The Los Angeles Rams came into the NFL Draft with a chance to make major improvements to a roster that was just a play or two from playing for a Super Bowl last season. The Rams had the Atlanta Falcons’ first-round pick from the James Pearce Jr. trade during the 2025 draft, so Sean McVay and company had a golden opportunity with the No. 13 overall pick.
Getting to pick in the top 15 with a roster as loaded as the one in Los Angeles is a golden opportunity, so the Rams were a scary team coming into the draft. Wide receiver and cornerback were possible needs for the Rams to address, along with a potential addition on the defensive line.
When the Rams got up on the clock, the likes of Makai Lemon and KC Concepcion were still on the board. Every cornerback in the draft outside of Mansoor Delane was also available. However, the Rams shocked everyone when they decided to go with Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson to sit behind Matthew Stafford and be the quarterback of the future.
While this isn’t always a bad strategy — the Packers executed it with the Jordan Love pick while Aaron Rodgers was still there — Simpson wasn’t viewed as even a first-rounder by many, and definitely not a top-15 level pick.
Drafting Simpson over Lemon and others is the biggest mistake made by any team in the draft, and there are a few reasons why.
The Rams needed to load up to win in Stafford’s final years
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Matthew Stafford is the reigning NFL MVP, so it’s clear that he still has a lot of gas left in the tank. However, he dealt with an ongoing back injury leading into last season and contemplated retirement at the end of the 2025 season, so it is clear that the end of his career is near.
Los Angeles had a Super Bowl-caliber team in 2025, but fell just a few plays short in an epic NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers both project to be among the best teams in the NFL next season, making the NFC West the best division in football on paper.
While the Rams are getting pretty much their entire roster back next season, the No. 13 pick could have been used to improve the team for the 2026 and 2027 seasons to compete with those teams. Los Angeles has a shallow receiver room behind the star duo of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, and could have used reinforcements there.
Simpson may very well end up being a franchise quarterback, but he will not be helping the Rams win a Super Bowl during the rest of Stafford’s career. Lemon was a perfect fit next to Nacua and Adams and could have immediately slotted in as a starting wideout. That alone makes this a poor use of resources by the Rams.
Taking Simpson at No. 13 was a massive reach
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Even if you remove the Rams’ specific situation from the equation, Simpson was still a massive reach at No. 13. While he was still a good quarterback prospect and a rightful No. 2 in this class behind Fernando Mendoza, there are too many holes in his profile as a prospect to take him with that kind of draft capital.
For starters, Simpson made just 15 starts in college after sitting behind Jalen Milroe for two seasons. That is not a good sign. The list of quarterbacks with less than 20 college starts isn’t a great one, a list that includes Anthony Richardson and Mitchell Trubisky. Simpson’s inexperience won’t be as big of an issue because he won’t be asked to start as a rookie, but he still will need more reps to improve.
On top of the inexperience, Simpson is just a flawed quarterback at this point. He is a decent athlete and a solid creator, but he is still going to have to make his money from the pocket. Even when he has time to throw, Simpson can be a little bit inaccurate at times. He doesn’t have many wild misses, but even leaving the ball on the wrong shoulder or a little high can have major consequences in the NFL.
Simpson also has struggled when under pressure during his career. When he was pressured in 2025, he completed just over 48% of his passes and had 12 turnover-worthy plays, per PFF. Those are not good numbers, and it’s a similar pattern that Zach Wilson had when he came into the NFL. In the pros, pockets are tighter and pressure is more frequent, which makes this an extremely concerning trend for Simpson.
Finally, Simpson isn’t the biggest guy, and that can lead to some small injuries here and there. He is listed at just over 6-foot-1 and 211 pounds, which makes him susceptible to taking some hits at the next level. Simpson played very poorly after getting banged up in 2025, which is a bad sign for him moving forward.
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