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PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 23: Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson reacts as he puts on a hat after being chosen 13th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the tunnel during the the first round NFL football draft at Acrisure Stadium on April 23, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Los Angeles Rams selection of Ty Simpson has been a highly controversial one, and part of the controversy is the narrative that Sean McVay didn’t want to pick Simpson. Partly feeding that narrative was the claim that the head coach had never even met with Simpson prior to their selection.
Simpson himself has pushed back on that claim by simply stating that he actually did have some “secret meetings with Coach McVay”.
It’s not clear that Simpson was told he was going to be taken by the Rams, but he knew they were interested, and he knew they wanted to keep their interests private, which is normal for many teams who meet with their potential prospects.
Said Simpson on ESPN Radio,
“We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could,” Simpson said in Monday’s interview. “It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested… So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody.”
Did these meetings actually happen? It’s tough to say as we know players and coaches lie, but in sports and competition that’s innocently referred to as “gamesmanship”. It’s possible Simpson met McVay, it’s possible the team wants that idea out there so that the team can move forward selling the idea that McVay is thrilled about this selection, despite anyone saying otherwise.
Looking at it at face value, the pick was made so at this point, there is no real reason for Simpson or the Rams to manufacture a meeting that didn’t happen.
Some Questions I still have
If Simpson did meet with McVay, then when did that happen? How long did the Rams “know” taking Simpson was a possibility? Had the Rams landed Kirk Counsins or if Jimmy Garropollo wasn’t considering retirement, then would this pick have still occurred? Is there anyone in the Rams’ organization who doubts this pick?
In time, we may have more answers to those questions above, we may not. What we do know is Simpson is with the Rams.
On the one hand there were rumors that McVay had never met with Simpson making the pick even more curious; but to hear Simpson tell it, he had met McVay prior to the draft and based on the evidence we do have, that meeting went well.
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