The Los Angeles Rams are the talk of the 2026 NFL Draft after selecting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick on Thursday night.
Eyebrows were raised as soon as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Simpson’s name.
The Rams currently employ quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL MVP. He’s 38 and can’t play forever, so drafting an heir apparent isn’t altogether bad process, but using the No. 13 pick on a future QB when the Rams are otherwise in win-now mode was peculiar.
Rumors were truly set ablaze when Rams head coach Sean McVay, usually the most enthusiastic coach in the NFL, sat stonefaced and relatively mute while Rams general manager Les Snead discussed Simpson with the media.
“Let’s make one thing clear: This is Matthew’s team,” McVay told reporters, adding that Simpson will compete with Stetson Bennett for the backup quarterback job.
Longtime NFL reporter Michael Silver likened the Simpson-Stafford situation to what he covered in Green Bay when the Packers drafted Jordan Love 26th overall in 2020 despite having a then-37-year-old Aaron Rodgers.
“My read is that Stafford isn’t thrilled with the Simpson pick, and McVay is treading lightly,” Silver wrote on Friday.
Simpson incidentally lent credence to that theory during his introductory press conference on Friday. Stafford’s wife, Kelly, has reached out to him, but he still hasn’t heard from Stafford.
“Kelly [Stafford] has actually texted me on Instagram and welcomed me and told me to hit her up if we need anything, but I can’t wait to talk to Matthew,” Simpson told reporters. “I’m super ecstatic because I just want to pick his brain about everything.”
When asked if any other Rams have reached out, Simpson said he heard from safety Quentin Lake.
Snead told “The Sedano & Kap Morning Show” that he and McVay are “in lockstep” on Simpson.
“Multiple team sources said they believe McVay might have felt the need to downplay the pick in order to accentuate his confidence in Stafford,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Friday.
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller isn’t buying that.
“You’re gonna hear all week now — because everyone saw that awkward press conference — you’re gonna hear that McVay loved Ty Simpson,” Miller said of the Rams’ drafting Simpson while appearing on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Friday. “This really feels like you hired the family friend. Les Snead and Ty Simpson’s dad are pals.”
“For folks that don’t know this, Alabama didn’t want Ty Simpson back,” Miller added. “If he stayed in college football, he was going to Miami. Alabama was sending him on his way. When they polled people [on what to do], Les Snead said, ‘Oh, he’ll be a first-round pick.’ Well, now you have to take him, right? If you’ve told the dad he’ll be a first-round pick, don’t you have to take him? Otherwise, you’ve lied to your buddy about his son’s future.”
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported later Friday that the Rams are “close on a contract extension” with Stafford that would lock him in “beyond” next season.
If Silver’s assessment is correct, and the forced Simpson-Stafford pairing is reminiscent of the Love-Rodgers years in Green Bay, the Rams just motivated Stafford to rip off two more NFL MVP seasons, like Rodgers did in 2020 and 2021. It would also mean Los Angeles will remain a contender under Simpson, as the Packers have post-Rodgers with Love.
But the Packers are quite literally the only team in the NFL that has been able to seamlessly execute that sort of succession plan for decades.
From where we sit now, the Rams spend the No. 13 overall pick on a QB who only started 15 games at Alabama. Almost everything about Simpson’s NFL entrance is unknown, including how Stafford feels about it.
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