{"id":308282,"date":"2026-05-10T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308282\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T00:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:01:14","slug":"ty-simpson-didnt-notice-controversy-with-rams-picking-him-no-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308282\/","title":{"rendered":"Ty Simpson didn’t notice controversy with Rams picking him No. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew Stafford<\/a>, the reigning NFL most valuable player, was in a tower at the starting line.<\/p>\n

Ty Simpson<\/a> \u2014 the 13th pick in the draft \u2014 and the rest of the Rams<\/a> rookie class were at the finish.<\/p>\n

The Rams present and presumably heir-apparent quarterback bookended Saturday\u2019s WalkUnitedLA<\/a> fundraising event at Hollywood Park.<\/p>\n

On Monday, they will be in the same meeting room and on the field together for the first time as the Rams continue their voluntary offseason workout program in Woodland Hills.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo excited to be here, not only in a great city like Los Angeles, but a great organization like the Rams,\u201d Simpson said in an interview after greeting and presenting medals to runners and walkers who completed a 5K. \u201cThere\u2019s great people and great friends in the rookie class, just excited to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Ty Simpson, right, poses with a fan during a WalkUnitedLA fundraising event on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Gary Klein \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Simpson was back in Los Angeles for the first time since April 24, the day after the seemingly Super Bowl-ready Rams surprised many by passing up the opportunity to select a receiver to choose an Alabama quarterback with only 15 starts. Simpson said he was not aware of the initial reaction by some fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know they called my name on the 13th pick \u2014 and, sign me up, I was going to Los Angeles,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really get into all that. … I just have to make sure I do whatever my process is, and make sure that I do whatever the team needs me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the night the Rams drafted Simpson, general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay<\/a> were uncharacteristically subdued during a news conference. McVay later explained he was attempting to be respectful of Stafford\u2019s status as the team leader, and that a personal situation also had affected his demeanor on draft night.<\/p>\n

Asked if he had watched the news conference, Simpson said, \u201cI didn\u2019t really see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know one thing though,\u201d he said. \u201cI know coach McVay has been in contact and he\u2019s super fired up. And I\u2019m super excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that I couldn\u2019t have asked for a better situation, not only with the best player in the league in front of me but the best coach in the league at the helm.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he was drafted, Simpson, 23, received a message from Stafford\u2019s wife, Kelly, welcoming him and offering assistance to him and his family. He said he also received a text from Stafford that he did not initially see.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really cool too,\u201d Simpson said, \u201cbecause they didn\u2019t have to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford, 38, was the No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia in 2009. His message to Simpson?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was funny because, of course, he was like, \u2018Welcome, man. I\u2019m super pumped,\u2019\u201d Simpson said. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Loved watching you play, but you played for the wrong jersey,\u2019 because he\u2019s pumping up Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson chuckled.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I see him on Monday, I\u2019m going to give him heck about that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s cool. I\u2019m super excited, especially having him and [quarterback] Stetson [Bennett] in there, Georgia guys, and me, an Alabama guy, so I\u2019ve got to stand up for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson spent the last few weeks working out in Tennessee. He requested a Rams playbook immediately after he was drafted, but said that McVay, quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone and offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase counseled that all of the rookies would be onboarded together.<\/p>\n

He is eager to get started with the first phase of his pro career.<\/p>\n

His goal for offseason workouts?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust get my feet underneath me,\u201d he said. \u201cBe the best guy I can be. It\u2019s going to be such a different vibe, whatever you want to call it, from college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to go in there, soak up as much as I can from Matthew and the guys and be the best player I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player, was in a tower at the starting line. Ty Simpson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[129547,10951,57121,9831,10979,48,52,51,10572,47,50,49,63,4446,18158,11706,10947,129546,29443,37227,129545],"class_list":["post-308282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-alabama-quarterback","tag-coach-sean-mcvay","tag-draft","tag-first-time","tag-georgia","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-league","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-message","tag-no","tag-ram","tag-rams","tag-rams-rookie-class","tag-stafford","tag-ty-simpson","tag-voluntary-offseason-workout-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}