The Rams released a depth chart that shows Stetson Bennett as the team’s second quarterback and first-round pick Ty Simpson as their third quarterback, but head coach Sean McVay said things are less clear cut than that would make it appear.
McVay said that he has not made a decision about who will be active for Thursday’s game against the 49ers because he views the two quarterbacks on equal footing when it comes to the competition to be the next man up behind Matthew Stafford.
“I’ll tell you when I decide who is going to be the actual two in the game,” McVay said, via the team’s website. “I’ve talked to the players about it, but that’s something that they’re both going to continue to train regardless of who it ends up being up and who is the emergency third. I look at it as both of those guys are going to play, but you saw, we listed Stetson as the two, Ty as the three. But I look at it as the 2A, 2B and we’ll see how we approach the game.”
McVay added that he doesn’t “want to necessarily say that whatever we do in Week 1 is how it stays throughout the year,” so the backup spot could be a fluid one and the Rams will be hoping that neither player sees the field outside of garbage time between now and February.
Rams Clips
At this point, it’s still unclear whether or not Aaron Donald will play when the Rams take on the 49ers next week to open the 2026 season.
But he will at least be on the scene.
Via Benjamin Royer of the Southern California News Group, head coach Sean McVay said on Friday that all players — including Donald — are expected to travel to Australia.
But Donald’s playing status is still to be determined, with McVay noting he “doesn’t have that sense quite yet.”
Donald officially elected to end his retirement and return to the Rams on Sunday. He’s been in and out of practice since then, though he said he’s been training for around 13-14 weeks to put himself in a position to play again.
Donald retired after the 2023 season.
While the 49ers are already in Australia acclimating to the significant time difference, the Rams are taking a much different approach by traveling just before the day of the game.
It doesn’t take much effort to come up with an argument for the NFC West being the toughest division in the NFL.
The Seahawks beat the Rams and 49ers in the playoffs on their way to winning the Super Bowl last year. The Rams responded to that by trading for Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie ahead of Aaron Donald’s return from retirement, which has made them slight favorites over Seattle to wind up winning the NFC.
The 49ers are hoping for better health than they enjoyed while winning 12 games last season and quarterback Brock Purdy laid out to Matt Maiocco of NBCSportsBayArea.com just why that will be so important.
“We have an extremely competitive, great division,” Purdy said. “I think the best in the NFL. And that excites us because you got to be your best at every moment, every play, every drive. Every game matters, every little thing matters. It all adds up and we even saw it last year.”
Purdy and the Niners won’t have to wait long to test themselves against a divisional foe. They’ll kick off the season against the Rams in Melbourne on Thursday.
The 49ers will not have defensive end Sam Okuayinonu in their Thursday night opener against the Rams in Australia.
Okuayinonu was not on the team flight to Melbourne, but the 49ers originally indicated it was possible that he could make a later flight if he made progress in his recovery from a foot injury. Today, the 49ers announced that Okuayinonu will not play.
Okuayinonu is an important part of the 49ers’ defense: Last year he started 12 games in the regular season and both playoff games. This year he’s expected to be a backup but get plenty of snaps in the defensive line rotation, when he gets healthy.
The rest of the 49ers’ active roster made yesterday’s flight to Melbourne. That includes tight end George Kittle and defensive end Nick Bosa, both of whom are rehabbing from injuries but are expected to play against the Rams.
Wide receiver Tutu Atwell moved on from the Rams in free agency this year, so he was taken by surprise when Rams head coach Sean McVay told him that he was heading back to the team last week.
The Dolphins traded Atwell to the Rams for running back Jarquez Hunter — who didn’t wind up making Miami’s 53-man roster — and the wideout said he was “shocked” to hear the news. Once that feeling went away, Atwell immediately felt back at home after five seasons with the team.
“Nah, man, it don’t feel like I was gone,” Atwell said, via Greg Beachem of the Associated Press. “I’m back with my brothers, man. I just feel great and feel awesome just to be back here and with these great players and guys. I’m just excited.”
McVay said the trade was not made with an eye on Puka Nacua being suspended and the team’s unsettled third receiver spot is where Atwell could make his mark in his second run with the Rams. He’ll need a return to the production that resulted in 81 catches in 2023 and 2024, so the familiarity with the offense should be a plus as he reintroduces himself to the team.
The 49ers are Down Under, having landed in Australia.
They touched down in Melbourne at 7:50 a.m. Friday, local time, after traveling 7,855 miles in just over 15 hours. The 49ers traveled on a Quantas A380, which features 14 first-class seats and 70 business-class seats.
The 49ers will practice in Melbourne on Saturday morning before beginning their usual game-week schedule on Monday.
They will face the Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground at 10;35 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, Melbourne time, which is 8:35 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 10, U.S. time.
The Rams are not making the longest trip in NFL history until Wednesday, landing less than 24 hours before kickoff.
Ty Simpson was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, but he’s only the No. 3 quarterback on the Rams.
The Rams have released their depth chart for Week One, and it has Stetson Bennett as the No. 2 quarterback behind Matthew Stafford. Simpson is third string.
Rams coach Sean McVay said after the preseason finale that he feels good about both Bennett and Simpson, but McVay declined to say who Stafford’s backup would be.
Despite his lofty draft status, Simpson was brought in to be a long-term project, not an immediate impact player. Some day, the Rams hope he’ll be their starting quarterback, but right now, he’s not only not a starter, but he’s not No. 2, either.
The 49ers are already in the air aboard their 16-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia, for a game against the Rams that won’t kick off for another seven and a half days. They want plenty of time to adjust to Melbourne time after the longest road trip in NFL history.
The Rams are taking a very different approach.
Although Rams coach Sean McVay has declined to discuss the team’s travel plans, they’re reportedly leaving on Wednesday, September 9, which will mean landing less than 24 hours before kickoff: The game kicks off at 8:35 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 10, which is 10:35 a.m. on Friday, September 11, in Melbourne.
The Rams think delaying international travel for as long as possible the smart approach, and there’s some precedent to suggest they’re right: Last year the Rams didn’t arrive in London for their game against the Jaguars until the day before, and they proceeded to destroy the Jaguars, who have long-established London travel plans of arriving days in advance.
The NFL requires teams traveling to games to put enough of a buffer into their travel plans to ensure that even if there are flight delays, the game itself won’t be delayed. The Rams are cutting it about as close as the NFL will let them.
But as the NFL continues to push international expansion, the league might love to see the Rams successfully pull off long road trips in a short time: If teams can show they don’t need a lot of time to adjust before and after road games, that lends credence to the NFL’s stance that the league could successfully put teams overseas on a permanent basis, with long road trips in both directions not compromising the quality of the competition.
The 49ers are on their way to Australia, but defensive end Sam Okuayinonu is not with them.
Shortly before departure, the 49ers announced that Okuayinonu would not be on the team flight to Melbourne for next week’s game against the Rams. Okuayinonu has a foot injury.
Ordinarily, when a player doesn’t make a team flight, that means he’s not going to play in the game, but the 49ers are currently classifying Okuayinonu as questionable. Depending on how his foot responds to treatment in the coming days, it’s possible that he’ll fly to Australia separately.
Okuayinonu is an important part of the 49ers’ defense: Last year he started 12 games in the regular season and both playoff games. This year he’s expected to be a backup but get plenty of snaps in the defensive line rotation, if he’s healthy.
The 49ers’ other players, including tight end George Kittle and defensive end Nick Bosa, are on the plane. Kittle and Bosa are both rehabbing from injuries and there were concerns that they might not be ready for Week One, but from all indications they’re both ready to go against the Rams.
The 49ers are flying to Australia a full week early to adjust to the time change and prepare on-site. The Rams are not arriving in Australia until the day before the game.
Defensive end Myles Garrett and quarterback Mason Rudolph became forever linked in NFL lore on the night of November 14, 2019, when Garrett ripped away Rudolph’s helmet and struck him over the head with it.
Rudolph, who is still with the Steelers after a one-year break with the Titans, explains that he, and his team, are happy that Garrett has been traded out of the division, from Cleveland to the Rams.
Via Steelers Depot, Rudolph said this in an appearance on teammate Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast: “As a Pittsburgh Steeler, I’m thrilled that he is no longer in the AFC North. I think [coach] Mike McCarthy’s fired up about that, I think [offensive coordinator] Brian Angelichio is fired up about that. I know our tackles are fired up about that. . . . And the top of my frontal lobe, yes.”
If the season goes as planned, Rudolph wouldn’t have been on the field at the same time as Garrett. And Pittsburgh won’t see Garrett at all in 2026, unless both teams make it to the Super Bowl.
That destination is far more likely for one team than it is for the other.
