Congrats, Ty Simpson. You win the 2026 NFL Draft.
Is he Brock Purdy or Kenny Pickett? Nobody knows. But it sure is refreshing to see a rookie quarterback get a chance like this... even if Sean McVay is still pouting.
Sean McVay had the look of a man who’d love nothing more than to clench his teeth and shriek at the top of his lungs. I half-expected him to grab an electric guitar and go full Robbie Hart. The NFL’s perpetual optimist who never, ever breaks character sat next to Les Snead and kept his words to a minimum. As if anything he said would be used against him in the court of law.
Why, yes, the Los Angeles Rams head coach did speak to Matthew Stafford before his club selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson 13th overall on Thursday night.
No, he will not share what was said.
Simpson’s prospects in Los Angeles?
“We’ll see,” he said through a forced smile. “He’s going to compete with Stetson.”
It was cringeworthy. And awkward. And you can only imagine what the reigning MVP had to say on that phone call. History also tells us that one day of rage can precede 10 to 15 years of paradise at the quarterback position. Stafford remains a star-level talent. Stafford is also 38 years old and every QB not named Tom Brady falls off a cliff at 40. McVay has also flirted with retirement and TV jobs. Four years ago, Amazon reportedly offered the coach a five-year, $100 million broadcasting contract — he’s liable to strut right into TV money at any point.
Snead, to his credit, doesn’t want to get caught with his pants down. He doesn’t want the Rams to slip into the same black hole as the team in this draft’s host city. Who knows when the Rams will ever be picking in the top 15 again. Snead saw a rare opportunity to draft and develop a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons’ original pick.
Nobody knows if Simpson is Brock Purdy or Kenny Pickett. There’s organizational logic to follow.
Above all? Round 1 told us again that the NFL Draft isn’t only a crapshoot for teams. It’s an even crazier crapshoot for the players themselves. Forget McVay suppressing emotions. Jeremiyah Love’s ability to grin through the Arizona Cardinals making him the No. 3 overall pick deserves a trophy. If any non-QB should’ve pulled an Eli Manning and held a team’s jersey as if it’s been sprayed by a skunk, it’s him. This was the scenario we feared on draft eve — a special talent getting banished to the Bidwillian badlands.
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Maybe this hurdling, pulverizing, home-run hitter from Notre Dame is good enough to shine in the pros. He’s heading to a team with no quarterback plan, a bad offensive line, an unproven first-year coach selected late in the cycle and perhaps the worst ownership in the NFL. Before even thinking about evading linebackers on other teams, Love must contend with his own team. This union is an objective buzzkill.
Say whatever we want about Ty Simpson the prospect. Scouts are torn. He was the most polarizing prospect in this draft.
He landed in quarterback heaven and avoided the quarterback hells of Arizona and Florham Park, N.J.
A cavalry of Steelers legends walking out to terrible towels a’waving. Adoring fans on-site. Glowing reviews from TV commentators. Choreographed fist bumps in draft rooms. Amid all draft pageantry, it’s easy to forget that 32 teams have 32 ecosystems. That’s the beauty of those NFLPA report cards. They shine light on just how different life is from one city to the next across the continental United States. Sam Darnold was sentenced to a football prison with the New York Jets and universally written off as a bust before — finally — linking up with good coaching in San Francisco and Minnesota to revitalize his career and winning the whole damn thing last season in Seattle. (A “tough son of a bitch,” indeed.)
Props to Simpson for betting on himself. He could’ve stayed in college and earned $6.5 million to play for the Miami Hurricanes or $5 million at multiple other schools. Instead, he decided to go pro in a weak quarterback class. It was a colossal gamble. No prospect was picked apart more than the 6-foot-1, 212-pounder with only 15 starts to his name. “He’s a little guy that’s wild and inconsistent,” one scout told Go Long. “He doesn’t have good feel for timing. He’s terrible against pressure. He’s a good little athlete but he doesn’t escape pressure well. He should have stayed in school. You’re really just gambling.” Other scouts saw a quarterback who’s “always in command” and “can manipulate safeties with his eyes.” He played in a pro-style offense and the 2025 Alabama roster wasn’t close to the Crimson Tide teams of years past. One scout even said there’s an argument Simpson is better than Fernando Mendoza, the Las Vegas Raiders’ No. 1 overall pick.
With the Rams, he’ll have a legitimate chance to prove believers right.
McVay likely preferred a player who helps the Rams win in 2026. At one point this spring, he admitted to Kay Adams that she probably had evaluated Simpson more than him. It won’t affect his job. He’ll give Simpson the Shanahan- and O’Connell-tier of coaching Darnold received to reboot his career. Remember, Matt LaFleur wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when his GM took a quarterback in 2020. Now, Jordan Love is the feather in his cap.
Stafford won’t be thrilled, but it’s not like he’ll go into a tank of self-pity and sabotage his team. The presence of a first-round pick in his room is another motivator. Much like Aaron Rodgers in 2021 and 2022, bet on Stafford elevating. He doesn’t even seem like someone who’d hold his team hostage for 4 1/2 months of an offseason. He’ll be a big boy.
All of which helps Simpson. He gets to see how a future Hall of Famer works every day.
“He’s one of the greatest of all-time,” Simpson said during his post-pick call with reporters. “We watched his film all the time when I was at Bama. The stuff the Rams did with Coach McVay. The fact that I get to be in a room and soak up all that knowledge — I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
Situation is exponentially more valuable than we realize. Examples abound. If Patrick Mahomes is coached by Rick Dennison and David Culley in Buffalo instead of Andy Reid, it’s a smidge tougher for the Texas Tech daredevil to find his GOAT trajectory. Purdy, “Mr. Irrelevant,” started his career as a third-stringer. The 49ers’ scheme perfectly matched his skillset. What happens to him if he’s drafted by any coach who isn’t from this tree?
Love, meanwhile, has the immense pleasure of playing for one of the NFL’s worst teams.
The Cardinals want a tantalizing name on the marquee. They’re a bland franchise. This pick also reeks of a family drowning in debt that purchases a Ferrari and goes on an all-inclusive vacation. Not unlike the New York Giants in 2018. GM Dave Gettleman saw a gold jacket in Barkley’s future. He was mesmerized. Guard Quentin Nelson would’ve been the more prudent choice. (Or, you know, that quarterback in Wyoming.) Barkley had his moments through three head coaches in six years with the Giants, but didn’t get to showcase his game in full until Year 7. As Philadelphia Eagle. Now, he’s up to 2,342 career touches on the odometer.
God speed, Jeremiyah.
In a weird way, both the Rams and Miami Dolphins had the luxury of selecting a prospect at any position. One team is a Super Bowl contender with no holes. One team is completely starting over. In L.A., there’s no need for Simpson to see the field any time soon. Again, this could backfire. Simpson doesn’t bring the enticing physical traits of Jordan Love when the Packers did this all six years ago. You may recall the Utah State quarterback drawing “Mahomes” comparisons from a teammate at Go Long. That’s not Simpson. We may look back at the 2026 draft and wonder why on earth the Rams traded the 29th pick for a cornerback on a second contract (Trent McDuffie), while also passing on a slew of options at No. 13: tight end Kenyon Sadiq, wide receiver Makai Lemon, edge Rueben Bain to name a few.
The all-in, win-now, F-them-picks GM may live to regret his decision on April 24, 2026.
Or, this could be the F-my-own-coach move that effectively bridges the present with the future and the Rams contend for Super Bowls long after Stafford retires. Snead must see shimmers of greatness in Simpson’s small sample size. The lack of experience is a concern. Purdy started in 3x the number of games as Simpson in college.
We’re unabashedly pro-player ‘round here. Simply, it’s nice to see a rookie quarterback head to a perfect environment for once. Almost all taken in the first round are banished to awful circumstances. GMs of winning teams are terrified to make this move because of what we saw out of McVay during that presser and because it undoubtedly pissed off Stafford. Potential collateral damage spooks everyone when, in truth, the best decisions in life are often the most difficult.
So, off they go.
One prospect is into anime. Jeremiyah Love is a physical marvel leaping over defenders into the end zone. Watch a highlight reel of this running back and you’ll think there’s nothing that could ever stop this player on a football field.
One prospect is a Legos fanatic. Ty Simpson is an undersized quarterback with a good-not-elite arm who prefers to shimmy around the pocket. Watch a highlight reel of this quarterback and you’ll gently nod in approval before carrying on with your day.
Aesthetically, the two players are on totally different ends of the spectrum.
But so are their new employers, and that may matter more than anything.
We’ll continue with more coverage from Round 1 and all rounds of the NFL Draft here at Go Long.