Will Stetson Bennett make NFL debut before he turns 30?

Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett is in his third training camp but looking for his first shot

Stetson Bennett had a good first day of Rams training camp on Wednesday, including time with the twos, but he has yet to make an appearance in NFL game over his first two seasons. Already a late bloomer before he got to L.A., what does Bennett have to do to win coaches over enough to press Jimmy Garoppolo for the backup role by 2026?

ESPN’s Mike Clay went an entirely different route on Thursday, projecting Bennett as one of this year’s most notable cuts around the league:

Stetson Bennett is almost 28

Some interesting notes about Bennett’s football career to this point:

• He was in the same 2017 recruiting class as Tua Tagovailoa
• As a walk-on at Georgia, his college career overlaps with NFL vets like Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and Roquan Smith
• He’s older than Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Tua
• For a few months this year, he will be the same age as Lamar Jackson and Sam Darnold
• He’s the same age as Kyler Murray

Bennett, who turns 28 in October, spent six years in college. Which these days, compared to rookies like Tyler Shough, suddenly doesn’t seem so ridiculous. He was a walk-on at Georgia, spent a year at a JC, returned to Georgia, and won two national titles.

Bennett was a fourth round pick in the 2023 draft, but has yet to make an appearance with the Rams.

Never cut, never active

To his credit, Bennett has never been cut by the Los Angeles Rams. He spent the 2023 season on the reserve/non-football illness list for reasons still unknown. He made the team in 2024, but strictly as an emergency QB behind Jimmy Garoppolo.

Now Bennett enters this third try with the Rams, which is also his going to be his NINTH trip with a team above high school going into a new season. That’s a lot of experience of getting ready for a season for a quarterback who to this point has only actually played in three of those campaigns, including one at a community college.

If Bennett makes it four out of nine in 2025, then either something horribly bad happened to the two quarterbacks ahead of him. Or he won’t be on the Los Angeles Rams for much longer.

But if comments by McVay and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur are accurate, Bennett will be on the Rams this season.

Over the offseason, LaFleur complimented Bennett’s progress since his rookie year:

“A ton of growth, particularly from two years ago. A lot of credit to him, working on what he needed to work on to get himself into this situation,” LaFleur said.

“But a ton of credit that (Quarterbacks Coach) Dave (Ragone) too and I’ll say even Jimmy (Garoppolo) and Matthew. I think they’ve done a great job of just putting arm around him, mentoring him. What awesome two quarterbacks to learn from that have won a crap ton of games in this league. Proud would be the wrong word but for lack of a better term, proud of where he’s at and he’s just continuing to go.”

“He needs to play just football, right? We’re out here again. We’re out playing flag football in shorts right now but I know this, he’s going about his process in a professional way each and every day to give himself the best chance when he inevitably gets his ops in August in the preseason.”

Bennett is probable to get most, but potentially all of the snaps in the preseason.

By September, Stetson Bennett will be one of the most experience preseason quarterbacks of all-time, while simultaneously having zero real NFL experience. It’s a fascinating dichotomy.

Will Bennett make the NFL at any point in his life and will it happen before 30?

• He can always pull inspiration from Kurt Warner, who made his debut at 27 and became a starter for the Rams when he was 28.
• Doug Flutie’s story isn’t quite the same, but after becoming an NFL starter when he was 26, Flutie didn’t return to the NFL for good until he was 36 following a long career in the CFL.

At this point, Stetson Bennett would gladly take any NFL career that allows him to become a starter. First, he needs to get into a game.

That doesn’t seem likely to happen on the Rams in 2025. Will he find a way to make it happen during his four-year rookie contract? If not, Bennett will probably be 30 before he ever sees the field.