Rams select QB Ty Simpson with No. 13 pick in NFL draft - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — When the Rams selected quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick in the NFL draft Thursday night, he became the likely successor to Matthew Stafford.

But after the pick was made, coach Sean McVay made it clear: «This is Matthew's team.»

Stafford, 38, who is entering his 18th season, was named NFL MVP in 2025. He has not said how long he intends to play.

McVay said he had told Stafford that the team planned to take Simpson at No. 13 but added that he wanted to keep those conversations between the two. When asked for Stafford's reaction to the news, McVay added: «Oh, he was great.»

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«He's a stud,» McVay said. «I mean, he's always first class in every sense of the word.»

The Rams became the first team to have a quarterback win MVP, then select a quarterback in the first round of the subsequent NFL draft since the Packers in 1967; Bart Starr won MVP in 1966, and Green Bay drafted Don Horn 25th overall the following year.

Simpson, who started 15 games at Alabama, entered the draft widely considered to be the second-best quarterback behind Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, who was selected first by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Simpson said his predraft contact with the Rams was «really brief,» noting he met with team scouts at Alabama. He said that he has not talked to Stafford yet but that he is «super pumped to just be a part of a room with him and to learn from him.»

«He's one of the greatest of all time, quarterback wise,» Simpson said. «And we watched his film all the time when I was at Bama.… So the fact that I get to be in a room and soak up all that knowledge is something that I couldn't ask for a