When Ty Simpson first entered the NFL Draft, plenty questioned the move. He turned down as much as $6.5 million in NIL to enter the draft instead of the Transfer Portal. In the weeks leading up to the draft, there was no guarantee that Simpson would be a first-round pick, with many mocking him to fall into day two, or at best, in the late first-round range with a trade up.
Instead, Simpson went in the top half of the first round, No. 13 overall to the Los Angeles Rams:
.@AlabamaFTBL QB Ty Simpson is headed to the @RamsNFL!
— NFL (@NFL) April 24, 2026
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The No. 13 pick slot projects out to a 4-year contract worth $25.4 million. Simpson's signing bonus of $14.9 million more than trumps the massive offer Miami made to him to try to entice him into the Transfer Portal.
Simpson bet on himself, and he hit big.
Ty Simpson ends up in perfect spot with the Los Angeles Rams
With only 15 career starts, Simpson needed to go somewhere where there wasn't a lot of pressure for him to play right away. Mission accomplished in LA with a QB guru in Sean McVay and the reigning MVP of the league in 38-year-old Matthew Stafford.
The Rams felt like an ideal landing spot for Simpson the moment he entered the draft. His acumen and cerebralness seemed like a perfect fit for McVay, and it was obvious that if he got the chance to meet the Rams' coach, it would be a perfect match.
Simpson to the Rams seemed to fall apart weeks ago, however, when Los Angeles traded their second first-round pick in a blockbuster move to acquire Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie. It seemed unlikely that the Rams would use a premium pick while in win-now mode on a player who won't play meaningful snaps this year. Or next.
But it speaks to how much McVay and the Rams liked Simpson that they would be willing to make this move now.
Simpson will get to learn behind one of the best quarterbacks in the league with absolutely zero pressure to play anytime soon.
Most of the draft smoke with Simpson revolved around the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets, but a hat tip to ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, who connected the dots of Simpson to the Rams at No. 13 in the days leading up to the draft.
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