QB Stetson Bennett back with Rams after addressing mental health

Stetson Bennett is ready to give his rookie year another try with the Los Angeles Rams.

Bennett was with the Rams through preseason after the Rams selected him in the fourth round of the 2023. But he left the team and spent the season on the reserve/non-football illness list with an issue coach Sean McVay said at the time was “bigger than football.”

Now, 26, Bennett addressed the media for the first time since he was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list.

When asked if his absence was “under the umbrella of mental health,” Bennett said, “Yeah, I’d say that.”

Matthew Stafford is entrenched as the Rams starting quarterback, and the team signed veteran Jimmy Garoppolo as his backup earlier this month.

Bennett said he expects to be with the Rams this season, and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said Bennett, a two-time national champion at Georgia, as been “a sponge.”

Garoppolo is suspended for the first two games of the regular season, which leaves the door open for Bennett to remain on the roster into September and perhaps beyond.

“And so you kind of come out here and you’re hungry every single day,” Bennett said. “And I don’t know, it did make me like, ‘Hey, this is … You want to do this and you want to work hard every single day and get better.'”

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