Not too long ago this was the prevailing opinion around here, and I received a ton of flak for so much as suggesting that Bennett may be able to, in year three, compete for QB2 against the iconic and amazing Jimmy Garoppolo. But look around this league at QB2s. They're generally limited physically, mentally a tick slower, older, etc. And in that window Jimmy was riding a high here on the board from camp comments from McVay that gushed about him, and later his destruction of the Dallas secondary that was missing a ton of players in scrimmage. Then vs the Saints we heard he came back to earth a bit which tbh is expected. There is a reason he's a QB2.
So for Bennett all he's done so far is play well vs two opponents. And in playing well he has had throws that were questionable, even that late throw he made to put us in the redzone late was something you don't want to do normally and vs starters. He could have had a much worse line, like 3INT to go with 3TDs.
But on the flip side of that he has done this with dudes who are not going to be on the roster, which is not easy. Have Stafford start two entire games in preseason and you can bet you'll have plenty to knock him on. Bennett has given a lot of these weapons a chance to be featured when they are often (with lesser depth QBing) just running routes as it pertains to putting up film. And when he had the starters out there he was on fire. That first drive was outstanding. So what would he look like with the starters? Well nobody knows. But I would guess he'd look like a typical QB2.
For me this goes back to my belief that there are QBs who can win without a run game and then everyone else. Stafford is the former. JG is the latter and so is Bennett. And at the top end of those types are the most talented ones, or who best fit that run game balance when it's there, like the dude in SF for example. But for me I don't see a ton of separation among those who fall lower in that group, who let's say start for maybe 10-15 of the worst teams depending on the season in question. So acting like Bennett is a QB3 at best is a very negative take, and you're certainly welcome to your opinion but I disagree with it just like I disagreed a couple weeks back with the idea that Bennett had no hope of competing for QB2 this year in camp.
