Stetson Bennett has been in a competition with rookie quarterback Ty Simpson to be the Rams' backup quarterback this season, his performance in the Rams' second preseason game on Saturday was the best proof he's given for why the job should be his.
Bennett earned the start for the second straight game, but this time he played the entire first half instead of the first two series. He rewarded the Rams for this decision by leading them to a 20-0 halftime lead, but the halftime score only tells half of the story.
Stetson Bennett responded after Ty Simpson's impressive first preseason game
Ty Simpson shined last week in the Rams' first preseason game after Bennett only played the first two series. This made the competition to be the Rams' backup much closer than most fans thought, but Bennett did his best to leave no doubt on Saturday that this job should be his.
Bennett finished the game completing 19 of 31 passes for 181 yards. He didn't throw any touchdowns, but he didn't turn the ball over either which is always a plus. Bennett however ran for two touchdowns and led the Rams on two other scoring drives to give them a 20-0 halftime lead.
Simpson played the second half of this game, but he did not do as well as last week. He only completed 8 of 12 passes for 71 yards with no touchdowns through the air or on the ground.
Bennett clearly won the day on Saturday and proved why he deserves to be the Rams' backup quarterback this season. The Rams haven't confirmed if he's won the job yet or not, but with one preseason game remaining it feels like it is his job to lose at this point.
LA Rams may have an ulterior motive by letting Stetson Bennett play more in their second preseason game
The general consensus among fans and analysts is that Bennett will be the Rams' backup quarterback this season. That makes it a bit strange that he is playing so much in the preseason because most teams don't like to risk injury to their backup quarterback. The Rams however could have an ulterior motive.
The Rams didn't announce Bennett as their starter until their preseason game began on Saturday. Head coach Sean McVay earlier this week said he was struggling to decide if Bennett should play or not, but he ultimately did him play to show the NFL world what he's made of. That may have been intentional because the Rams could trade him at some point this season.
Bennett is on the last year of his contract this season. The Rams also indirectly said that Ty Simpson is their quarterback of the future after they drafted him in the first round this year. This likely means Bennett will leave and find a new team to play for next year regardless of how this season unfolds, so the Rams could trade him this year to try and get some value for him.
Bennett doesn't have much game experience to show teams that may want to trade for him, so the Rams may have decided to let him play more in their second preseason game so other teams can see how good he is.
There's no way to know if this is why the Rams let him play more on Saturday, but this could explain why they gave him more playing time this week.
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