Todd McShay's Case for Ty Simpson

Todd McShay came on to defend his read on Alabama's Ty Simpson, the quarterback he says has been buried in the draft conversation under Fernando Mendoza and unfairly lumped in with the names behind him. McShay's take is that Simpson is the exception, not the afterthought.

The framing started with Rich giving McShay the floor on Simpson. McShay jokingly distanced himself from Dan Orlovsky's all-in takes and then made his own aggressive case. Through nine games this season, watching both Mendoza and Simpson, Simpson was the better quarterback. Pre-snap identification. Feet married to concepts. Balls out on time. Anticipation. It all looked NFL.

Then things shifted. Against Oklahoma, Brent Venables cracked Alabama's pass protection and left a blueprint. Simpson started taking more hits. The Alabama run game ranked 125th in the nation. Top receiver Ryan Williams faded. Gastritis dropped Simpson to 190 pounds by season's end. Production declined while Mendoza simultaneously got better.

McShay said he was first to market on Mendoza as a first-round pick last summer, texting Pete Thamel about it. He liked Mendoza a lot, recognized areas that needed work, and wasn't ready to go number-one overall until the Ohio State tape. If you rewind that game, he said, it's the best individual tape of any prospect in any game this cycle, and he's 200 players deep. The toughness showed after the first Caden hit, then again in the end zone with his helmet against the ground. Twenty-seven touchdowns, zero interceptions in the red zone. Top-five nationally on third and fourth down. Every moment Mendoza needed to be great, he was.

But McShay's point was that Simpson shouldn't be lost in that. He can be a good starter in the league with the right landing spot and development time. Arizona trading back. The Rams with McVay. Either spot fits. McShay also flagged two other quarterbacks getting underplayed. Taylen Green as a possible second-round pick with two years of development in the right room. Cole Payton from North Dakota State as the most underrated prospect in the entire draft, a day-two pick who'll surprise people.

Rich pulled the direct quote from McShay's Ringer column. Simpson can be Brock Purdy with more mobility and a little more juice in his arm. McShay said the comp is about style and profile, not draft slot. Size, understanding, feel. Purdy is the closest starter to it.

Rich brought up the outlier problem. Simpson has 15 college starts. McShay agreed that's the big concern. The Parcells bar, 25 starts and a college degree, still echoes through front offices, and NIL and the transfer portal have only amplified the premium on quarterback experience. McShay said his first reaction when Simpson declared was a mini gut punch. He wanted 12 to 15 more starts, even at another school if it meant a bag.

That's why McShay has Simpson ranked in the 25-to-35 range and why he thinks that's where Simpson lands. Outliers, he said, are the worst part of this time of year.