Pro Football Rumors
Today, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Rams quarterback Ty Simpson has signed his rookie contract, concluding the team’s rookie class signings and closing the book on the entire 2026 NFL Draft class. Per Rapoport, the backup passer’s four-year deal is fully guaranteed for $25.4MM with a $14.94MM signing bonus.
The Rams have only had one other first-round pick in the last 10 years, so we can forgive them for being the last to sign their Day 1 pick. Armed with Atlanta’s No. 13 overall pick — thanks to a first-round trade the prior year that allowed the Falcons to move up 20 spots for pass rusher James Pearce Jr. — Los Angeles was rumored to be high on Simpson, but it was thought that any attempts to land the Alabama-product in the first round would include a trade back. Perhaps the Rams tried and failed to find a willing trade partner; perhaps they were high enough on Simpson that they didn’t want to risk letting their chance to select him pass by. Regardless, as soon as the selection was made, the plan became clear.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford may have just turned 38 years old at the end of the 2025 NFL season, but at 37, he led the league in passing yards and touchdowns, earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career, and was named MVP. It was clear that Los Angeles drafted Simpson to replace Stafford, but it was just as clear that Stafford wasn’t going anywhere, as evidenced a few weeks later, when Stafford signed a one-year, $55MM extension to remain a Ram through the 2027 season.
So, with Stafford secure, albeit while creeping up on 40 years old, why draft a passer with starting potential now? Part of the surprise for why Simpson went so high in the first round was because he was seen as something of a project. Don’t be fooled, Simpson flashed great stuff for the Crimson Tide, but a few major red flags proved sticky. Despite a bad Week 1 loss to the lowly Seminoles, Simpson rattled off eight straight wins in the weeks that followed to keep the Tide in playoff contention and established himself as a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy in the process. He completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 21 touchdowns and only one interception which averaging 273.4 passing yards per game in that stretch.
The final six weeks saw a very different version of Simpson as he only completed 60.5 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and four interceptions while averaging 184.3 passing yards per game. Theories that defensive coordinators had figured him out or that health issues hampered him through that final stretch ran rampant. It was believed that a lower back injury and elbow bursitis began hurting him in October, while other reports cited gastritis that caused him to lose nearly 20 pounds. Adding injury to insult, his season ended when he suffered a fractured rib in a...
