Stetson Bennett IV is already making other teams look foolish for passing on him in the draft.
With Stetson Bennett IV turning heads during Los Angeles Rams training camp, you better believe several NFL teams will end up regretting not taking the Georgia legend in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Bennett landed in an absolutely perfect situation for him. He gets to play in a quarterback-friendly system run by fellow Georgia boy Sean McVay. Even better, he gets to back up his fellow Dawg brother Matthew Stafford whilst learning the ropes. Everything is pulling in the right direction for the Mailman in L.A. He might even start games for the Rams this season should Stafford go down.
However, with every pass Bennett makes for the Rams, other teams will regret not selecting him.
5 NFL teams that will totally regret not drafting Stetson Bennett IV last spring
A possible Kirk Cousins successor could have been Vikings' next Fran Tarkenton
While the Minnesota Vikings did draft a fine college quarterback last spring in Jaren Hall out of BYU, the future looks bleak in the Twin Cities on the gridiron. Kevin O'Connell may have thrived in his first season at the helm as head coach, but you and I both know that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wants to blow this thing up like he is Seamus Finnigan in a Hogwarts potions class.
It may be a bitter pill to swallow but isn't Kirk Cousins the best quarterback to play for the Vikings since, I don't know, Fran Tarkenton? Sure, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Daunte Culpepper were way more talented than him, but Cap'n Kirk has staying power, baby! Furthermore, Adofo-Mensah could move on from him after this year, leaving their quarterback position exposed.
I don't anticipate the Vikings to be bad enough to be in the Caleb Williams or Drake Maye sweepstakes, but they may not be a playoff team. By taking Bennett over Hall, the Vikings could have had a quarterback who could potentially be what Cousins has been at the professional level. O'Connell is a savvy offensive mind, so the NFL learning curve for Bennett would not be as steep.
Bennett would never beat out Cousins as the Vikings' starter, but he could have been his successor.
Sadly, Tua Tagovailoa is a year-to-year player at this point of his NFL career
While the Miami Dolphins made the right decision to extend the fifth-year option to former Alabama star Tua Tagovailoa, he is one nasty concussion away from having to hang up the spikes for good. Oh, he will fight off premature retirement like nobody we have ever seen, but no responsible medical staff will clear him if he has another trauma-filled season like last year.
Although the Dolphins are a perpetually chaotic mess of an organization, they were able to somehow land Mike McDaniel as head coach. Along with Tagovailoa's mounting health concerns, this is why I think the Dolphins could have been a good fit for Bennett. Having an innovative offense centered around the ground game would allow for the game to come to Bennett faster.
While playing in the AFC East may not do wonders for his downfield passing, keep in mind that the New England Patriots are still leaning on Mac Jones to win games. In short, it's fine. What isn't is Miami taking a step or two back in McDaniel's second season at the helm. Mike White is solid and Skylar Thompson showed promise, but Bennett has the similar clutch gene that Tagovailoa offers.
Keep in mind that the Dolphins' greatest quarterback ever rocked some curly brown hair for them.
The combination of Jordan Love with Sean Clifford backing him up is so scary…
Look. I want Jordan Love to succeed. He paid his dues backing up Aaron Rodgers the last three years with the Green Bay Packers. While he was a first-round draft pick for a reason out of Utah State, so much has changed since what, 2018? General manager Brian Gutekunst has hitched his wagon to this guy for whatever reason. Hopefully, it works out for him. If not, we Love a tire fire!
But to me, the biggest issue I have is who is backing up Love. It is a lot of Danny Etlings and Sean Cliffords. Etling can run, but throwing the ball is not really his forte. Good for Clifford to be playing professionally instead of selling insurance for State Farm. That still feels inevitable, but keep chasing the dream, bro! In the meantime, the Packers offer no margin for error under center now.
The reason why I think Bennett would have been a good fit for the Packers is he would have not only pushed Love to be better, but he could have been a lesser version of Rodgers for them. His arm may not be Rodgers' but he thrives in winning time and is never afraid to ad-lib. Love may work best being on-script, but that could result in something far too bland for the Cheeseheads.
At worst, Bennett could have used Matt LaFleur's running game to help open up the passing lanes.
Like, what do the Washington Commanders have to lose at this point, honestly?
With Daniel Snyder gone forever, the Washington Commanders can honestly rebuild their franchise in any direction Josh Harris wants to go. If I were him, I'd see things through with Eric Bieniemy coordinating the offense for a well-respected, defensive-minded head coach in Ron Rivera rather than meddle too much. If you want to change the name again, do what you want…
But in all fairness, no quarterbacking room in the NFL feels as anonymous as the Commanders'. It's like Jacoby Brissett and Sam Howell, a man who only eats chicken tenders like a five-year-old. How can you be a franchise quarterback if you cannot enjoy a nice, medium-rare ribeye at the local five-star steakhouse? You and I know Bennett would annihilate a New York Strip like nobody else.
To me, I think he would have thrived running Bieniemy's offense. They would have found common ground in the nobody-believes-in-us mantra. It may not have been a partnership as good as what Bennett had in college with Todd Monken, but I trust the Mailman over the Nervous Bird every day and twice on Sundays. Bennett could have been a legend in Athens, as well as the nation's capital.
For a team destined to finish in last place in the division, what else does Washington have to lose?
Stetson Bennett IV could have beaten out Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask in camp
As I watched Bennett carve up the Rams' first-team defense filling in for Matthew Stafford, I began to realize that maybe he could have won the miserable starting quarterback race over Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask in Tampa Bay. Despite Tom Brady's best efforts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers never seem to get right at quarterback for very long. At the very least, Bennett could have started there.
Look. Nobody openly tanks, but it would really serve the Buccaneers to bottom out and get wholly into the Caleb Williams/Drake Maye sweepstakes. Yes, Todd Bowles doesn't want to get fired, but how shocked would you be if the Buccaneers trade up to No. 2 with Arizona, take Maye and have him learn under first-time head coach Brian Callahan? It would have been cool, but so expensive.
Since the Buccaneers still have plenty of remnants from the Super Bowl 55 championship roster, they are not going to be as bad as one would think. Quarterback play may be a disadvantage for them, but if they had Bennett's draft rights for four-plus years, they could have saved a ton of money and could have been able to rebuild on the fly around an over-performing star quarterback.
Tampa Bay was not a great landing spot for Bennett, but it would have been an okay place to start.
