Why Rams scouts feel confident in the selection of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson so early in the 2026 NFL Draft
The Los Angeles Rams are betting a lot on their evaluation of Ty Simpson. What drew them to the former Alabama signal-caller?
In a move that will undoubtedly draw plenty of criticism for years to come, the Los Angeles Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. They elected to punt their present for a hypothetical future.
If they win the Super Bowl, I doubt many will particularly care. Still, they are hedging an incredible bet on the current roster holding up long enough for the Simpson pick to deliver. What drew them to Ty Simpson? Various executives, as well as head coach Sean McVay himself, went into detail in the days following the draft.
Why did the Rams draft Ty Simpson?
McVay called Simpson a “football junkie.”
“As soon as we started really studying him, there was a body of work, like I talked about, that was a good, fun evaluation. A lot of the concepts that we would activate…The guy is a football junkie and plays with the timing and rhythm.”
Simpson excels in quick game, underneath rhythm throws. He is a superb game manager if the pass is within 10 yards, with good timing and accuracy underneath. At Alabama, Simpson played in an offense that featured some under center dropbacks and play-action passes, very typical of a pro-style offense. Playing in that system drew the Rams’ eyes to him, according to the Rams’ director of scouting, strategy, and analytics Nicole Blake.
“You have to be smart to play here. You can tell just watching the film that he knows how to play the position. He’s a super smart quarterback. It’s a rare trait in a guy who has played a year really of college football to find that so that was something that stood out to us…We watched him play in a pro style system. He makes a lot of pro-style throws and it was very easy to see the translation.”
In their own words, Simpson’s comfort playing for a season in Alabama’s pro-style offense and his ability to effectively manage the game in rhythm were the key traits that drew Los Angeles to him.
That reads almost identically to Stetson Bennett’s scouting report, save for Bennett having more experience. Bennett was the only quarterback prior to Simpson that McVay had drafted, so it makes sense they would target that similar skill set once more.
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