Rich Weighs In on Ty Simpson’s Secret Pre-Draft Meeting with Rams HC Sean McVay

Les Snead is making the rounds, and Rich is following the breadcrumbs.

The Rams general manager is booked for Wednesday's edition of The Rich Eisen Show, and Rich expects more of the same from the Los Angeles brass that has spent the last week downplaying its love affair with rookie quarterback Ty Simpson. Sean McVay called himself "Mr. Grumpy" in his post-draft press conference. Offensive coordinator Michael LaFleur used the same phrase. Everyone in the building is being careful about how they talk about the kid they just spent a 13th overall pick on.

Then Ty Simpson went on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles and pulled the curtain back himself.

Simpson admitted to secret pre-draft meetings with McVay, hours of film work, and an explicit instruction to keep his mouth shut. "It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private," Simpson said. After the draft, when pressed on the contradiction between his earlier denials and the actual film sessions, he shrugged it off. They had one meeting, they kept it quiet, and it happened the way it happened.

Rich understands the secrecy completely.

There are two reasons the Rams played hide-the-ball. First, you don't want a team like the Cowboys at 12 or the Dolphins (who moved up to 11) to jump the line and force you to pay a massive premium. If Arizona had known Los Angeles was in love with Simpson at 13, the price of doing business goes up in a hurry. Second, and this is the part Rich keeps circling back to, you don't antagonize the quarterback you're still trying to win a Super Bowl with.

Matthew Stafford is that quarterback. And right now, every breadcrumb that leaks about Ty Simpson lands in his living room.

Rich's read on the situation is direct. The Rams love the kid enough to grab him when they could, but they will keep him on the bench as long as Stafford wants to play and plays at the level he has been playing at. McVay isn't going to come across as giddy in front of a press microphone, no matter how head over heels the front office actually is. Mr. Grumpy is a posture. It's a courtesy.

Rich also notes how rare a clean quarterback exit really is. Peyton Manning got one, sort of. John Elway got one. Almost everyone else got pushed out, traded, benched, or forced to walk. So when a team starts laying groundwork for a succession plan, it gets messy. It gets clunky. The Rams knew it would.

The move that actually put Los Angeles over the top in round one, Rich argues, was trading for Trent McDuffie. That made the 13th overall pick (acquired from Atlanta) a bonus, a cherry on top, and the Rams used that cherry to grab a quarterback McVay clearly has a ton in common with.

Rich would rather Simpson sit in Camp McVay than start 15 games in New York coming off a Jets selection. The kid doesn't have to play. He gets to learn. And the show will keep talking about it until he does.