Ty Simpson Describes 'Secret Meetings' with Sean McVay Before Rams Selected QB in 2026 NFL Draft

Sean McVay is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the NFL, so it surely would have turned heads around the league if word got out he was interested in Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson going into the 2026 NFL draft.

With that as the backdrop, Simpson told ESPN Radio's Ian Fitzsimmons (h/t ESPN's Sarah Barshop) he had "secret meetings" with the coach before Los Angeles selected him with the No. 13 overall pick.

"We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could," Simpson said Monday. "It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn't want people to know that they were interested.

"So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody."

Simpson's comments are all the more notable considering the discourse that emerged in the immediate aftermath of Thursday's first round.

McVay did not express the typical excitement one would expect when the Rams selected the Alabama product at No. 13 overall. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler noted he "appeared subdued, almost frustrated at a news conference discussing the decision."

Yet Fowler also cited sources who said the head coach could have been downplaying his reaction to reconfirm his confidence in reigning MVP Matthew Stafford.

What's more, one source told Fowler, "[The Rams brass] knew that if it got out that McVay stamped this guy, that could have created more interest ahead of them."

On Monday, Simpson said he talked to McVay "for hours and hours" and felt "like a kid in a candy store" getting to talk to someone who is so knowledgeable about the sport and quarterback play as a whole.

The rookie will have plenty of chances to soak up even more of that knowledge as he sits behind Stafford and works with McVay at the start of his career. It will be a familiar situation since he also backed up Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe at Alabama before taking over as a starter in his final collegiate season.

He led the Crimson Tide to the SEC championship game and the College Football Playoff in that season and was widely seen as the second-best quarterback in this year's draft behind Indiana's Fernando Mendoza.

Ty Simpson highlights

00:57

Still, this was a rather surprising draft pick since the Rams were one win away from reaching the Super Bowl last season. They could have used that No. 13 overall pick to land an impact player who could help them in their Lombardi Trophy pursuit in 2026 instead of a quarterback who will not see significant snaps if everything goes according to plan.

Alas, Los Angeles and McVay surely saw a potential future starter in Simpson and now have a succession plan for the 38-year-old Stafford.