The Los Angels Rams did it again.

They threw groupthink into the trash can. They shot their shot.

Rocking the NFL draft Thursday night, L.A.’s braintrust of Les Snead and Sean McVay spent the 13th pick on a quarterback who started only 15 college games, Alabama’s Ty Simpson.

Hold on now. The Rams did what?

Isn’t L.A. eager to squeeze a second Super Bowl-winning year out of 38-year-old quarterback Matt Stafford, who would benefit from immediate help at a few spots?

And with No. 1 receiver Puka Nacua’s entering a holistic rehab clinic recently after another bruising season and No. 2 receiver Davante Adams headed toward his 34th birthday, wouldn’t drafting a receiver have made sense?

Yes and yes.

And didn’t veteran NFL draft analysts such as the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, the former Eagles, Ravens and Browns scout from El Cajon, and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler place Simpson at 37th and 41st on their top-50 lists?

Yes and yes.

But Snead and McVey aren’t conventional thinkers.

This is the tandem that, led by Snead, the general manager, dealt more first-round draft chips over a five-year span than many NFL clubs do over decades.

And it worked out so well that Snead that when he went to the Super Bowl parade, he wore a T-shirt that read, in effect, to heck with them draft picks.

Simpson hopes his next L.A. football chapter goes better than the one four months ago.

Indiana dealt him a miserable Rose Bowl defeat at Pasadena, in a playoff game. In fairness to Simpson, who looked tentative and never got into a rhythm on a wet field, Bama’s offensive line had a bad game. Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who went first Thursday, to the Raiders, shredded a subpar Bama defense, putting additional heat on Simpson.

Heady and agile, Simpson recalls former NFL quarterback Brian Hoyer, who started for eight NFL franchises but was mostly a very good backup.

Snead and McVey must see the 6-foot-1, 211-pound Simpson as comparable to Brock Purdy.

The 23-year-old is said to be wicked smart, like Purdy, the 49ers star who led San Francisco to a Super Bowl less than two years after going last in the 2022 draft out of Iowa Sate.

If Snead and McVey got this right, the Rams have a potential Super Bowl-level QB in the fold who can learn from Stafford for at least one year.

Then again, when Snead and McVey moved on from Jared Goff to Stafford, it was Stafford’s powerful arm and ability to wing lasers on the move that enticed them. Those clubs probably aren’t in Simpson’s bag.

The Rams do keep us on our toes.

Quick hits

The Chargers were fortunate: Powerful defensive end Akheem Mesidor was there at 22. General manager Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh wisely took him. He’ll be effective against the run and an adequate rusher.

+ I love running back Jerimayeh Love’s game and like receiver Carnell Tate’s polished skills. And they seem like terrific people too. Both were overdrafted. Love will succeed. But No. 3, where the guaranteed money is massive, is too high for a running back unless he’s Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk or thereabouts. The Titans should’ve drafted an offensive tackle.

+ Cowboys draft overseer Will McClay landed the best defender in this draft class, Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, at No. 11. Downs is a football savant. He sees the game as well as safety Eric Weddle, the two-time All-Pro and Super Bowl winner who went 37th to San Diego in 2007.

+ I like that former San Diego State WR Darren Mougey is starting in the lines. For the second time in two Jets drafts,  the GM took a lineman in the top 10.  Last April it was Missouri’s  Armand Membou at No. 7. The right tackle had a fine rookie year, starting all 17 games. Thursday, it was Texas Tech DE David Bailey at No. 2. Ex Steelers and San Diego Chargers tackle Max Starks, now with ESPN, said Bailey’s “first-step quickness is going going to kill a lot of these tackles.