The tantalizing thing about the Rams drafting their next QB. If not now, when?

When the LA Rams ended the 2022 NFL season, the future of the Rams quarterback position seemed rather bleak. Veteran starting quarterback Matthew Stafford had been beaten to a pulp, In just nine games that year, he was sacked 29 times and threw eight interceptions. His record with the Rams was just 3-6, but he completed 206 of 303 passes for 2,087 yards and 10 touchdowns. But he was injured, weary, and a bit mortal. In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Rams did in fact draft a rookie quarterback, former Georgia QB Stetson Bennett.

But the thing is, even as I am confident in the LA Rams coaching staff and their ability to somehow salvage the NFL career of Stetson Bennett in 2024, the LA Rams find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

The Rams front office cannot go all-in on a quarterback while Matthew Stafford is still, well, . . . Matthew Stafford. He performed so well in 2023 that he earned the second Pro Bowl nod of his career. He also was named as a finalist for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year as well. In so many ways, the restoration of Stafford in 2023 was the keystone to the Rams' offensive output.

With Stafford supercharging the Rams offense in 2023, nobody in the Rams front office wants to send him the wrong message by drafting his eventual replacement. But the Rams cannot, and should not, overlook just how quickly their season flipped in 2022. A prolonged injury to Stafford, or even a poorly timed one, could derail the Rams season at any point in time.

Unless the Rams have a suitable and talented backup quarterback, the Rams run far too great of a risk than they should. With an abundance of young promising quarterback prospects appearing in the 2024 NFL Draft, this could be an ideal time for the LA Rams to draft their quarterback of the future.

While some may not be convinced, the question then becomes: If not now, when?

Why the Rams need to draft a QB in 2024:

1. No time like the present
2. Should the LA Rams abandon Stetson Bennett in the meantime?
3. Rams have never had it so good

No time like the present

In any investment strategy, or economics strategy, the key to success is to invest when you are in an ideal position to withstand failure. Or if you are considering financing a new home or new car, you may have already learned that banks tend to loan the money to customers who need it the least.

In terms of applying those adages to the Rams roster building strategy, the comparison is simple and direct. The Rams can survive an attempt to draft a future franchise quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft that fails. While that is not an ideal scenario, it is one that the Rams front office has to consider in terms of timing their next move.

There are several areas that have historically been difficult for the Rams front office to justify spending money on: Safeties, interior offensive linemen, and backup quarterbacks. If the Rams do invest in a backup quarterback, that player has been on a downturn in their NFL career, are willing to play at or nearly at the NFL minimum, and they use their experience with the Rams offense to springboard back into the range of quarterbacks.

The Rams were able to work magic with veteran QB Baker Mayfield. The Rams were able to work magic with veteran QB Carson Wentz. But the Rams need more than a partial year rental at their backup quarterback position. Eventually, the Rams will need to sign a quality backup to the position, but none will be available.

The obvious solution is to add a talented but relatively inexpensive quarterback in the draft. That will provide the Rams with a young man who will be contracted for at least four seasons, delivers the emergency go-to guy should Stafford get injured, and gives the Rams plenty of time to tweak their roster and playbook to optimize the chances of success for Staffords eventual successor.

Should the LA Rams abandon Stetson Bennett in the meantime?

There is a passionate and vocal base that loves to lobby for the Rams to cut players from the roster. If you are not an All-Pro, or at least a Pro Bowl level, the belief is that by cutting or trading a player, the next addition to the Rams roster will be a surefire upgrade. Unfortunately, that is not how it works in the NFL. And it's that too quick to cancel-culture mindset that works against those who are already lobbying hard for the Rams to cut QB Stetson Bennett.

The truth of the matter is that nobody knows what to expect from him in 2024

So, let's consider some facts that we do know. We know that the LA Rams scouting department, personnel executives, and even the coaching staff were so sold on Stetson Bennett's potential in the LA Rams offense that he was the lone player selected in Round 4 of the 2023 NFL Draft. Some considered that spot too high for the two-time NCAA Championship quarterback, and it may have been. After all, some draft picks do not pan out as well as hoped.

He had a full offseason workout, and then was assigned to the Rams IR/NFI for the 2023 NFL season. But before he was assigned to IR, the coachspeak about him and his progress was glowingly positive. The Rams are not so naive as to heap praise on a rookie who does not deserve it. And there is the matter of the Rams investing a valuable pick in the guy. Until the Rams organization is convinced that Bennett is a true bust, they have no incentive in the least to cut him. The opposite is true, in that the Rams have every incentive in the world to help him get back on track this season.

Bennett is not a certainty for 2024, nor should his presence be viewed as a reason to blockade the Rams interest in adding another talented arm to the roster for training camp. But let's not convince ourselves that Bennett is not mentally tough enough to play the quarterback position, that he is too short, or that he is just not good enough. He is simply a talented rookie prospect who saw no action in 2023.

The Rams saw next to no action from RB Kyren Williams in 2022, his rookie season, and we know how story turned out in 2023.

Rams have never had it so good

If we view the Rams' current trajectory along its natural course, the Rams should be a much-improved team in 2024. Not only have the Rams proven that they are firmly entrenched as entering Year 3 of their third 3-year cycle, but the Rams have infused a significant amount of young talent into the Rams roster,

The LA Rams have plenty of picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. With the hiring of Rams DC Raheem Morris as the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, the Rams are projected to hold 11 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, including four picks among the Top-100. That is plenty of firepower for one draft, even more so when you factor in the Rams stepping up to make a selection on Day 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft.

If the Rams use just one of their top four picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, the team is very likely to land an excellent quarterback who is at the very least a formidable backup quarterback of the future. But with a little luck, coaching and patience, he could become so much more.

There is even the added benefit for the LA Rams to leverage, and that is to select and develop a quarterback, specifically to dangle him on the trading block for a better pick then used to add him. That was a favorite strategy of NFL teams in the past, in which a team with an impressive offense would develop quarterbacks as backups, only to trade them in the fourth and final year of their contracts. The Rams, one of the most popular one-stop-shopping centers for NFL teams eager to embark on their own path to success, are an ideally suited team to add quarterbacks to the mix for teams eager to turn the corner on the offensive side of the football.

The LA Rams may or may not view veteran QB Carson Wentz as an option for 2024. But even if the Rams roster boasts Wentz, Bennett and Dresser Winn backing up Matthew Stafford, is the job really done?

I believe that the Rams will surprise some folks and draft a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, perhaps one who will take up the mantle of starting quarterback down the road. LA Rams Head Coach Sean McVay is not going anywhere. I think the 2024 NFL Draft holds the next Rams QB somewhere on that draft board.