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Quarterback is the most important position in sports, which was perfectly evidenced by the Rams in the last two years. In 2021, they had a healthy Matthew Stafford help lead them to a Super Bowl win. A year later, they cycled through four different starters because Stafford went down – and while that wasn’t the sole cause of their struggles in 2022, it was a major part of it.
In each of the last two seasons, the Rams have kept three quarterbacks on their initial 53-man roster. They didn’t want to cut Bryce Perkins out of fear of losing him to another team, so they kept him and John Wolford around to back up Stafford. Now, both players are gone; Wolford is with the Bucs and Perkins is a free agent.
Heading into the 2023 season, the Rams will once again have to decide how many quarterbacks to keep because they don’t have a reliable, surefire backup behind Stafford right now.
It’ll either be two or three quarterbacks on the Rams’ initial 53-man roster in September, with Stafford and Stetson Bennett being two of them. No matter how badly Bennett struggles in camp or the preseason, they’re not going to cut the fourth-round rookie – or so we can assume.
The question is whether the Rams feel comfortable enough carrying only Bennett as the No. 2 to start the season. If they do, they should be fine to only have two quarterbacks in Week 1. They don’t need to have a third on the active roster if they’re confident Bennett can play well enough in the event that Stafford goes down with an injury. Ideally, they’ll only have to carry two passers on the initial roster, thus saving room for other positions that will need more depth – like wide receiver, cornerback or the defensive line.
Brett Rypien is the third quarterback on the roster, with undrafted rookie Dresser Winn also rostered. Winn is unlikely to make much noise as a first-year player who went undrafted, but Rypien is a veteran who’s started three games in the last three seasons.
If Rypien performs well enough in training camp and overtakes Bennett, the Rams will have little to no choice but to carry three quarterbacks like they have the last three years. It’s not out of the question, either. It’s understandable to think Rypien, a fifth-year pro, might be better prepared to fill in for Stafford than a rookie such as Bennett. And if the Rams feel that way, they should keep Rypien around.
Training camp will give us a good indication of whether Bennett is truly the No. 2 quarterback or if Rypien is ahead of him for the time being.
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