Rams quarterback Ty Simpson was easier for an opposing team to prepare to go against than former Alabama quarterbacks Jalen Milroe and Bryce Young, according to an anonymous SEC defensive coordinator. In a report of other coaches in the conference who chose to be anonymous, Simpson’s selection at 13th overall was a “wow” moment, that he’s “not ready to go”, and he was “just OK” last season.
Is Simpson going to prove those skeptics wrong?
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg asked coaches from all Power 4 conferences
about some of the draft picks made this year and the article of course led with a few interesting quotes about Simpson, the biggest surprise of night one.
“I honestly was surprised,” an SEC defensive coordinator said. “I was surprised by the team, too.”
“For him to go that high, I was a little bit like, ‘Wow, OK,'” the coach said. “I don’t know how he practices, I don’t know his mind. They were saying he was banged up in the back stretch, but he was just OK. Maybe he has those qualities that you can’t coach that some of these [NFL teams] fell in love with.”
Other SEC coaches acknowledged that Simpson’s profile has some clear concerns — “He’s not ready to go be a starter in the NFL right now, he’s got work to do,” one SEC coordinator said — but noted that he performed well for much of last season, even with an offense that had limitations with its run game.
Another defensive coordinator said Simpson was not has hard to prepare for as Young and Milroe.
For context, Bryce Young was the number one pick in the 2023 draft but has struggled for the better part of his NFL career and been benched multiple times by the Carolina Panthers. Although Young ended last season on a high note, he has a long ways to go before he’s established as a long-term starter in the league.
Simpson spent two years on the bench behind Milroe prior to Milroe being a late third round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2025. The Seahawks expect Milroe to take time to develop, but still threw out all of their planned packages for him last season after only three snaps, all of which went poorly.
L.A. is in a similar position with Simpson in that they did not draft him to play right away. All the coaches in ESPN’s article that touched on the subject said that the Rams would need a similar approach with Simpson because he does not seem “ready” for the NFL, but there’s also the lingering question of how he will get experience that he lacked in college if he’s sitting behind Matthew Stafford for one or more years?
It’s a tall task for the Rams coaches. And they won’t be able to remain anonymous.
