Stetson Bennett facing difficult road to NFL

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett wrapped up an incredibly successful NCAA career on Monday night by leading the Bulldogs to their second consecutive national title in a 65-7 rout of TCU. 

His next step: Preparing for the NFL. 

He will almost certainly get an opportunity to play at the next level given his college success, but he is still facing a difficult, and maybe even unlikely, path to NFL stardom.

The good news for Bennett is difficult paths are not a new thing for him given his journey to stardom at Georgia. 

He started as a walk-on in 2017, transferred to a junior college for a year, and then returned to Georgia as a backup behind Jake Fromm and J.T. Daniels before taking over the starting job due to injury early in the 2021 season. The rest, as they say, is history. But for as impressive as his college career was, and for as tough as the SEC is, it is still a massive leap to the NFL and there are quite a few concerns regarding his potential.

Heading into Monday's national championship game an NFL scout told Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde that Bennett is an "NFL guy" that will get drafted, but is probably best suited to be a backup.  In terms of individual talent and potential, he is below top prospects Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Thompson, all of whom project to be first-round picks. 

There are two primary concerns with Bennett. 

The first is that he does not really fit the prototypical mold of an NFL starter. His arm strength is good enough, but it's not great. He is also listed at only 5-11, 190 pounds, and even those figures might be generous.

There are not a lot of undersized quarterbacks with average arms finding success in the NFL. 

The only two regular starters in the NFL this season that were listed as being under 6' were Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson. So it is possible to make it with that sort of build, but it is pretty uncommon. And while Bennett is a very good athlete, he may not have the total skill package that those two have. 

The other concern: He is already 25 years old and will turn 26 in October, meaning that he may not have a ton of potential to get better at the next level. Here is a quick list of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL that Bennett is already older than: Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Davis Mills, Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.

With the exception of Pickett, all of those players have already played at least two years in the NFL. Many of them are two to three years younger than Bennett.

He is also the same age as Murray, Lamar Jackson and Daniel Jones, all of whom have played four years or more in the NFL. 

Older quarterbacks entering the NFL don't always have the best careers (Chris Weinke, Brandon Weeden, Jim Druckenmiller all immediately come to mind) because their upside is so limited. What you see is what you get. 

All of that makes Bennett a prime late-round candidate for a team that wants somebody that step in and immediately be a cheap backup. If he goes to the right team and situation he might have a shot to be another Brock Purdy type of late-round find.