Could Alabama’s Ty Simpson be a Top 10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?

2026 NFL QUARTERBACK SITUATIONS

Outside of trades, the draft order is decided by the previous year’s final records. It should be no shocker that most of the worst teams have issues at the field general position.

• No. 1 **Las Vegas Raiders** – Needs per NFL.com: QB, WR, OL, DL, CB. The Raiders had one quarterback on the roster (Aidan O’Connell) before recently signing ol’ man Kirk Cousins. The belief is Vegas will still draft Fernando Mendoza so the 38-year old veteran Cousins can mentor him.
• No. 2 **New York Jets** – Needs: QB, Edge, WR, CB, OL. The Jets traded for Geno Smith but the guy is 35 and looking like he is on the backside of his career. There was a good reason that Seattle and then Vegas dumped him.
• No. 3 **Arizona Cardinals** – Needs: QB, OL, Edge, DL, LB. The Kyler Murray Experiment is mercifully over in the desert. Arizona appears ready to go with Jacoby Brissett who at 32 had the best season of his career in 2025. But was it a fluke? Gardner Minshew was signed as the back-up. Both of those guys are free agents after the 2026 season.
• No. 4 Tennessee Titans – The Titans are set with Cam Ward backed up by Mitchell Trubisky and Will Levis.
• No. 5 New York Giants – Jaxson Dart was just drafted a year ago and has took over after Russell Wilson flamed out.
• No. 6 **Cleveland Browns** – Needs: QB, OL, WR, CB, Edge. What a soap opera of quarterbacks this organization is. The Brownies went through Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel in 2025, and they all sucked. A year after drafting the latter two in the 3rd and 5th rounds, would Cleveland use a 1 on Simpson??
• No. 7 Washington Commanders – Jayden Daniels
• No. 8 New Orleans Saints – The Aints say they are rolling with Tyler Shough for another season, but could this be a second straight year of tanking so that they can get draft their crush Arch Manning in 2027?
• No. 9 Kansas City Chiefs – Patrick Mahomes, Justin Fields
• No. 10 Cincinnati Bengals – Joe Burrow is coming off yet another injury. Cincy re-signed Ol’ Joe Flacco as insurance.
• No. 11 **Miami Dolphins** – The Dolphins dumped Tua and signed… wait for it… Malik Willis. That surely can’t be the answer. Right? Well, the Fins gave Willis a three-year, $67.5 million contract to move to South Beach with $45 million guaranteed. It seems unlikely they draft Simpson, but who knows? Quinn Ewers is also on the roster.
• No. 12 Dallas Cowboys – Dak Prescott
• No. 13 Los Angeles Rams – Matthew Stafford
• No. 14 Baltimore Ravens – Lamar Jackson
• No. 15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Baker Mayfield
• No. 16 **New York Jets** – Second first round pick
• No. 17 Detroit Lions – Jared Goff
• No. 18 **Minnesota Vikings** – The dummies in Minnesota seem to think J.J. McCarthy will eventually work out after his trash season in 2025 (11 TD, 12 INT). But it might be a tentative hope since they went out and picked up the Ewok Kyler Murray who sucked as well. If Simpson falls this far, the Vikes could be a surprise landing spot.
• No. 19 Carolina Panthers – Bryce Young
• No. 20 Dallas Cowboys – Second first round pick but doubtful they use it on a QB.
• No. 21 **Pittsburgh Steelers** – Needs: QB, OL, WR, TE, LB. It’s yet another round of waiting around to see if Aaron Rodgers (age 42) is going to retire or return. Either way, Pitt will need a QB for the future and/or a back-up plan should AA-Ron get hurt again. The other options would be Will Howard or Mason Rudolph, Ugh.
• No. 22 Los Angeles Chargers – Justin Herbert
• No. 23 Philadelphia Eagles – Jalen Hurts
• No. 24 **Cleveland Browns** – Second first round pick
• No. 25 Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams
• No. 26 Buffalo Bills – Josh Allen
• No. 27 San Francisco 49ers – Brock Purdy and Mac Jones. Mac looked as good, if not better, when he started in place of injured Purdy. Might he be trade bait to a needy team?
• No. 28 Houston Texans – C.J. Stroud is not quite developing like Houston thought, but they aren’t ready to give up on him just yet.
• No. 29 **Kansas City Chiefs** – Second first round pick. Two major events happened to Mahomes last season. He turned 30 and suffered a torn ACL — not a great combination. He also had his lowest passing touchdown total and QB rating since his rookie year in which he played one game. Might it be wise to grab a guy to develop in case Mahomes starts to fall apart?
• No. 30 **Miami Dolphins** – Second first round pick
• No. 31 New England Patriots – Drake Maye
• No. 32 Seattle Seahawks – Sam Darnold

TEAMS WITH NO FIRST ROUND PICKS

Five teams traded away their first round selection in previous drafts. It is highly doubtful that any of these five would trade up for a QB as they seem set at the position for 2026.

• No. 47 Indianapolis Colts – Daniel Jones
• No. 48 Atlanta Falcons – Michael Penix or Tua Tagovailoa
• No. 52 Green Bay Packers – Jordan Love
• No. 56 Jacksonville Jaguars – Trevor Lawrence
• No. 62 Denver Broncos – Bo Nix

FREE AGENTS

• Russell Wilson – Now 37 and not what he used to be.
• Tyrod Taylor – 36

HATERS

CONSENSUS

Among mock draftniks, the top three predictions in numerical order are the Jets second first round pick at 16, No. 21 Pittsburgh, and the Browns second pick at 24. The GMs of all the candidate teams will be doing their best to read each other’s minds. If the Steelers really want Simpson, would they dare risk waiting for all these other teams to pass on him? (Remember that Rogers is still a free agent as of this post.) We may see a trade-up by someone.

TY SIMPSON

By all accounts, Simpson had a very impressive Pro Day. So, what is his downside? According to the talking heads, it is lack of starts and playing time. In his time at Alabama, he played in 31 games with 15 starts. However, he is 23 years old, spent four years on a SEC team, and played in some big-time football games. It would be wrong and unfair to put him in the same category as former top 4 picks Anthony Richardson or Trey Lance who took their first NFL snaps at age 21 with similar number of college starts. There is no denying that the former Crimson Tide quarterback is a good guy, smart, and a great leader. For the first eight games of the season, he was looking like the Heisman front-runner. But the porous Bama offensive line and a severe case of gastritis that led to significant weight loss, affected his performance down the stretch. He is better now and has regained the weight. Is he ready to be a NFL starter? Maybe or maybe not, but it has got to be hard to pass on the potential next big thing. View Link