Decoding Sean McVay's tense press conference reaction after Rams baffling Ty Simpson pick

McVay's reaction said it all

If there's one coach who wears his emotions on his face, it's definitely McVay, and he was wearing those emotions on Thursday night, and everyone on the internet seemed to notice. Let's check in to see what McVay looked like as the Rams' post-draft press conference was kicking off.

Mood pic.twitter.com/A6qvVrY5MZ

— Gary Klein (@LATimesklein) April 24, 2026 Sean McVay did not want Ty Simpson. Oh my goodness. Please watch that Rams presser.

— Breiden Fehoko (@BreidenFehoko) April 24, 2026 McVay let Snead answer the first two questions of the press conference and didn't offer a single word. pic.twitter.com/nHeGDifCwE

— Breiden Fehoko (@BreidenFehoko) April 24, 2026 Out of the first four questions that McVay DID respond to on Thursday night, he didn't give a single answer that went longer than eight words. He also wouldn't commit to making Simpson the backup quarterback when he got asked who would be the No. 2 guy behind Stafford this year. Will Ty Simpson back up Matthew Stafford?

Sean McVay says "He's going to compete with Stetson"

— Bridget Condon (@BridgetCondon\_) April 24, 2026 And, let's watch some video of that answer. Sean McVay couldn’t be more pumped about drafting Ty Simpson pic.twitter.com/lDnfC99JwT

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 24, 2026 At 13th overall, you'd think it would be a given that Simpson would be the backup, but McVay is clearly not ready to commit to anything. If Simpson doesn't win the backup job, that would make a bad pick even worse for the Rams. Another interesting part of the press conference came when McVay was asked whether Simpson was the Rams' first target at 13th overall. "There were a lot of players that we liked, but when you do look at it, I think the thing you liked about the body of work is -- let's make one thing clear, this is Matthew's [Stafford] team," McVay said. "You get a chance to be able to address the backup quarterback. We've got Stetson [Bennett]. We've talked about the importance of [Quarterback] Jimmy [Garoppolo]." That sounds like a guy who was completely happy with his quarterback situation going into the draft and didn't think the team needed to add to it, especially at 13th overall. McVay did eventually dive into the answer a little bit more, but what he said wasn't much better. "There were a lot of players that we liked and there was a lot of thought that went into it," McVay said of picking 13th overall. "We do feel really fortunate that when you look at the 13th pick, we were able to get that where Atlanta had an interest in getting a player last year. We would've taken [Terrance] Ferguson with our first round pick last year. To move back and to still get the guy that we wanted, and then to basically be able to get an extra pick and then oh by the way, with your original one, go get a player like [cornerback] Trent McDuffie. A lot of different things, but we're always going to make decisions that we think are best for the short and the long term. We will be excited to be able to get to work with him." In McVay's defense, he did smile when he made the draft call to Simpson, but even that was a little awkward. Ty Simpson: "Let's go make history, Coach!"

Sean McVay: "Yeah, no, and eh." #NFLDraftpic.twitter.com/6s5mmg5w4q

— Jason Krump (@JasonKrump) April 24, 2026 Based on McVay's reaction, it seems he would have preferred to see the Rams take a player who could contribute this year, but that wasn't the case. Now, everyone in L.A. will be hoping Simpson can be the QB of the future. If the Rams had passed on Simpson, they still had plenty of options on the draft board: They could have given Stafford an offensive weapon by adding Makai Lemon or Kenyon Sadiq. They could have taken a pass-rusher in Akheem Mesidor or Rueben Bain Jr.

Even Ty Simpson seemed surprised by the pick

During the pre-draft process, the Rams didn't show much interest in the Alabama quarterback. After he was picked on Thursday, Simpson described all the pre-draft interactions he had with the Rams over the past few months and there wasn't a lot to describe. "It was really brief to be honest with you," Simpson said of his interactions. "I met with some scouts in Alabama and that was really it. They talked to my agent but that was really wasn't much." There had been some pre-draft reports that Snead was close with Simpson's father, Jason, but that wasn't quite accurate. Jason did reach out to Snead to see if it made sense for Ty to enter the NFL Draft, but that was about as far as their relationship went, according to Snead. "Jason, we've probably been in football about the same amount of years," Snead said. "When I was playing in the SEC, he was playing in the SEC. He got into coaching. I don't have a real personal relationship other than he's been very successful with UT Martin." On Ty's end, he had never even spoken with Snead before the phone call came that he was being picked 13th overall. "This was my first time talking to Les, tonight," Ty said Thursday. "It was something that was super surreal. I know my dad had spoken with him briefly, but this was my first contact and it was cool." Simpson also admitted that he had "no clue" that the Rams might draft him. So the rookie QB was surprised by the pick, the head coach appeared to be surprised by the pick, so this pick is going to fall on Snead. If it works out, he'll look like a genius, but if it doesn't, it will go down as possibly the most questionable pick of Snead's career.