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The Rams shocked nearly everyone in and around the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night by selecting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the No. 13 pick.
Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford, 38, won the 2025 NFL MVP as the Rams came just shy of another Super Bowl appearance last season, losing to their division rivals, the Seahawks, in the NFC Championship game.
Simpson, who started just 15 games at Alabama—all in 2025—will sign a four-year contract projected to be worth $25.4 million. He’ll make $4.62 million during the 2026 season. He was a backup quarterback for the Crimson Tide from 2022 to 2024.
Stafford, meanwhile, is entering the second season of a two-year, $84 million restructured deal he signed with the Rams last offseason after exploring trade options while seeking a pay raise. He’s projected to have a roughly $48 million salary cap hit next season. Stafford, the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, has made more than $408 million in his professional career.
The Rams received the No. 13 pick from the Falcons during a trade made in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Most draft experts did not project Simpson to be selected in the first half of the first round; the bottom end of the first round was much more likely, according to most pundits, and many predicted the second round, with no quarterbacks beyond No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza going in the first round.
“I think if he goes to a team that he doesn’t have to play immediately, and he can develop, Ty Simpson can have an outstanding pro career,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban, who recruited Simpson to Tuscaloosa, said earlier this week. “He’s a fine young man. … I think he needs a little bit more experience to be able to play with that kind of maturity.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on the network’s draft broadcast that the Rams informed Stafford earlier Thursday of their intentions to pick Simpson—something the Falcons didn’t do with Kirk Cousins in 2024 when they drafted Michael Penix, Jr.
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