Turf Show Times
A viral report from The Athletic suggests that Ty Simpson struggled to separate himself from Stetson Bennett in the Los Angeles Rams’ quarterback battle during organized team activities.
On the surface it seems concerning that the thirteenth overall selection isn’t immediately an upgrade over a former fourth-round pick and career backup in Bennett. The report stirred controversy within the Rams fanbase.
I’m here to tell you it doesn’t matter. Don’t panic. Remain calm.
First, let’s take the report from Nate Atkins in its entirety:
The Rams only had three open practices to watch before they canceled veteran minicamp, but one thing that stood out was that the backup quarterback race is on. This was how Sean McVay presented it upon the selection of Ty Simpson with the No. 13 pick, and then Stetson Bennett took reps first in the two practices Matthew Stafford missed to manage his back. Neither Bennett nor Simpson were able to stand out ahead of the other in these moments, as both worked on crossers, slants, outs and other basic routes, and neither produced much down the field. Bennett did have a lazy out throw that Trent McDuffie picked off, and Simpson overthrew a couple different deeper throws. It’s just not as simple as it was with Jimmy Garoppolo, who had started 63 games before he became Stafford’s backup the past two seasons. Los Angeles planned on bringing Garoppolo back even with the plan to draft Simpson, but with Garoppolo leaning toward retirement, time will tell whether Simpson or Bennett are ready to fill a void the Rams consider significant with Stafford’s need to take time off and with the risk from each time Stafford takes a hit.
We are talking about only three practices that were open to the media and in which Atkins could observe. Three of the first practices of Simpson’s NFL career.
Players aren’t wearing pads like they will later in training camp. These are early workouts and practices will approach reach football in July and August.
We shouldn’t pay attention to anything Simpson does on the field in June. Even if the reports were overwhelmingly positive, I’d be in this exact place warning not to get over our skis.
The reports that are more meaningful to me are Simpson’s teammates saying “it’s starting to click” for him, of which team captain Quentin Lake recently did. Lake is on the field for every practice. He’s not extrapolating a fraction of days that are only available to the media. Lake understands why the franchise decided to bring in a young quarterback and that said quarterback is making progress in his patient development.
And I’m also writing to warn that we should not panic if Simpson indeed loses the backup quarterback job to Bennett. It could happen, although the chances may be low.
In May I said that Simpson should not step on the field until the moment Sean McVay deems him ready. Simpson is the quarterback of the future. Bad teams often...
