Stetson Bennett: Do 'Genius' Rams Know a Secret?

In many cases, if "media scouts'' knew more than the actual NFL teams, the "media scouts'' would be working for the actual NFL teams. Having said that - while drawing the ire of a bunch of my "media scout'' buddies (sorry!) - for all involved the NFL Draft is an inexact science, an educated dart throw, a wildly expensive guessing game.

So maybe the Los Angeles Rams, who despite never having drafted a QB during coach Sean McVay's time here - know much more about the care and feeding of quarterbacks - guessed right on their fourth-round (pick No. 128) selection of Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett.

How committed are they to the idea? They traded up with the Giants to secure the pick.

How cocksure are they that it's all going to work? Well, they have Matthew Stafford at the top of the QB depth chart and then they added the Georgia rookie but a few days after the draft they signed journeyman backup Brett Rypien, formerly of the Broncos, on a one-year deal.

How do the Bennett strengths overcome the weaknesses? He is a "winner,'' the championships at Georgia give him that. But he's 5-11. His arm strength is average at best. Bennett will turn 26 during the 2023 season, hardly a killer issue but an issue nevertheless. With Rypien here, he doesn't fill a "need'' on a Rams roster that as it "reloads'' in its post-Super Bowl era seems shy on talent outside of the top-heavy trio of Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald.

In short, the ceiling doesn't seem to be very high here.

But there is a two-pronged monster that I find as bothersome as anything, and again, I say this with all due respect to a Rams scouting team that obviously didn't massive homework here. In January, Bennett was arrested on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge in Dallas after law enforcement responded to a report of a man going from house to house and banging on random doors.

The Rams have said he offered "a very mature response to how he handled it." I beg to differ, because what I heard Stetson Bennett IV say in his "apology'' was, "Even without all this, I’ve got an obligation. I’m the fourth (Stetson Bennett). You can’t do that if you’re last name is Bennett. I know better.”

But ... what does having a great-grandfather who is also named "Stetson Bennett'' have to do with drunken late-night door-banging? The "apology'' comes across more as an explanation of what it's like to live in a world of entitlement (his father and grandfather were college QBs) than it does a feeling of sincere embarrassment.

Bennett did say something wise about McVay, and he deserves credit for it.

I'm "excited to work with coach McVay,'' Bennett said. "I don't know much (about him), but I hear he's a genius.''

For all of this to work in a way that erases the notion that Stetson Bennett IV was overdrafted? Yes, it would help greatly if Sean McVay mentors the QB in a way that proves the coach is indeed a "genius.''