Could Stetson Bennett ONE DAY be a starting NFL QB? | Time is ticking

what's going on everybody welcome to another episode of the show uh today we're going to talk about steton Bennett he's had a pretty good preseason so far I know he took a little bit of a Hiatus last year but man he is back in full effect and the question today and topic of today and you guys in the comment section I want to hear what y'all got to say I bring I brought on uh not only one of my one of my best friends man uh the co-host of the show Adrien Su Campbell he's a lifelong Rams fan and frequent member of the show and dude we're going to talk about is Stetson Bennett a starting quarterback could he be a starting quarterback in the NFL one day that's the topic could Stetson Bennett be a starting quarterback in the NFL one day sup man I'll let you go take it away and then I'll share my piece on it look man I I think you're being generous saying that he's having a phenomenal preseason uh we won two we've won two preseason games with some late hero uh heroics from him uh but those of us that have actually been you know watching the game watching and performing man it's if you're a Rams fan your your stomach is churning watching them play brother like anxiety is is is through the roof um it's an interesting topic when you're talking about sex benett considering how much production he had in college right and the success that he had there uh at Georgia right he's a two-time uh National Championship winner with the Georgia Bulldogs right um but I think you know removed from that team from all the players that they had on defense which are all in the NFL now right all the receivers all the running backs that are all in the NFL right these are starting caliber players that are in the league right now um he's kind of looked average at best um and granted he had some stuff he took a year he took last year off right uh had some personal stuff some mental stuff he's just overwhelmed and um there's a lot of speculation about why he was out I'm not going to get into into that because until Stetson comes out and confirms this is what I was doing I'm I don't want to get into that um but what he has said is you know was really overwhelmed playing football um and he had done it for his entire life and he never really got a chance to breathe and then between those National Title Games going to the draft getting into getting into Camp then getting into the preseason it was just it was it was a lot going on right but he took that break but he's back now um so this is essentially his rookie season and we've been seeing him get extended snaps in these preseason and what I like from him is you know he's got good pocket movement he has some Mobility you see him stepping up it's just like I don't know if he's not seeing the field so I'm saying all that to say your question will he be a starter quarterback in the NFL I think it has to be a unique situation um allaha Gino Smith and Seattle I don't think that stessen Bennett at his age he's one of the older rookie quarterbacks right's one of the old rookie quarterbacks in the NFL I think he's 26 going on 27 right so he's already technically hitting the beginning of his prime not entering it and so by the time he would be eligible for his first contract which would be in the year 2027 I want to say yeah he's gon to be almost 30 years old getting his first back um I just I don't I don't know of a team that's willing to put spend that kind of money especially given the way that the quarterback contracts are structured right now it's just going to be too high of an asking price but I think for the right situation if he could find himself in the Gino Smith situation right he's going to be a he could be a starting quarterback if it is a starting quarterback Bridge situation where it's like we want to find our guy we want to draft somebody but in the meantime we have a pretty good roster we just need a quarterback that's not going to turn the ball over I think he has the potential to be that guy if you ask me today is he that guy he's not there's too many turnovers and these are this is against a preseason defense right so these aren't even against the ones and twos and if you look across all the ratings and stuff for what the the Rams preseason offensive line is looking like because none of our starters are in there they're one of the highest graded offensive units in the preseason this year uh they have multiple players that are graded out above you know above 80 highest at their position um for Center Right Guard and left guard they're playing extremely well the unit has only allowed four pressures zero sacks on in in two preseason games once again prefaces it's the preseason um can he be a can he be a franchise quarterback yes but it's going to take him sitting through an entire NFL season learning behind a veteran like Matthew Stafford or wherever he ends up going because we don't even know if he's going to be on the Rams roster when it gets down to cutdowns you know come Monday Tuesday uh we don't know if he's going to be on our roster and stuff like that but I think you see when he when he makes the plays off schedule I think you see like there's the potential and the guy that I want to compare him to and I know you guys are like oh this is a bad comparison I get it from a physic ality standpoint this is a bad but the the player that he reminds me of the most right now is Anthony Richardson of the Colts not because of all the physical gifts that he has because Anthony Richardson is way more physically gifted than setson Bennett yeah when I watch him play the quarterback position Anthony Richardson for all of his physical gifts for all of the things that make him special putting him in the pocket making him sit and diagnose a defense and and read the field and get through his progressions just from the of the pocket he he looks uncomfortable even you've heard reports out of Colts Camp early that when they are doing these pocket passing drills with him he is having a hard time making the right decisions and he's throwing picks and these These are drills with no pressure he's just not reading it and seeing it the right way however when you get him in an off- schedu situation which is where he excels right because he's able to lean into all of his athletic gifts and making these off scheduled him and STS and B are both Gamers they're going to find the open man and find a way to get it to them or take off with their legs and get some yards so in that like there's a lot of viability for especially for the way that the game is played now like those players now have a place but the things that ston has working against them are age size he's small like he's small we're talking Russell Wilson small without the bulk yeah right corner here he's 5 foot 11 190 PBS which is I used think Colt McCoy was a small yeah like physical obviously col McCoy just retired to him y but um you know like even Cole McCoy is like he was like 61 212 you know yeah this is a small guy yeah and and you know how hard it is to sell an athletic small quarterback right like yeah Carolina Panthers make no mistake I don't care what they what they say they're second guessing Bryce young right now they're definitely second guessing taking taking him number one overall right and that's not a dig at Bryce young that's just a that's just a facts of the situation so for senton Bennett to be a starting quarterback in this league it is going to have to be a Gino Smith type situation where you are not the future face of the franchise you are the bridge guy to get us to the future of the franchise and keep us viable during that period of time I can tell you right now as a Rams fan I'll scream if STS and Bennett is is the future under Center it can't be it can't be just based off what I seen it can't be so I I'll say this um no you bring up fantastic points and when I say he's been playing pretty he's had some really good drives but right he's also had five interceptions in his last uh two outings the stats right now yardage very impressive uh he I think he's he's first 437 yards wow that's really good um and the drive he put together at the end of the game the other day that was phenomenal um two touchdowns man and then of course he had five interceptions that that's a lot but um is I feel like he's kind of getting out his system I feel like Rams Fans got to be just a little patient because technically he's still continuing his rookie year he had step away was it alcoholism was it sobern up was it mental health maybe all of them right there's something going on but I'm look whether he continues even playing another down at football again I'm happy he's just doing better just as a human being right I'm so happy he's and praise the Lord I'm so happy he's doing well um but yeah I feel physically he is a cross between Colt McCoy and Jaylen Herz now Jaylen Herz he's 6'1 but guess what he could take a hit cuz he's 225 pounds you know what I mean um you know and colle McCoy is like 10 pounds shy of that but know Stetson Bennett he has that athleticism man where he could be like really a play Action Hero but um here's the thing that is not the way Matthew Stafford plays you know he's not like this super mobile guy Matthew Stafford um I I hope we get a lot more years of him but we we probably got maybe one to three more years of Matthew Stafford if I had to guess Max yeah Max Max so he's on the back end I think Bridge we could look at Bridge quarterback for now but he does have an opportunity if he sees the moment and God forbid I don't ever wish injury on nobody but it's football it's a gladiator sport this is what happens uh Matthew Stafford goes down ston Bennett is gonna have an opportunity to reinvent himself potentially potentially potentially so I just want to comment on that because there seems to be this speculation that no matter what cth Bennett is is going to be qb3 on this roster I want everybody to keep in mind at home that Jimmy Garoppolo is qb2 on this roster yeah like the Rams went out and got Jimmy Garoppolo for a very specific reason whether I like that or I don't Jimmy Garoppolo is number two he SP it for the first two games of the of the Season yeah so that would that would technically make space for Stetson to be qb2 yeah I don't know based off of the comments that Shawn McBay has made when asked about stetson's progress it does not sound like Shawn is sold on the idea of going with him as the rostered qb2 for those two weeks where there's a potential for Matt to go down like he he hasn't given him any glowing endorsements in that regard all he keeps saying is I'm seeing progression from him that is not what we're asking you Sean that's coach speak for no this isn't qb2 um and I think that's concerning for him because like I said he's on a very fair or not he's on a very condensed timeline he really has he really has this year and next year to kind of save his NFL career because he's got to show something within these next two years to save his NFL career because like I said he's staring down the barrel of almost being 30 before he gets his first before he would be eligible for his first deal yeah that's not a whole lot of time to reinvent yourself especially when you're already not starting and you're not putting out the greatest tape in preseason if he was lighting it up right if he if he came out like CJ stoud did last year in the preseason then we're having a completely different conversation right his stock is going Skyhigh yeah but this is a guy that doesn't have too much of an upside from the business perspective of football there's just not a lot of way and there's not a lot of teams that can afford to be patient enough for this guy to come along that's why I'm saying he's got to put something impressive on tape he's got to you know I'm not wishing injury I'm definitely not wishing injury on my own team but he's got to find stumble himself into a situation like Gino Smith did where Russ went down and he got extended snaps and he came in and he delivered and that's what got Gino a chance to be the starting gig that's what got him this thir year contract it's going to take a couple extenda circumstances for him to be able to highlight and show case what he can or cannot do uh otherwise this whole conversation is pointless he won't he won't have a chance to be a starter he won't have a chance to have an NFL career yeah a couple examples of people who came in and balled out and bought themselves way more time literally based off the information they could have bought the themselves another five years worth of NFL contracts that's millions and more dollars if you get what I'm saying and man for example Tyson badet is a division 2 college football player play for Shepard University over in West Virginia he came in last year man when Justin Fields was out and he played some some DEC I'm not saying it was great ball but he played some really good football and he's looked really good this preseason uh also another example Joe burrow goes down then we have Brandon Allen and I forgot Brandon Allen was in the NFL Brandon I apologize you I forgot you was in the league bro but Brandon dang it man you you showed people that man you might be one of the best backups in the league so uh obviously and we've seen it with goino Smith goo Smith was a back he got an opportunity boom and then that turns into a three-year contract worth $100 million here's here's a question I I and this is definitely something that we could dive into at another time but I just when we're talking about these guys getting Second Chances do you think guys like Gino Smith even a baker Mayfield right this is a guy that's got a second and a third chance and now you know a fourth chance um and then he he ended up getting that contract and I'm happy for Baker but do you think that their draft stock right their draft status is also something that enabled them to hang around long enough to get that opportunity because we're both we're talking about Gino Smith as a firstr quarterback yeah J Smith was a first- round quarterback Baker Mayfield was a first round quarterback for ref like for point of reference stesa Bennett was taken in the fourth yeah so what STS and Bennett has is again you mentioned it two national championships we were talking earlier about Colt McCoy what does col McCoy have even though he lost in the national championship right he was a proven college quarterback so you're holding on to that and then when he was with the was they were called the Redskins at the time when he was with the Washington Redskins you know he you saw flashes where they were a pretty darn good team now fortunately with Colt McCoy he had a lot of injury issues and stuff like that but he kept buying himself more time until boom 14 years in the league man that's pretty darn good you were so long I forgot you was in the league man so there's that right you get drafted later but then you also did some things when you were in college whereas the guy who is like all right he's going to be a third round quarterback um you know for for for example okay here we go New England Patriots Joe Milton Joe Milton showed late game heroics when hon hooker could not play in that bowl game yep that is why and then we got a whole year of tape with him last last college football season so yes he was a late day three pick I forgive me round six round seven yeah round six round seven for Joe yeah yeah yeah so late day three pick but we're going off of what we saw in college okay if it's not championships man you better have some type of Moxy like like Joe does right um so that's that's just one example um you know I think a guy like Spencer rler you know he is man you better take advantage of every single rep man because you could literally get cut even though you were a day three pick because guess what you did not have uh I think he did win his bowl game or got two a bowl game in college flashes yeah he showed up well that's what I'm saying it's when you take the field you have to capitalize on these opportunities are if yeah you know outside looking in right you're not a Rams fan do you when you watch ston Bennett play do you is there any part of you that says yeah we could use that on Miami not as a starter no I I wouldn't say a starter but what I could say is that he he's still developing he's getting this out of his system man but then and the proof of that is that last drive he had the other night where he put the team on his back and making these phenomenal plays I'm like wow some we got to remember pton man through and I know St St B is technically in his second year even though this is kind of his rookie year still you know extended rookie as we call him right but with pton Manning he threw 29 interceptions his rookie year and I'm not saying that STS and Bennett is gonna go on to be the greatest of all time but he could be buying himself more time based off of him putting the team on his back another example uh Skyler Thompson for the Miami Dolphins Tu was out for a little bit he balled out also Skyler Thompson wasn't expected to make the at all Skyler Thompson ended up uh two preseason ago a fun fact he was the number one rated quarterback of any quarterback throughout preseason and that has bought him more time so essentially the goal is to buy yourself a more time where you can number one develop number two take and have a a start an opportunity in the league thank you for watching another episode of the touchdown with Doug Smith where we have exclusive NFL content an exclusive NFL interview be sure to hit that like and that subscribe button follow us on social media see you on the next one