Ty Simpson Reveals Secret Meeting with Rams, Sean McVay
After the draft, when everyone was shocked the Los Angeles Rams drafted him, Ty Simpson said he'd never met with Sean McVay. This added fuel to the fire that McVay wasn't on board with the pick and that he didn't like Simpson joining. In the immediate press conference after, McVay clarified that it was Matthew Stafford's team and dismissed Simpson as competing with Stetson Bennett for the backup job.
It all prompted rumors that there was a rift between the front office and the coach. McVay is usually unable to hide his true emotions, and he seemed fairly absentminded when discussing the pick after the first round. With the news that Simpson had never even talked to McVay, the rift only seemed more likely. However, now that he is a few days removed, Simpson said he did actually meet with his new coach.
Ty Simpson says he met with Sean McVay secretly
The Rams' pre-draft process has been very interesting in the Les Snead and Sean McVay era. They rarely meet with prospects at all. Los Angeles trades almost all of their first-round picks. They don't host anyone on top-30 visits. It's all unorthodox, and it came to a head with the Ty Simpson pick.
When Simpson said he hadn't met with McVay, it wasn't a shock. However, it did seem to poke some holes in their process. However, that wasn't the case. In fact, Simpson seems to be one of the few who did meet with McVay pre-draft.
"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."
"And it was just football," Simpson said of the meeting that went for multiple hours. "It was just straight football. And it was like a kid in a candy store. Me and him are sitting there, and we're just going back and forth. You can tell the obsession he has for the game, and you can tell the love he has for quarterback play."
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Sean McVay still thinks it's Matthew Stafford's team
Despite all this, the Rams are still Matthew Stafford's team. They're just taking the Green Bay Packers approach. Aaron Rodgers responded to the Jordan Love selection by winning MVP, while Stafford won MVP the year before Simpson was selected. Both QBs were getting up there, though.
McVay said he "couldn't be more excited about being able to add (Simpson)," but he made it abundantly clear that there's no timeline for Stafford to retire. He's mulled it over the last few offseasons and will likely continue to think on it every year. But until he decides that, he will remain the Rams' QB.
"Whenever that time comes for [Simpson] to get an opportunity to be Matthew's successor will be on Matthew's terms," McVay said after the draft. Simpson also said he loves the way McVay coaches QB play. The Alabama product will benefit from learning behind Stafford for as long as that happens.
Balancing this all is very tricky. The Falcons tried and ultimately failed to do it with Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr. The Packers have done it twice with Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Jordan Love. The Rams are, understandably, trying to get ahead of Stafford's retirement. However, it remains to be seen how well this attempt will go.
