Rams GM Les Snead: Inside the Controversial Decision to Draft Ty Simpson

Rams general manager Les Snead came on The Rich Eisen Show to walk through the most second-guessed pick of his draft. Ty Simpson at 13.

Rich did not soften the question. The conventional wisdom said it was a reach. Why use a top-15 pick on a quarterback when Matthew Stafford is on the roster and Mai Lemon and Reuben Bain were still on the board?

Snead asked for room to answer it as a system, not a sound bite.

The story, he explained, started a year earlier when the Rams acquired a bonus first-round pick that became the 13th overall selection. In the offseason, with Stafford signaling he wanted to keep chasing special in Los Angeles, the front office moved through its priority list. Recharge the defensive backfield. Sign Jaylen Watson. Use the original 29th pick on Trent McDuffy. Solidify the corner room.

That left pick 13 as a true bonus.

"Matthew's on his way to a Hall of Fame career," Snead said. "We want him to play in Los Angeles as long as possible. We all know that's coming to an end at some point. Do we prepare for the future? Do we pick a player? All of those things are in play."

The Rams also needed a backup quarterback. The Simpson selection collapsed two problems into one solution. Draft a developmental quarterback now and the front office is no longer obligated to hoard future first-round picks for an eventual succession move. Those picks can be deployed on win-now players or veteran trades like the McDuffy deal.

"That's the algorithm. That's the formula. That's how we got to that pick. You can't just look at pick 13 in a silo."

Rich pressed on the trade-down option. Could the Rams have moved back, still landed Simpson, and added an extra veteran-helping asset?

Snead acknowledged Los Angeles went into the round prepared to trade back. Around picks 11 and 12, he said, the appetite for trade-back from teams behind them dissipated. The Rams stayed pat.

Rich then offered Snead a compliment wrapped around the sharpest version of the criticism. The Rams have proven they can find immediate-impact players in the third and fifth rounds. Jared Verse is the only first-round pick the franchise has used on a non-quarterback since Jared Goff. Why not deploy pick 13 on another player who could help Stafford this fall?

Snead said the front office had been wrestling with that exact question since late February. He and Sean McVay, along with the rest of the staff, had spent two to three hours every morning on the couch in his office working through the team's direction.

Free agency planning. Draft planning. The full spectrum.

"Picking for the immediate versus the future is always going to be a variable that's to be discussed."

It was as honest an answer as a general manager can give the day after a controversial pick. The Rams chose the future. Stafford gets a student. The 13th pick gets a story.