We're just 24 hours away from the NFL Draft, and it remains anybody's guess where Alabama QB Ty Simpson ends up.
While some experts see him falling into the second round, the consensus seems to be that the Tide's signal-caller will ultimately hear his name called on Thursday night. Whether that's with a team using their own pick or via a trade back into the first round isn't known, but Simpson, who is attending the NFL Draft in the green room, should get his moment with the commissioner.
The smoke around Simpson recently has revolved around the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Jets. Those two teams have been known to covet Simpson, and each has multiple picks within the Top 35 to take a swing on him.
According to ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, there's another team who chould throw a monkey wrench into the plans of Arizona and New York, and it's one that was connected with Simpson early in the pre-draft process before fading away.
Dan Graziano believes the Los Angeles Rams are a 'wild card' in the Ty Simpson sweepstakes
It was reported as soon as Simpson announced he would enter the draft that Sean McVay and the Rams, armed with two first-round picks, could be interested in Simpson as the heir apparent to Matthew Stafford, who turned 38 in February.
But then the Rams traded their second first-rounder to the Chiefs in exchange for star CB Trent McDuffie, which quieted the talk around Simpson. The Rams hold pick No. 13, and it has seemed unlikely for a team in win-now mode to use a premium draft choice on a backup as they load up and try to win a second Super Bowl.
But Graziano still believes the Rams, based on intel he's gotten from around the league, are a wild card for the Alabama QB.
"The Rams have been connected to the Alabama quarterback in league circles for a while now. It's an open secret that they like him," Graziano writes. ..."If the Rams take Simpson in the first round, they're likely to face criticism for not finding immediate help for a win-now team with 38-year-old reigning MVP Matthew Stafford at quarterback. ...they truly believe Simpson has the potential to be Stafford's successor, I don't think it's ridiculous to think they could go ahead and take him.
"Add in that division-rival Arizona -- which many believe is the real team to watch for Simpson -- holds the 34th pick and would be a candidate to either draft him there or trade back into the first round to land him and it makes the Rams/Simpson theories a little bit spicier."
Graziano theorizes that the Rams could trade back from No. 13 to take Simpson later, or just go ahead and snag him there if they like him as much as they appear to.
If McVay is high on Simpson's future, it could stand to reason that he would do what he could to try to block him from ending up with the division rival Cardinals.
Stafford is coming off an MVP season, but Father Time comes for everyone, and with his injury history, it makes sense for the Rams to be aggressive in planning for the future while also building a roster ready to win now and take advantage of the remaining window they have with Stafford under center.
For Simpson, there's no better landing spot than Los Angeles. He would get to learn under a future Hall-of-Fame QB with zero pressure to play in his first, or probably even second, NFL season. It would give him time to sit back and develop along the path that guys like Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes took before they took over their respective starting jobs.
Add us as a preferred source on Google