Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur is NOT Shocked the Rams Drafted Ty Simpson

When the Los Angeles Rams used the 13th overall pick on quarterback Ty Simpson, the move surprised plenty of people across the league. Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur was not one of them.

LaFleur joined The Rich Eisen Show and acknowledged that the pre-draft media drumbeat had Arizona possibly needing to outflank the Jets to land Simpson. Rich asked the obvious question: as a former Rams coach, was LaFleur surprised by the pick?

"I was surprised at Mr. Grumpy that night," LaFleur said, "because I know how excited he is about that quarterback."

The nickname caught Rich off guard. LaFleur made clear he was repeating something, not coining it. He stuck with the substance though. There was, he said, a lot of love for Simpson inside the Rams building during his time there.

"I obviously was in that building," LaFleur said. "So that wasn't shocking to me at all."

LaFleur was careful about the inside-baseball edges. He noted that the in-season evaluation process always lags for teams that go deep into January. The Rams went to the NFC Championship Game, which puts a coaching staff a week or two behind on draft prep. He wasn't there for the final-room conversations that locked in the 13th pick. But he knew where the early enthusiasm came from.

Les Snead, Sean McVay, and the rest of the front office and staff, LaFleur said, were all really excited about Simpson from the start of the cycle.

Rich circled back to the nickname, asking LaFleur to confirm "Mr. Grumpy" for the record. LaFleur held the line that it was McVay's words, not his own, but he didn't deny it. The bit landed and Rich made a show of writing it down.

Then LaFleur turned earnest about Simpson the prospect. He acknowledged the limited starting sample, roughly 15 games. What stood out was the level of competition Simpson played at and the way he carried himself. Confident in his own ability. A coach's kid. From a small town. Strong foundation underneath him.

For LaFleur, the situation might be the best part. Simpson lands behind Matthew Stafford, a quarterback he can watch operate at the highest level day after day.

"I can't imagine any better situation than being behind Matthew Stafford," LaFleur said. "You get to watch a guy do it at the highest level."

LaFleur went a step further on Stafford the person, calling him as good a teammate as a young quarterback could be paired with. His love for Stafford, he said, is well known by now.

For Simpson, the developmental runway is real. He gets to learn in a building that just made an NFC title-game run, behind a quarterback whose preparation and command are widely respected, inside a system run by a head coach who clearly believed in him long before the rest of the league caught on.

LaFleur, meanwhile, has Carson Beck in Arizona and a new chapter of his own ahead. But on draft night, his old building made a call he saw coming.