Les Snead recruited quarterback Ty Simpson to the Rams by promising to draft him with the 13th pick, raising questions about the ethics of such a move. This strategy has implications for both Simpson's career and the Rams' draft evaluation process.
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âBack in December, Ty Simpson is still playing. He has not hired an agent. His dad, the head coach at UT-Martin, was calling people in the NFL and seeking input on whether Simpsons should enter the draft or transfer. One of the people who told him that his floor was the first round was Les Snead. Fast forward to the coming weeks, as Alabama is going to the Rose Bowl, and Miami is offering $5 million to come there in 2026. They turn it down and Miami offers $6.5 million.
Theyâre in L.A. for the Rose Bowl and the Rams have Ty Simpsonâs parents come over to the facility and they spend time with them. Momâs on the fence, dadâs gather information. When they asked why should Ty enter the draft, the answer, and Iâm paraphrasing, from Les was âBecause Iâm going to take him with the number 13 pick.â Inside the Ramsâ selection of QB Ty Simpson at No. 13 overall â a pick months in the making. @gmfb@nflnetworkpic.twitter.com/72L3edbtSj
â Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 24, 2026 According to ESPNâs Peter Schrager, the Rams felt pressure to get Simpson now because they donât believe theyâll be able to draft a good quarterback in 2027 because theyâll be picking too late. Thatâs a lot of confidence for a team that knows what it was like to go 5-12 the year after winning the Super Bowl. âSeems like Staffordâs on board,â said Schrager, which isnât exactly the same as âMatthew Stafford love this pickâ. The thinking, the secrecy, the and communication behind the Rams' selection of Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick.
Les Snead promised Ty Simpson's family that he would be drafted with the 13th pick in the NFL Draft.
The Rams may have become overly focused on Ty Simpson, potentially neglecting to evaluate other quarterback options for the 13th pick.
If the Rams had not drafted Simpson, it could have harmed his career prospects and financial opportunities, especially after he turned down a $6.5 million offer from Miami.
No, Ty Simpson stated that he had never met Sean McVay prior to the draft, raising questions about the communication within the Rams organization.
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A delicate dance to be sure. @GetUpESPN@tejfbanalytics pic.twitter.com/plEIpthKQ2
â Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) April 24, 2026
There may not be anything against the rules or morally wrong with promising a prospect that he was going to be drafted, but it does get into the issue of what that kind of pressure does to both the player and the team when the draft is live: What if the Rams ***did not*** take Ty Simpson at 13 and then he falls out of the first round altogether?
Then Snead will not only have lied to the Simpson family about his floor as a first round pick, but he will have potentially cost him more money to have transferred to Miami and a chance to be drafted higher in 2027 if he had gone back to school. To a degree, Snead had backed the Rams into a corner where they either had to draft Simpson at 13 or risk having this broken promise out there once Simpson started telling everybody, âUh, well, Les Snead told me to enter the draft because he was going to pick me at 13.â And once he did that, well, to what degree did Les shut down the evaluation of other player who could be available at 13?
Were the Rams actually evaluating all of their options in the draft at pick 13 or did they become laser focused on Ty Simpson once Snead decided that it was better to just take QB2 in 2026 than to explore any other options for finding a quarterback of the future? Now that we know Snead promised the pick to Simpson and then picked Simpson, it makes you wonder if L.A.âs draft season for pick 13 was anything but a farce. And yet strangely, Simpson had never met Sean McVay prior to the draft.
Ty Simpson just said on @SiriusXMNFL that heâs never met Sean McVay.
â Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) April 24, 2026 Whether there could be any disconnect at play here between Snead and McVay is purely speculation, but weâve known for a long time that sometimes the Rams make huge investments in players who donât seem to have any role in McVayâs offense. Tutu Atwellâs second contract. Terrance Ferguson. Allen Robinson. But so far nobody has reported that *McVay* told Simpson he was going to be the 13th pick and that he should turn down $6.5 million from Miami to enter the NFL Draft because âworst case scenario youâre a first round pickâ. In fact, I donât know if weâve ever heard a story like that before by any team or prospect. Really thought this was a strange pick not only because of their SB window but because McVay had so much success with Stafford why would he want to go back to the limited tools QB archetype
â Ted Nguyen (@FB\_FilmAnalysis) April 24, 2026 Snead literally recruited Simpson. He told him to enter the draft so that he could pick him and then thatâs what happened. Is there anything *wrong* with that? Not legally or morally. But if Simpson doesnât turn out to be the successor to Matthew Stafford, there are definitely going to be more questions about why it had to be Ty Simpson all along.