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Stetson Bennett was selected in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft with the 128th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams. Now, while he was never going to be the first quarterback selected, this was still quite a late pick for a winning quarterback like him.
He may not be a Heisman Trophy winner, but he was a finalist in 2022 and won back-to-back national championships with the Georgia Bulldogs. So, why did he not get any pickers before when he did? Let us take a look at some of the issues.
Stetson Bennett drops because of a combination of factors
The first reason he was never going to fly high off the draft board was because of his age. He is 25 years old and is older than many accomplished quarterbacks in the NFL right now. For example, Jalen Hurts, who took the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl last season, is just 24.
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The ceiling is generally set with older quarterbacks, and as accomplished as they may be in college. And given the difference in quality between college football and the NFL, that was a risk many teams were not willing to take. That is why someone like Hendon Hooker fell all the way to Round 3 yesterday, before being taken by the Detroit Lions, despite having the best quarterback rating and interception ratio when the day started.
Another issue was that even though Stetson Bennett may have won back-to-back national championships, he did so in a team that had talent all around. One only has to look at Georgia players being selected in the NFL Draft, right from the first round, to understand the talent he was surrounded by. That diminishes his value in some way.
But the reason why his draft status dropped even further than Hendon Hooker, who is the same age as him, may have to do with behavioral issues. The most egregious one comes from his arrest as we detail below.
Why was Stetson Bennett arrested?
Stetson Bennett was arrested on Jan. 26 earlier this year due to disorderly conduct due to public intoxication. He was allegedly banging on doors after 3 a.m. local time in Dallas. When he was apprehended, he also reportedly tried to evade capture.
The most galling piece in all of this, from an NFL point of view, was that he was supposed to be there for pre-Combine training. It immediately raised questions about his behavior, something that seems to have lingered to this day, when he was finally picked in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
