There have been plenty of surprises within the first spherical of the NFL Draft on Thursday evening. The Titans taking Carnell Tate at No. 4? Surprising. Caleb Downs, Rueben Bain, and Makai Lemon all sliding? Stunning — nevertheless it was what the Los Angeles Rams did with the No. 13 total choose that was really jaw-dropping, choosing Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson to be their sign caller of the longer term. We gave the choose a C+ grade.
It’s not that Simpson is dangerous, and even that the Rams taking him wasn’t on the playing cards. In reality, for a very long time there was hypothesis the group would take Simpson within the 1st spherical, simply at No. 29, till Los Angeles traded the choose for Trent McDuffie. The confusion across the choice is aimed extra at the truth that taking a quarterback to arrange for the eventuality of Matthew Stafford’s retirement was too cute, and too good for its personal good — particularly when the Rams are a group constructed to win proper now.
This solely acquired worse following the draft when coach Sean McVay seemed flat-out irritated whereas listening to GM Les Snead wax poetic about Ty Simpson.
“We’ve talked concerning the significance of Jimmy [Garoppolo]. To have the ability to add any individual which you could consider a physique of labor the place he was requested to play the place and plenty of issues that do translate by way of ideas, studying together with his toes, a few of the various things within the drop again within the play-action recreation and the motion recreation. There are plenty of issues that [Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan] Grubb did that’s similar to how we function, so it made it a better analysis to have the ability to say, ‘Alright, what would that seem like if he did translate it to our degree?’”
Right here’s one other clip from McVay’s post-draft presser:
Essentially the most beneficiant studying of those feedback is that McVay is high quality with the choose. His verbiage is extra akin to how coaches speak about day three picks, not somebody you are taking No. 13 total. That is particularly notable contemplating the board on the time, which may have landed the Rams somebody like Makai Lemon or Kenyon Sadiq, both of whom would have bolstered the Rams passing assault — and even security Dillon Thieneman, who would have been an improve to the secondary.
It’s going to be no less than two years earlier than we study whether or not or not choosing Simpson was a genius transfer or not, however there are extra questions concerning the choose after individuals realized that Snead had private entanglements with the Simpson household.
It’s solely pure to query whether or not or not Snead had tunnel imaginative and prescient for Simpson all through this course of. One would suppose {that a} normal supervisor and head coach’s imaginative and prescient naturally aligns, however this can be a case the place it won’t. Snead’s job is to be extra forward-looking on the total well being of the franchise, whereas McVay’s is to get probably the most out of the fellows he has in entrance of him. There very nicely may have been friction about seeing the Falcons’ choose (which they obtained in 2025) as a way to land a quarterback, with the expectation that they’ll in any other case be choosing within the back-end of the 20s, or hopefully 32 — whereas McVay didn’t need to put the cart in entrance of the horse, and as a substitute get somebody that may assist forestall the Rams from flaming out within the playoffs.
What makes this all so attention-grabbing is that the Rams are usually a corporation held up as a paragon of imaginative and prescient and good decision-making. Choosing Simpson may find yourself being genius, or a bizarrely determined transfer to get a second-round QB expertise too early within the draft, simply to appropriate an issue that doesn’t exist but.
When Simpson does ultimately take over for the Rams at QB, he’ll have barely performed soccer in any respect since leaving highschool:
One factor is for certain: If the Rams fail to make it to the Tremendous Bowl this season, then everybody will probably be taking a look at who may have helped the group with this No. 13 choose — and it received’t be Ty Simpson.
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