{"id":465066,"date":"2026-02-12T23:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/465066\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:11:10","slug":"giant-red-flag-analyst-warns-pittsburgh-about-potentially-drafting-qb-ty-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/465066\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Giant Red Flag:’ Analyst Warns Pittsburgh About Potentially Drafting QB Ty SImpson"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you spend much time looking at mock drafts this time of year, chances are you\u2019ve seen University of Alabama QB Ty Simpson mocked to the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>. The Steelers certainly need to invest in the future of the quarterback position, so it makes sense.<\/p>\n

The Steelers don\u2019t have a wealth of options at the position this year. Will QB Aaron Rodgers be back? If not, will head coach Mike McCarthy really turn to former sixth-round pick Will Howard, who hasn\u2019t played a single preseason snap<\/a>, much less regular-season snaps? Or will the Steelers take a gamble on Simpson?<\/p>\n

Yes, every time you draft a quarterback in the first round, you\u2019re gambling. However, the odds might be even less in your favor with Simpson than with some other quarterbacks. After all, he only started 15 games in college, all in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only does he only have 15 starts under his belt, but the direction of travel is downwards,\u201d analyst Sam Monson said Thursday on Check The Mic<\/a>. \u201cEverything about him screams giant red flag. But if you\u2019re QB2 in the draft, do you just have to take that guy high? I think I would be in the category of \u2018I\u2019m letting someone else make that mistake\u2019 type of pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of ironic, considering Monson said less than a week ago that Ty Simpson makes sense for the Steelers<\/a> if Aaron Rodgers returns. However, the caveat that the Steelers would not depend on Simpson to start as a rookie certainly lessens the risk that that \u201cgiant red flag\u201d would hurt the Steelers.<\/p>\n

However, the truth is that Ty Simpson\u2019s performance did not improve as the 2025 college season went on. He threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns, and only five interceptions while completing 64.5 percent of his passes. However, he threw four of his five interceptions in the last six games of the season. He also completed his lowest rate of his passes that season (48.7 percent) in Alabama\u2019s conference championship loss to Georgia. Then, in Alabama\u2019s College Football Playoff semifinal loss to eventual-national champion Indiana, he only threw for 67 yards.<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy said one of the reasons he\u2019s excited to work with Howard<\/a> is that \u201che obviously played his best at the most important time of the season.\u201d Ty Simpson didn\u2019t do that with Alabama. So, not only does he have a small sample size of work, but his performance dipped when Alabama needed him the most.<\/p>\n

Will Mike McCarthy think more highly of Simpson\u2019s physical tools than Will Howard\u2019s intangibles? Simpson does offer good arm strength and ball placement, according to our own Jim Hester<\/a>. However, is he worth investing a first-round pick in? Sam Monson isn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you spend much time looking at mock drafts this time of year, chances are you\u2019ve seen University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[216542,399,398,396,397,1321,216543,99,79383],"class_list":["post-465066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-check-the-mic","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sam-monson","tag-sports","tag-ty-simpson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}