LOS ANGELES — When a team enters the season as one of the, if not the Super Bowl favorite, open roster spots are going to be hard to come by.
In a traditional sense, the Rams’ position battles to settle their eventual 53-man roster aren’t for the starting roles like other teams across the league are using the preseason to discern. Outside of the backup swing tackle role – which will likely fall on the shoulders of veteran offensive lineman David Quessenberry after rookie Keagen Trost went down with a multi-week hamstring injury in Week 1 preseason action last week, placing his status for the Sept. 10 season opener status into question – the Rams don’t have too much to figure out.
Rams head coach Sean McVay’s preseason gametime decisions often telegraph roster security, resting probable starters and backups – saving the proverbial bullets for competitive regular-season football, rather than risking injuries in glorified exhibitions.
Even a rookie who has had, by all accounts, a standout summer, sixth-round wide receiver CJ Daniels, who mixed in with Konata Mumpfield and Jordan Whittington for first-team reps in Thursday’s joint practice with the New Orleans Saints, might be on the outside looking in for playing time because of how stable the Rams’ depth appears.
Left in the unanswered pile of questions is: Which quarterback will back up reigning MVP Matthew Stafford?
McVay didn’t have to think too hard about it the past two seasons. Jimmy Garoppolo’s veteran assurance didn’t require much back and forth over who would take over for Stafford should his availability come into uncertainty.
“It was very established of who the backup quarterback would be,” McVay said Aug. 2. “Jimmy had played a lot of football, even though he was still in his second year in the system.”
Before last week’s preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, McVay was still deciding whether fourth-year quarterback Stetson Bennett IV would even play in the preseason. Bennett, 28, did play, leading the first two series of the game Saturday. Then the rest of the game occurred, a 20-12 victory in which Ty Simpson emerged with arguably the best rookie quarterback outing across the league over the weekend.
The Rams’ first-rounder – the surprise selection at 13th overall during April’s NFL draft – looked comfortable at Arrowhead Stadium and recorded 190 passing yards and two passing touchdowns on 21-for-25 passing. He didn’t make mistakes, and those plays that did get shaky – including a high, bobbled snap that Simpson smartly threw away – ended as blips that didn’t impact the game’s result.
On Thursday, Bennett and Simpson split 25 reps with the second-team squad during the Rams’ joint practice with Saints. During training camp, Bennett took the majority of second-team snaps by a comfortable margin. On Thursday, Bennett took 13 snaps and Simpson had 12.
McVay hasn’t announced if Bennett will play in the Rams’ second preseason game Saturday against the Saints at SoFi Stadium, but noted the reality of what Simpson’s successful outing has created. There’s two truths: Bennett has yet to take a regular-season snap in the NFL and Simpson – whether McVay says it out loud or not – is the heir apparent that general manager Les Snead selected for when Stafford eventually hangs up his cleats.
“(I) haven’t really kind of gone into too much depth, but I did think even when you just say, ‘All right, looking at last week, Ty did a great job. Stetson did what he could,’” McVay said Thursday. “I think it is important to be able to get a fair opportunity for those guys to run the offense with enough snaps. But more than anything, it’s just playing real live football for a guy (Bennett) that hasn’t played a lot of it other than preseason games.”
Preseason: New Orleans at Rams
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: SoFi Stadium
TV/Radio: KCBS (Ch. 2)/ESPN LA 710 AM; La Primera 1330 AM