Sarah BarshopApr 23, 2026, 09:27 PM ETCloseSarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Dan Orlovsky gets a standing ovation after Ty Simpson drafted at No. 13 (0:22)The crowd chants “Dan-O” as Dan Orlovsky is hyped after Ty Simpson is drafted No. 13 by the Rams. (0:22)
LOS ANGELES — When the Rams selected quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick in the NFL draft Thursday night, he became the likely successor to Matthew Stafford.
Stafford, 38, who is entering his 18th season, was named NFL MVP in 2025. He has not said how long he intends to continue playing.
McVay said he had told Stafford that the team planned to take Simpson at No. 13 but added that he wanted to keep those conversations between the two. Asked for Stafford’s reaction to the news, McVay added: “Oh, he was great.”
The Rams became the first team to have a quarterback win MVP then select a quarterback in the first round of the subsequent NFL draft since the Packers in 1967; Bart Starr won MVP in 1966, and Green Bay drafted Don Horn 25th overall the following year.
Simpson, who started 15 games at Alabama, entered the draft widely considered to be the second-best quarterback behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who was selected first by the Las Vegas Raiders.
“He’s one of the greatest of all time, quarterback wise,” Simpson said. “And we watched his film all the time when I was at Bama. … So the fact that I get to be in a room and soak up all that knowledge is something that I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
The Rams had not drafted a quarterback in the first round since trading up to take Jared Goff in 2016. Simpson is just the third quarterback taken by the Rams in the first round in the common draft era (since 1967), joining No. 1 picks Goff and Sam Bradford (2010).
Last season at Alabama, Simpson completed 64.5% of his passes for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns. His 15 career college starts are the fourth fewest by a first-round quarterback over the past 25 years.
The Rams also have Stetson Bennett IV on their roster. Bennett, who served as Los Angeles’ third-string quarterback the past two seasons, was a fourth-round pick in 2023.
Though McVay said Tuesday that he was holding out hope that Jimmy Garoppolo would decide not to retire this offseason, he said Thursday that re-signing the veteran quarterback was “probably not necessary now.”
Simpson is the fourth Alabama quarterback taken in the first round since 2020, the most of any school in that span.
Dan Orlovsky gets a standing ovation after Ty Simpson drafted at No. 13 (0:22)The crowd chants “Dan-O” as Dan Orlovsky is hyped after Ty Simpson is drafted No. 13 by the Rams. (0:22)
The crowd chants “Dan-O” as Dan Orlovsky is hyped after Ty Simpson is drafted No. 13 by the Rams. (0:22)
Sarah BarshopApr 23, 2026, 09:27 PM ETCloseSarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseSarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated.Follow on X
But after the pick was made, coach Sean McVay made it clear: “This is Matthew’s team.”
“He’s a stud,” McVay said. “I mean, he’s always first class in every sense of the word.”
Asked whether Simpson will back up Stafford, McVay said, “We’ll see.”
Information from ESPN Research was used in this report.