What Convinced Rams GM Les Snead to Draft Alabama QB Ty Simpson

Les Snead joined The Rich Eisen Show to explain why the Los Angeles Rams used the 13th overall pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, and the answer goes well beyond a single film grade.

Snead told Rich that plenty of people inside the building liked Simpson at the micro level. He framed Simpson as a quarterback trained traditionally, the kind of passer who can execute a designed attack. Growing up a coach's son and playing this past season for Ryan Grubb, who spent a year in Seattle, gave Simpson exposure to pro-style concepts. Snead said it was easy to see Simpson make the throws and, more importantly, the decisions that led to those throws.

Then there is what Snead called sneaky mobility. When a free blitzer arrives on what he labeled gnome passing downs, Simpson can keep his eyes downfield and make the throw. He was a dual-threat coming out, Snead said, just one whose movement does not jump off the page.

The macro-level case was about journey. Snead, who grew up in Alabama, walked Rich through what it means to start at quarterback in Tuscaloosa. Simpson took over after a coaching change from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer and a staff transition. The opener went south against Florida State. Snead said the Monday through Friday after losing as Alabama's starting quarterback is the worst five-day stretch you can live in the state.

Simpson recovered. The Crimson Tide pushed for an SEC championship, earned a bid to the playoffs, and won a playoff game. Rich noted that the national conversation had largely overlooked that detail. Simpson was painted as one-and-done at Alabama, when in fact he came up with a postseason win on his ledger.

The path forward in Los Angeles is more wait than play. Rich pressed Snead on how to develop a quarterback who only has 15 starts and is now backing up Matthew Stafford. Snead leaned on a football truism. Players do more practicing than playing. He said being a backup at Alabama, repping against those defenses, is as good a training environment as it gets. Years of practice, Snead said, eventually produce a version of efficacy where a player has proof he can do it.

The other side of the coin is that real games keep score, and Simpson has only 15 of those as a starter. But Snead said when Simpson got his shot this year, he was clearly ready. He was not microwaved. The Rams GM described it as an oven experience.

Rich closed with the Sean McVay angle. He had heard Simpson is whip smart and shares a football wavelength with the Rams head coach. Snead confirmed the read. To thrive in McVay's offensive ecosystem, he said, you better be whip smart in football terms. He stopped short of vouching for Simpson as a NASA engineer, but said when Simpson and McVay talk football, it sounds like SpaceX employees plotting a Mars mission. The physics, Snead joked, are operating at a level the rest of us did not know existed.