Sean McVay is notoriously cautious when it comes to his preseason plan. He was one of the first coaches to start the trend of resting starters in the team’s exhibition games, exercising caution rather than putting them at risk of injury before Week 1.
He’ll take that approach with backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this preseason, too. McVay told reporters this week that he doesn’t expect Garoppolo to play in the preseason unless he specifically requests to play because of his two-game suspension.
“As far as Jimmy, I’ll talk to Jimmy,” McVay said. “I would probably say probably not because I think it’s important for Stetson to get a bunch of work and Jimmy’s played a lot in this league. If he said that he thought he wanted to, knowing that he’s going to miss those first couple weeks, I’d be open to it. My inclination right now is that I would not want to play him unless he told me he wanted to.”
Garoppolo was suspended for the first two games of the year due to a PED violation, so he won’t be eligible to suit up until Week 3. He is able to play in the preseason, however, so if the Rams want to play him, they can.
It sounds like McVay would rather give Stetson Bennett an abundance of reps, particularly with Bennett expected to be the No. 2 quarterback while Garoppolo is out.