Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is among the noteworthy members of the NFL community who have suggested that general manager Les Snead and not head coach Sean McVay was responsible for the Los Angeles Rams making Alabama Crimson Tide
quarterback Ty Simpson the 13th overall pick of the 2026 draft on Thursday night.
Previously, Simpson shared that a conversation with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban helped convince the signal-caller to turn pro this year. During Friday’s edition of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” program, league insider Tom Pelissero revealed that Snead also impacted Simpson’s decision.
Ty Simpson knew Rams would ensure he made a wise financial decision?
“One of the people that he leaned heavily on and told him in December, ‘The floor is first round for Ty Simpson,’ was Les Snead, the Rams’ general manager,” Pelissero explained.
Pelissero then mentioned how the Miami Hurricanes had offered Simpson $6.5M to transfer to Miami to be the program’s starter for the 2026 college season.
“That is more money than the top pick in the second round gets in a signing bonus to play college football,” Pelissero continued. “So then they’re out there in L.A. for the Rose Bowl. The Rams actually have Ty Simpson’s parents over to the facility. They spend time with them. Mom is still on the fence; dad’s gathering all the information. And when they asked, ‘Why should Ty come out in this draft?’ The answer, and I’m paraphrasing — I wasn’t in the room — from Les Snead was, essentially, ‘Because I’m gonna take him with the No. 13 pick.’ Now, there’s nothing binding about a conversation or a text message or advice. But that’s how convicted Les Snead was about Ty Simpson being a franchise quarterback in the NFL.”
There’s plenty to unpack here.
For starters, it does sound like Simpson was Snead’s preferred pick regardless of McVay’s feelings on the subject. The Pelissero timeline also makes it seem that Snead knew he could draft Simpson at a time when Rams starter Matthew Stafford was apparently still thinking about whether or not he would return for another season.
Recent reports have indicated Stafford could soon sign a contract extension with the Rams. It’s unclear if Pelissero’s update could cause Stafford to rethink his working relationship with his current employer.
“The upside is still there for Ty Simpson,” Pelissero added about the Rams’ mindset. “The Rams are betting on that upside in a big way by using the No. 13 pick. Any coach, any coach in the NFL, is going to go, ‘I got the reigning NFL MVP. I’m trying to win right now. Get the help for Matthew Stafford.’ Ty Simpson, in the best-case scenario, doesn’t see the field this season, because that would mean something happened to the reigning NFL MVP. For Les Snead, he is setting this thing up for the long haul. It doesn’t happen very often, particularly when a player is playing at as high a level as Matthew Stafford. But you have to understand, this is what it was going to take for the Rams to get him. Les Snead was on this for months. This was not willy-nilly, we got stuck, and we took a guy. This was Les Snead’s guy, and we’ll find out in the years to come how well it works.”
Whispers claiming that McVay wasn’t all-in on drafting Simpson may grow only louder after Pelissero’s report. McVay will likely be asked about the subject when he next publicly speaks with media members on Friday evening.
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