Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams must feel pretty good about the success of their monumental 2021 trade that swapped Jared Goff and a cache of picks for Matthew Stafford. The move resulted in a Super Bowl championship at the team’s home in SoFi Stadium.
Years later Stafford is finding new heights in his career. He just put a bow on his most productive season yet and earned the NFL’s Most Valuable Player honors.
Even with things going so well, the Rams understand quarterback is the most important position in football. Stafford’s career continuation is on a year-to-year basis. He could easily decide to call it quits after 2026. LA decided now is the time to prepare for the future.
They drafted Ty Simpson with the thirteenth overall pick earlier this spring.
There is plenty of time to discern what Simpson brings to the table and whether he’s someone that the Rams can be trusted with the keys as soon as 2027. As training camp approaches, now seems like a good moment to ponder on Simpson’s NFL ceiling.
For as good as Stafford is, could Simpson one day surpass him?
For most of Stafford’s NFL tenure, he was often the 8th to 12th best quarterback in the league. Many in front of him have hung up their cleats: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck, and others.
The league’s new elite quarterbacks are stylistically very different from those who have come before. There is a significant difference in the way they play the game from what makes Stafford successful. I’m thinking of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, and more. The NFL is in good hands with this emerging crop.
But modern professional football almost requires quarterbacks to be able to win with their legs. You can get by with a savvy pocket passer, although in short-yardage and goal line situations you may be leaving meat on the bone if your signal caller can’t pick it up himself. This alone is one of the biggest changes the Rams will see when they one day transition from Stafford to Simpson.
And certainly Stafford brings a headiness to his play that is unrivaled by the next generation. His no-look passes and ability to quickly progress through the defense gives Los Angeles a massive inherent advantage. There are tradeoffs for nearly any player teams decide to put under center.
At least on the surface the Rams seem to understand where the quarterback position is headed. Simpson fits that bill from a stylistic standpoint.
A common draft season knock against both Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson was that they are probably NFL starters but may be not better than mid-tier. Simpson has frequently been compared to Brock Purdy, a former seventh round pick and someone who may never become elite himself.
But Simpson...
