When it comes to unbreakable records in professional sports, nobody is flying under the radar better than Dan Orlovsky. According to FiveThirtyEight, Orlovsky had 591 preseason pass attempts in his career, the most of the modern era. While the article is six years old, it is basically impossible that any quarterback could have challenged that number in the current NFL.
As a matter of fact, Orlovsky actually set that record while playing for Sean McVay’s Rams in the 2017 preseason.
Not only have teams reduced the number of preseason games from 4 to 3, making it all but impossible to reach those numbers again, coaches also like to move through quarterbacks quicker than ever before. Not only do backups move in and out of the league faster, coaches don’t want to see a guy for very long, nor do they want to throw a lot of passes in the preseason and risk a player getting injured.
In other words, despite the fact that Stetson Bennett has become the designated “preseason starter” for the Los Angeles Rams, he will never come close to 591 attempts. That could take another decade of Rams football with him as the designated preseason starter.
Bennett arrived at SoFi Stadium on Saturday afternoon in preparation for a start against the L.A. Chargers, which will be his seventh preseason start since entering the league in 2023. Just playing in seven preseason games in the past three years as a QB, let alone starting all of them (and usually playing all four quarters), is in itself a rarity in today’s NFL. Most coaches want to see a quarterback and move on, but McVay’s only serious goal on Saturday is to keep Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo healthy.
That’s why Stafford has never played in the preseason for McVay, and we won’t see Garoppolo either. He’s too important, especially given Stafford’s back.
Meanwhile Dresser Winn, the quarterback behind Bennett, just isn’t viewed as a quarterback who will ever seriously contend for a roster spot. Why give snaps to QB4 when QB3 could actually see the field in the regular season eventually?
Going into career preseason start 7, here’s what Bennett has done to this point:
- 2023: 3 starts, 36/62 passing, 1 TD/3 INT, QBR of 59
- 2024: 2 starts, 41/69 passing, 2 TD/5 INT, QBR of 57.5
- 2025: 1 start, 16/24 passing, 2 TD/1 INT, QBR of 100.7
- Total: 7 starts, 93/155 passing (60%), 5 TD/9 INT
Bennett is coming off of his best career preseason game. As you can see, he’s still way behind Orlovsky in career preseason pass attempts despite being a full-time preseason starter in his third season.
Orlovsky was in the NFL from 2005 to 2017 and actually finished his career with the Rams in Sean McVay’s first season. He went 18/35 for McVay in the preseason that year. He was backing up Stafford in the three seasons prior to that.
Now cut to eight years later, the Rams have a different preseason starter. One who wouldn’t mind a career that goes as long as Orlovsky’s, but also something that extends to a much better track record of success in the regular season.
