All offseason, it’s been clear that Stetson Bennett is the favorite to back up Matthew Stafford. He got the first-team reps in training camp when Stafford got a day off. He led the second-team offense instead of Ty Simpson in the joint practice with the Cowboys, an obvious sign that he’s leading the QB2 race.
But on Saturday afternoon, the competition got a little bit tighter. It’s not because Bennet played poorly against the Chiefs in the preseason opener. It’s because Simpson looked comfortable and put together a clean performance in his NFL debut.
In his two series, Bennett completed 4 of 6 passes for 38 yards, putting three points on the board with one drive that ended in a made field goal. Simpson played the rest of the game and after taking what the defense gave him early on, he started to heat up in the fourth quarter by being more aggressive.
Still, his average depth of target was just 5.3 yards down the field, which ranked 18th among quarterbacks with at least 18 dropbacks in Week 1 of the preseason, but the important thing is he had zero turnover-worthy plays and never put the ball in harm’s way.
It’s only the preseason, so no one should be anointing him as a future Hall of Famer. But given the circumstances, it was an encouraging showing by the rookie out of Alabama.
Simpson’s performance on Saturday raises the question of whether he’s overtaken Bennett as the favorite to back up Stafford. The short answer is no, but he’s at least making things interesting after just one preseason game. If he lights it up again in the next preseason game against the Saints, he’ll pull even closer to Bennett.
What we do know is that there are only two ways this can play out for the Rams. They’ll either keep all three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, or they’ll go with two: Stafford and Simpson. There is no scenario where the Rams keep only Stafford and Bennett.
That’s why Bennett has so much more to lose in this battle than Simpson. But if the Rams continue to give him limited opportunities in the preseason, it might not be a bad thing. That’s a sign of the confidence they have in him that he’s secure in the QB2 role, not needing to see anything else from Bennett to know he’s their backup quarterback come Week 1.
They didn’t risk getting Jimmy Garoppolo injured the last two years, and they might be taking a similar approach with Bennett if his snaps are limited again in the next two games. If the Rams keep him on the field for, say, the entire first half against the Saints on Saturday, it could indicate the coaching staff wants to see more from him before deciding who to make their QB2.
There are still two weeks until final cuts are made, so the Rams have two preseason games and a joint practice to pick their backup. It’s still likely to be Bennett but Simpson is making this decision a little bit more difficult.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Where does Rams’ backup QB battle stand after Ty Simpson’s strong debut?
Reporting by Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire | USA TODAY Network
