Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay wasn’t angry to see team general manager Les Snead select quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th-overall pick of the NFL Draft. Rather, as McVay explained Friday, he was upset about an unrelated matter, which clouded his interaction with reporters on Thursday night in LA.
‘What do you guys think, am I angry right now?’ the Rams’ coach asked reporters Friday night.
McVay admitted to being in an unusually somber mood during Thursday’s press conference, when he would typically be expected to boast about the team’s incoming first-round pick: ‘I get my demeanor last night.’
But as McVay explained Friday, he ‘couldn’t be more in lockstep’ with Snead.
‘We’re excited about it,’ McVay said of the Simpson pick. ‘Always want to be mindful of how things come off, things like that. Very excited about last night, very excited about [Friday] and couldn’t be more excited about us continuing to lead together, but every decision that we make is collective and collaborative.
‘That was never my intended way to come off, but sometimes I can be a little grumpy.’
Alabama’s Ty Simpson poses with Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Los Angeles Rams
Rams head coach Sean McVay seemed to know very little about Ty Simpson
There had been speculation that McVay was more interested in a player who could start immediately, given the Rams status as a Super Bowl contender entering the 2026 season.
Instead, he got Simpson, who should only see limited playing time this year provided starter Matthew Stafford remains upright.
Simpson did not work out for the Rams in the pre-draft process, and as a somewhat solemn McVay explained to reporters on Thursday in LA, Stafford is still very much entrenched as the starting quarterback.
‘Let’s make one thing clear, this is Matthew’s team,’ McVay said, later adding that Simpson will ‘compete’ for the backup job with quarterback Stetson Bennett IV, a 28-year-old who has yet to throw an NFL pass.
Asked if he discussed the pick with Stafford, McVay declined, saying he would keep that conversation between the two of them.
And Stafford isn’t necessarily entering his farewell tour. According to McVay, the 38-year-old could remain under center in LA for the foreseeable future.
‘He’s gonna be able to play as long as he’s able to, whether that’s one, two more, who knows, he might be one of those guys that plays late into his 40s,’ McVay said. ‘I wouldn’t have a problem with that.’
Local media noted that McVay was far less animated on Thursday than he’s been about the team’s previous first-round picks. Meanwhile, fans became convinced that McVay was against the choice of Simpson.
‘He’s over the moon,’ one fan wrote in a sarcastic X post. ‘Never seen anyone this ecstatic about their future franchise guy.’
‘Probably wasn’t the pick McVay wanted but rather Snead and owners,’ another surmised.
‘He was way happier to [draft] Jarquez Hunter in the 4th last year,’ one fan added, referring to McVay’s reaction to one of last year’s picks.
None of this seemed to matter to Simpson, who was excited to be joining a team that was one win away from the Super Bowl last season.
‘The fact that coach Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams took a chance on me, who’s a quarterback genius, I’m super pumped,’ Simpson told reporters on zoom. ‘I can’t wait to get to L.A.’
The decision to take Simpson appeared to belong to Rams GM Les Snead (pictured)
What was already an awkward introduction to the NFL for Los Angeles Rams rookie Ty Simpson has only grown more so with an unexpected text message from Kelly Stafford
The decision to take Simpson was apparently made by Snead, who has a connection with the quarterback’s father.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Snead and Jason Simpson, Ty’s father and the head coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin, have been close for years. Snead even advised the Simpsons on Ty’s choice to declare for the draft, Breer wrote on X.
As for Simpson, the 23-year-old backup hopes to learn as much as possible from Stafford in 2026 and, potentially, beyond.
‘Matthew Stafford throws the ball with conviction and doesn’t care what happens,’ Simpson said.
‘He might throw a pick the drive before, and he’s coming back and throwing the same type of ball.
‘That dude is an assassin. As a quarterback, that’s the type of mentality you have to have. Being able to learn from him and learn how he’s doing those things on a daily basis, I can’t wait to soak it all up.’
Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly have been together since attending the University of Georgia
What was already an awkward introduction to the NFL for Simpson grew only more so on Friday when he admitted to getting a text message from Stafford’s wife, Kelly.
‘Kelly has actually texted me on Instagram and welcomed me and told [me] to hit her up if we need anything but I can’t wait to talk to Matthew,’ he said. ‘I’m super ecstatic because I just want to pick his brain about everything.’
Fans couldn’t help but laugh at the optics of a backup quarterback getting a direct line to the starter’s wife.
‘Have you heard from Stafford?’ one fan wrote in an imagined dialogue on X.
‘No, but I heard from his wife,’ they responded, adding: ‘lmao what a boss move.’
Another fan asked: ‘Could this be considered ‘sneaking into your DMs?”
Others had a similar question.
‘Did he just say that Stafford’s wife slid into his DMs and said hit her up?’