You have to take comments made anonymously with a grain of salt. There's always a biased nature of those, and if someone truly had an unequivocal belief in what they were saying, they wouldn't be afraid to put their name on it.
Let that preface the following.
On Monday, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg published an NFL Draft retrospective, with quotes from anonymous coaches around college football offering their opinions on various selections. Unsurprisingly, the picks of Alabama's Ty Simpson and Kadyn Proctor were widely discussed.
Simpson was the surprise of the first round after being selected 13th overall by the Los Angeles Rams. Most pundits projected the Tide QB to hear his name called late in the first round, but the Rams coveted Simpson enough to snag him at No. 13 despite having the reigning MVP under center.
Proctor was one of the more polarizing prospects in the 2026 draft class. His size and athleticism made him intriguing, but the tape didn't always match his considerable potential.
Ty Simpson, Kadyn Proctor earn criticism from anonymous SEC coaches
One SEC coach called Simpson's selection "surprising." Another dove deeper into the question marks:
"For him to go that high, I was a little bit like, 'Wow, OK,'" the coach said, via Rittenberg. "I don't know how he practices, I don't know his mind. They were saying he was banged up in the back stretch, but he was just OK. Maybe he has those qualities that you can't coach that some of these [NFL teams] fell in love with."
Another SEC coach thinks Simpson "has some work to do."
Which SEC coach said it isn't known, but it's fair to guess, particularly based on the "back stretch" comment, that it was either LSU's Blake Baker or Auburn's DJ Durkin. Considering Simpson led Alabama to wins against both, it would make sense that there would be some sour grapes there.
Another SEC coach saw the vision, stating that the long game with Simpson is likely to be really good and that he landed in a perfect situation with the Rams, where he won't be asked to play immediately.
Proctor produces some wide opinions, too. He has tremendous potential, but his tape was inconsistent.
"He has more potential than production," an SEC coordinator said, via Rittenberg. "He's a big, strong kid that's athletic. I didn't think he was always as dominant as he should have been, for the traits."
The Dolphins swung for the fences with Proctor with the No. 12 pick, and he'll begin his career at left guard before potentially kicking out to tackle down the road.
Both Simpson and Proctor were polarizing prospects in this draft class, so the wide range of opinions shouldn't come as a surprise.
But both have the potential to make their critics look silly in the coming years.
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