ESPN’s Mike Greenberg: Rams Made a “Terrible Pick” with Ty Simpson

The Los Angeles Rams' decision to spend the 13th overall pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson while reigning MVP Matthew Stafford remains the starter drew sharp criticism on The Rich Eisen Show, with ESPN's Mike Greenberg calling it one of the most difficult-to-defend selections of the first round.

"It's a terrible pick," Greenberg said. "It's an absolutely terrible pick by the Rams." Pressed on whether the verdict reflected on Simpson the prospect, Greenberg drew a clean line between the player and the team's situation. "He may wind up being the greatest player of all time," Greenberg said, "but they have Matthew Stafford at an age where he is the very definition of year-to-year. They had the best team in the NFL last year and didn't win the whole thing."

Greenberg's argument turned on opportunity cost. The Rams, in his view, traded the most valuable asset they held in the entire draft for a player who will not move the needle on a 2025 championship push. "They literally got, for the most valuable asset they had in this entire exercise of the NFL draft, they got someone who will contribute zero to their effort to win the Super Bowl next year," he said. He invoked the Green Bay Packers' run from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers as a cautionary tale, arguing that even when succession picks work in the long run, the incumbent's championship window can quietly close while the team plans for the next quarterback.

Todd McShay offered the counterweight on the show, agreeing the move was a head-scratcher in the short term while crediting Rams general manager Les Snead's track record of turning mid-first-round picks into franchise pieces. "His own track record is his biggest issue to deal with in pushing back on you," McShay said, "because he's so great at turning picks like the 13th overall into somebody that can go and crush it for them right now and generationally potentially over the next 10 years."

Greenberg returned to the math of the pick itself, arguing that Simpson does not fit the traditional template at the position and that the slot was simply too rich for a developmental investment. "He doesn't have the size, he doesn't have the huge arm, he doesn't have the number of starts in college, he doesn't fulfill any of the Bill Parcells rules of quarterbacks," Greenberg said. "It's one thing if he used the 29th pick in the draft. This is the 13th pick in the draft. That seemed like a, that is a very, very aggressive move that I have a real hard time understanding."

McShay pushed back on the prospect evaluation alone, citing tape work he had done with a scout breaking down Simpson's ability to change protections and convert third downs against Georgia. "You don't see this in college," McShay said the scout told him. Rich sided with Greenberg's framing on team-building, arguing that with Stafford still under center, the Rams should have used the 13th pick to win now and figured out the next quarterback another time.