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The Los Angeles Rams were able to surprise the NFL world on Thursday night with their selection of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson because of some “secret” pre-draft meetings.
Simpson, 23, said the Rams wanted to throw other teams off their scent by keeping the meetings quiet.
“I had some secret meetings with coach (Sean) McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody,” Simpson said during a recent interview with ESPN Radio.
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Ty Simpson of Alabama celebrates after being selected as the 13th overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 2026. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Simpson said he knew the Rams were interested, but wanted to keep it discreet.
“We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could,” Simpson said. “It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested.”
The Tennessee native compared talking with Rams head coach Sean McVay during the “secret meeting” to being like a kid a candy shop, raving about his new situation.
“It was great, we met at the facility and it was something to where we just talked for hours and hours, it was just football. It was just straight football, and it was like a kid in a candy store. Me and him are sitting there, we’re just going back and forth. You can tell the obsession he has for the game and you can tell the love he has for quarterback play,” Simpson said.
“It’s something that I appreciate and it’s something that I enjoy because I really enjoy playing the position and value the position. So, being with him and getting to know him and seeing a little bit of how I would get coached if I was fortunate enough to go there was something. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”
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Ty Simpson of the Alabama Crimson Tide warms up before the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2026. (CFP/Getty Images)
The selection of Simpson was so surprising because the Rams are in win-now mode. While the Rams might be getting ahead by drafting their quarterback of the future, the No. 13 overall pick could have been used on a player at a different position who could impact the team this season.
Matthew Stafford played some of the best football of his career in his 17th season, winning his first MVP last year with the Rams. However, the 38-year-old quarterback only announced he was returning for another season when he capped his MVP speech with the news.
With Stafford’s future seemingly uncertain after next season, the Rams got a jump on their heir apparent in Simpson.
McVay said during a press conference on Friday that he is excited for Simpson to learn from Stafford.
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Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay walks on the field at Lumen Field after the 2026 NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, Washington, on Jan. 25, 2026. (Kevin Ng/Imagn Images)
“I’m excited to be able to add Ty. What a blessing it is for him to be able to learn from Matthew and to be able to come into this atmosphere and environment. Whenever that time comes for him to get an opportunity to be Matthew’s successor will be on Matthew’s terms. I think that’s really what the important thing was. I didn’t want that to ever be misunderstood while not minimizing the excitement for Ty and the buy-in,” McVay said.
“Les and his group really liked him. As soon as we started really studying him, there was a body of work, like I talked about, that was a good, fun evaluation. A lot of the concepts that we would activate. The guy is a football junkie and plays with the timing and rhythm. You can see that he’s a coach’s son. His journey is a fun one that he’s been through.”
OutKick’s Clay Travis said Simpson would be the perfect fit for the Rams before the NFL Draft began last week.
Simpson started just one season with Alabama, his final one in 2025. In 15 games, he completed 64.5% of his passes for 3,567 yards with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions.
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