster is Dresser Winn.
The Rams open the season with a return to Detroit for a rematch of last year’s wild-card playoff game.