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Rams Film Review: Grading Stetson Bennett and Ty Simpson in QB Battle

Grading Stetson Bennett and Ty Simpson after their performances in the Los Angeles Rams’ preseason win over the New Orleans Saints.
Blaine Grisak|
Aug 22, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; A general overall view as Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ty Simpson (15) throws the ball against the New Orleans Saints in the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Aug 22, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; A general overall view as Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ty Simpson (15) throws the ball against the New Orleans Saints in the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Los Angeles Rams

Heading into Saturday’s preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, all eyes were on the Los Angeles Rams’ quarterback battle between Stetson Bennett and Ty Simpson. After Simpson’s strong performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Rams’ coaching staff opened up the quarterback battle and gave each quarterback one half in the Saints’ game.

While some may have hoped for Simpson to start pulling away, that didn’t necessarily happen. There’s no doubt that the gap has been closed, but with a more extended look, Bennett’s experience in the system showed.

The Rams have played two preseason games, and each quarterback’s performance has almost mirrored the other. In the first game, it was Bennett with a middling performance while Simpson impressed. On Saturday, Bennett impressed while Simpson had a middling performance.

Stetson Bennett

Ty Simpson

Completion %

23-for-37 (62.2%)

29-for-37 (78.4%)

Yards

219

263

Touchdowns

2 (Rushing)

2

Yards Per Attempt

5.9

7.1

Average Depth of Target

8.7

5.1

Passer Rating

78.5

114.3

PFF Passing Grade

69.2

65.8

Given Bennett’s experience, the Rams likely saw enough against the Saints. It would be somewhat surprising if the Rams played Bennett at all against the Los Angeles Chargers in the finale.

Stetson Bennett Rises to the Occasion

The Rams had Bennett as the starter against the Saints, and after punting on the opening drive, the offense would go on to score four straight times. Bennett settled in, and his experience and knowledge of the offense were evident.

Bennett knows exactly where each receiver running a route is going to be and trusts that they’ll be there. In the play above, Bennett starts looking to his left, and by the time he reaches the top of his drop, he’s come back to his right, and the ball is out to Brennan Presley on the short hitch.

While it may have only been the preseason, Bennett looked like a seasoned veteran. This is someone playing in his fourth preseason, and that experience showed on the field. He looked like a seasoned veteran on the field.

On arguably his best throw of the day, you would have thought Bennett had been possessed by Matthew Stafford. With the Rams’ offense facing fourth down, Bennett adjusted his arm angle to throw around the incoming pass rushers. He somehow managed to loft the ball over two Saints’ defensive backs and drop it right in the bucket of Tyler Scott coming across. Scott is covered by two Saints’ defenders, and Bennett manages to throw him open.

Last year, Bennett had his best preseason to date. During his first two years, Bennett had a tendency to put the ball into harm’s way and was prone to turning the ball over. However, last year things started to click for Bennett, and he began to gain confidence, especially when throwing outside the numbers. Bennett went to that throw multiple times on Saturday.

That throw from the far hash to the far sideline is a positive sign of an NFL-caliber quarterback. It’s a throw that requires good arm strength and velocity, as the ball has to travel 40+ yards and cover a lot of grass. This isn’t to call Bennett elite, but it’s impressive nonetheless, and he completed that throw multiple times.

Where Bennett may have been most impressive when using his legs. That’s part of Bennett’s game that head coach Sean McVay appreciates. When the pocket breaks down, what can you do? Both of Bennett’s touchdowns came on scrambles. The second one was especially notable and shows his understanding of what's going on down the field.

With the edge breaking contain and crashing inside, Bennett escapes the pocket to the right, knowing there’s going to be open space because his receiver downfield is coming across on a slant inside. Bennett is able to use his speed to beat the Saints’ defenders to the corner for the score.

There’s little doubt that Bennett played well, but that’s also not to say that he was perfect. Bennett can sometimes make the easy look hard and the hard look easy. On the first red zone possession, Bennett floats a ball over Jordan Waters running in the flat, and the ball is almost intercepted. He also threw behind CJ Daniels on a slant, which is something that he did last week as well.

A few balls got away from Bennett, but overall the performance was an improvement from last week.

Overall Grade: A-

Ty Simpson’s Numbers Don’t Tell the Full Story

The narrative coming out of the game on Saturday is that Simpson was outplayed by Bennett following his strong debut, and that isn’t necessarily wrong. However, it does lack a lot of context. When Simpson took over last week, it was a tie game at 3-3. On Saturday, Simpson didn’t touch the ball until 7:34 left in the third quarter with the Rams leading 27-0.

It may only be the preseason, but the Rams also aren’t trying to run the score up on the Saints. At that point, the goal is simply to get out of the game healthy and go home. However, there were still some positives to take away from Simpson’s performance.

One thing that we didn’t see last week was Simpson using his legs. He may not be a mobile quarterback, but he does have the ability to take off and run. On his second possession, Simpson navigates the pocket and then takes off with his legs. Simpson turned nothing into something and did the smart thing by sliding at the end of the play.

The Rams did take some of the training wheels off Simpson in his second game. Against the Chiefs, Simpson had eight dropbacks out of play action, accounting for 32 percent of his dropbacks. He only had three against the Saints, accounting for 20 percent of his dropbacks.

Part of that was the game script, but Saturday’s offense was much more of a dropback passing game than it had been the week prior. One thing that you do have to appreciate with Simpson is his internal clock on those dropbacks.

It was something that was evident last week, and that was the case again on Saturday. Very rarely does Simpson sit in the pocket and pat the ball. He goes through his progressions quickly, and the ball is out at the top of his drop.

You still would like to see Simpson push the ball downfield more. His average depth of target was just 4.8 yards compared to Bennett’s 9.9. Last week, it was just 5.3. The thing is, he can do it. When Simpson went down the field last week, he was accurate. That was the case again against the Saints’ secondary.

On the same throw that Bennett was hitting outside the numbers along the sideline, Simpson was able to complete a similar pass to Tru Edwards. It’s hard to know if Simpson would have pushed the ball downfield more had the game script not been out of hand, but it’s also something that may just come with more confidence and experience in the offense.

Overall, Simpson’s performance on Saturday is a tough evaluation. It’s not a bad thing that the Rams had such a big lead, but it did make it difficult to accomplish what they may have wanted to with Simpson. Bennett threw the ball 31 times to Simpson’s 12 despite both playing a full half.

Overall Grade: B

Where the Rams’ Quarterback Battle Stands

If we were keeping score and taking both preseason games into account, it would be tied 1-1 going into the finale. Simpson impressed in his debut while Bennett reminded everyone that he’s the more experienced player in the offense.

It’s unlikely that we get a “Game 7” against the Los Angeles Chargers next week, as the Rams should rest Bennett. That’s not to say that Simpson lost the backup quarterback battle. However, the priority needs to be getting Simpson as many live-game reps as possible.

Regardless of where each quarterback ends up on the depth chart, Simpson is the future of this team. Despite Bennett having three more years of experience in the offense, the gap between the two quarterbacks is very close. During the preseason, Simpson has a better overall passer rating by a significant margin. Even if you were to take Bennett’s two rushing touchdowns and make them passing touchdowns, Simpson would still lead 114.3 to 96.6.

It will be interesting to see how the Rams handle their backup quarterback situation heading into the season and if Simpson surpasses Bennett at some point. If the Rams had to go to a quarterback outside of Stafford, it’s hard to see them going to Bennett over Simpson.

For now, Bennett’s experience in the offense may be the difference that keeps him ahead of Simpson. However, that experience will only be the difference for so long. Even if it doesn’t happen by Week 1, Simpson overtaking Bennett remains inevitable. The finale against the Chargers will provide Simpson with one more extended opportunity to show his grasp of the offense.

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Blaine Grisak
BLAINE GRISAK

Blaine Grisak is the Lead Publisher for Rams on SI covering the Los Angeles Rams. Prior to joining On Sports Illustrated, he covered the Rams for TurfShow Times, attending events such as the NFL Draft, NFL Combine, and Senior Bowl. A graduate of Northeastern University, Blaine grew up in Montana.

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