Does Sean McVay hate his future franchise quarterback, Ty Simpson?
While a hilariously wild sentence to read, it’s the thought many fans and pundits had last night following the first night of the 2026 NFL draft.
The Los Angeles Rams surprised the football world by taking the Alabama Crimson Tide one-year starter with the No. 13 pick, and the post-draft press conference might have been even more shocking.
While every other team was hyping up their first-round pick as the prince that was promised, Sean McVay sat stonefaced while general manager Les Snead spoke highly of Simpson.
When asked if Simpson would be competing for the starting job this offseason, McVay shut down any preconceptions, reaffirming that the team was reigning MVP Matthew Stafford’s and the first-round QB would be in competition with Stenson Bennett for the backup position.
The clips of McVay at the presser flooded social media and sparked a conversation about whether he was strong-armed into taking Simpson when the team could have drafted several players to maximize the chances of the franchise winning the Super Bowl at home next season.
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On Friday, though, multiple reports, including NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Jeremy Fowler, stated that McVay was fully on board with Simpson as Stafford’s successor.
But he wasn’t going to be all smiles in front of the camera.
“Multiple team sources said they believe McVay might have felt the need to downplay the pick in order to accentuate his confidence in Stafford,” wrote Fowler in a story published by ESPN on Friday.
Simpson is a coach’s son, and although not the best prospect in recent drafts when it comes to arm strength or raw athleticism, he does possess one of the highest football IQs, which is what McVay and Snead were looking for in a successor to Stafford.
His clean footwork, mechanics, and ability to read defenses are seen as edges he has over the best quarterbacks taken in the last few years, and the Rams believe they can raise his ceiling to one of the best in football.
Rapoport went on to say that McVay’s reaction most likely stemmed from the fact that Stafford and the Rams are still working out a contract for the coming season, and that any outward happiness might have prompted him to reconsider his decision to return for another campaign.
Happy, mad, upset, or somewhere in between, McVay’s true thoughts on Simpson might stay a mystery until the Tennessee native takes the field for the first time in a regular season game.
And if Stafford has anything to say about it, that might not be for a few more years.
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