Rams take Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson at No. 13, eye future starter

The Rams used the No. 13 pick to make a direct succession play, selecting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson as the likely long-term answer behind Matthew Stafford. For a franchise built around immediate contention, the choice signaled that Los Angeles was willing to spend premium draft capital now to reduce the risk of a hard reset later.

Stafford is 38 and entering his 18th NFL season after winning the 2025 MVP award, but he has not said how long he intends to keep playing. According to Adam Schefter, Sean McVay told Stafford on Thursday that the Rams planned to take Simpson at No. 13, using the pick Los Angeles acquired from the Falcons in last year’s draft-day trade. McVay said in March that he does not “ever” think about life after Stafford, then added that the Rams do think about the position in the “short and long term.” Thursday’s move made that split timeline visible.

Simpson, 23, arrived with a thinner college resume than most first-round quarterbacks. He had only 15 career starts at Alabama, the fourth-fewest by any first-round quarterback over the past 25 years, after spending three years behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe. In his lone season as Alabama’s full-time starter, Simpson completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns, earned Second-Team All-SEC honors, finished as a Manning Award finalist and helped the Crimson Tide to an 11-4 record and a College Football Playoff quarterfinal appearance.

The production came with a clear split. Simpson opened the year with 21 touchdowns and one interception over his first nine games, then finished with seven touchdowns and four interceptions over his final six. That uneven stretch is part of what made him a polarizing prospect, even as evaluators praised his processing, quick reads and mechanics.

Los Angeles now has Stetson Bennett IV behind Stafford as well, but Simpson changes the equation. The Rams had not drafted a quarterback in the first round since Jared Goff in 2016, and ESPN Research says Simpson is only the third first-round quarterback in franchise history, joining Goff and Sam Bradford in 2010. The comparison is telling: when teams use premium picks on passers, they are usually choosing between present urgency and future stability. The Rams chose both.

Simpson said after the pick that he was looking forward to learning from McVay and Stafford, whom he called one of the greatest of all time. Nick Saban, his former coach at Alabama, called the fit “perfect.” For the Rams, the message was even clearer: Stafford’s era is still alive, but the handoff has begun.