NFL draft: Rams select Alabama QB Ty Simpson 13th overall

INGLEWOOD - With many wondering if the Rams would take a swing to improve their team in pursuit of another Super Bowl run in 2026, the franchise instead looked to the future with the No. 13 pick in the NFL draft, selecting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson on Thursday.

Simpson, 23, will walk into a situation where he does not have to contribute as a rookie. Quarterback Matthew Stafford is returning after a league MVP season in 2025, so Simpson will slide in as his backup with Jimmy Garoppolo still considering retirement.

But with Stafford now 38 and with one year left on his contract, the Rams have brought in the quarterback they hope will be his eventual successor, with the chance to learn behind the veteran for at least one season.

"I think that's a net positive," said General Manager Les Snead, who made a first-round pick for only the second time in the past decade.

Head coach Sean McVay said he did have a phone call with Stafford on Thursday, but declined to go into the details of the conversation other than to say that Stafford handled the news professionally.

McVay also said the decision to draft Simpson does not impact contract negotiations with Stafford as the Rams look to give him a new deal ahead of next season.

"Let's make one thing clear: this is Matthew's team," McVay said. "There was a lot of players that we liked and there was a lot of thought that kind of went into it."

Simpson, who wasn't considered a first-round talent on some draft boards, is entering a similar situation to the one he experienced at Alabama. With the Crimson Tide, he sat for three years behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe before finally getting his opportunity to start in 2025.

McVay said Simpson will compete with fourth-year quarterback Stetson Bennett IV for the backup job.

"I think it's very similar to where I am now," Simpson said of his Alabama experience. "Learning under Bryce, learning under Jalen, you know, learning things of what I can do better and learning things on what I need to work on. It's very similar to what Matthew has and brings to the table. It just is on a bigger stage and he's one of the greatest of all time to do it."

In his junior season, Simpson completed 64.5% of his passes in 2025, throwing for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions. His numbers dropped as the year progressed, with four of his five interceptions coming in the final four games of the regular season.

Simpson doesn't have the arm strength or size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) of many top NFL quarterbacks, but the Rams apparently loved his technique and decision-making under pressure. Snead said the Rams liked the athlete they saw on film, with mobility and the ability to execute an offense. And they liked the perseverance he showed, sticking it out at Alabama and overcoming a difficult first start in September.

"He's still becoming," Snead said. "I think the thing you appreciate is persevering, right, through the ebbs and flows."

After the season, Simpson consulted with Snead about whether or not he should enter the draft. Snead has done the same for other draft prospects in the past, but he does have a relationship with Simpson's father, Jason, as they both were playing in the SEC at the same time in the early 1990s.

"I did chat with Jason, the family. I do that with other players before the draft," Snead said. "You're trying to give them some bullet points on, hey, what to expect."

The Rams had other options for players that could have served a more immediate need in 2026, with USC receiver Makai Lemon (available to them at No. 13) among the kinds of players who could have played a role in chasing the team's second Super Bowl title in five years.

But instead the Rams took the forward-looking approach with Simpson.

"I hate sitting here and going, ‘We're a player away in a draft from the Super Bowl,'" Snead said. "There is a lot of hard work that happens between this night and, and whoever's playing in that game in February."

But when the Rams begin that pursuit with OTAs next month, Simpson will be in the fold, ready to absorb as much as he can from Stafford, McVay and the rest of the members of his new team.

"It's something that I cherish, being in the same room as a first-ballot Hall of Famer and a guy who is so smart like Coach," said Simpson, who was among 16 prospects who traveled to Pittsburgh for the draft. "We watched his film all the time when I was at Bama, all the stuff they did, the stuff the Rams did and Coach McVay. So the fact that I get to be in a room and soak up all that knowledge is something that, you know, I couldn't ask for a better situation."

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 6:51 PM.