Rams: (#13) 1st Round QB Ty Simpson SIGNED

[Ram65]

He's short and 10-20 lbs below where we would like him. Of course, if he had those things, would he have been available at 13? There's the conundrum.

Funny, I looked up Stafford's weight. He lost weight from 235 to 215 Lbs. Simpson was 211 Lbs at the combine but was recovering from gastritis. He is getting back to his normal weight of 215 LBs. Being fit is more important to Stafford. Considering he is shorter than Stafford, if he maintains a weight of 215-220 he will be fine. I'm sure the Rams training staff will get him to his ideal weight. Granted he is on the shorter side, but not short, he is well over 6' at 6' 1 1/8". His mobility is more important than being near fullback weight.

He would have been taken earlier if he was 6'3"+ and 230 Lbs.

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Here’s the sweaty workout Matthew Stafford has been doing 5 times a week to stay in shape this offseason

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is turning to hot yoga this offseason, attending classes four to five times a week near the team’s Woodland Hills facility as he focuses on flexibility, recovery, and longevity following a back injury.

sports.yahoo.com

Stafford has shared that early in his career, he was pushing 235 pounds and dealing with shoulder injuries in Detroit. He added yoga, swimming and dog walking into his routine to help him shed the extra weight. Now he's down closer to 215 pounds — leaner, lighter and smarter.

 

[Ram65]

So fucking what if he was drafted a little higher than he was rated? I'll worry when somebody shows me data that says, the rating system is never wrong. Infalable. Precisely accurate with where these kids should come of the board.

I agree. Just look at all the early first round busts. i never thought the Rams overdrafted him. They knew they wanted to draft him with the #13 pick.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Well I think the good news is that we all want the kid to succeed!

I will say this, for a guy who's superpower is processes things well, he sure does speed through his reads and eliminates plays before they come open.

You could say that was a product of the line playing in front of him during the preseason but he did this in college too.

He needs to step that up (or slow it down!) and I hope he will, I think he's got a chance.

 

[PARAM]

Well I think the good news is that we all want the kid to succeed!

I will say this, for a guy who's superpower is processes things well, he sure does speed through his reads and eliminates plays before they come open.

You could say that was a product of the line playing in front of him during the preseason but he did this in college too.

He needs to step that up (or slow it down!) and I hope he will, I think he's got a chance.

I'm sure he needs improvement in many areas. But the fact he "speeds through his reads" is certainly better than can't get through his reads. Or locks onto his first read.

I'm sure film study will teach him patience. Obviously this offense is new to him and so are the intricacies of how plays should develop.

 

[DzRams]

Funny, I looked up Stafford's weight. He lost weight from 235 to 215 Lbs. Simpson was 211 Lbs at the combine but was recovering from gastritis. He is getting back to his normal weight of 215 LBs. Being fit is more important to Stafford. Considering he is shorter than Stafford, if he maintains a weight of 215-220 he will be fine. I'm sure the Rams training staff will get him to his ideal weight. Granted he is on the shorter side, but not short, he is well over 6' at 6' 1 1/8". His mobility is more important than being near fullback weight.

He would have been taken earlier if he was 6'3"+ and 230 Lbs.

------------------------------------------

Here’s the sweaty workout Matthew Stafford has been doing 5 times a week to stay in shape this offseason

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is turning to hot yoga this offseason, attending classes four to five times a week near the team’s Woodland Hills facility as he focuses on flexibility, recovery, and longevity following a back injury.

sports.yahoo.com

Stafford has shared that early in his career, he was pushing 235 pounds and dealing with shoulder injuries in Detroit. He added yoga, swimming and dog walking into his routine to help him shed the extra weight. Now he's down closer to 215 pounds — leaner, lighter and smarter.

Agreed. I'm not concerned about his size, but this is what his naysayers point to. We would have had no shot at him if he were 6'3"+ and 230 Lbs.

In fairness to the naysayers, Stafford may weigh 215 but he doesn't run and therefore is less often in harms way.

 

[DzRams]

Well I think the good news is that we all want the kid to succeed!

I will say this, for a guy who's superpower is processes things well, he sure does speed through his reads and eliminates plays before they come open.

You could say that was a product of the line playing in front of him during the preseason but he did this in college too.

He needs to step that up (or slow it down!) and I hope he will, I think he's got a chance.

He's too smart and thinks too quick! That's an angle.

FWIW, I agree that he was speeding through his progressions and probably needs to slow that down. I suspect that habit is a product of his college OL, which was awful. But as stated above, I'd much rather have a QB who is reading things too quickly than one who reads things slowly or not at all.

 

[Ram65]

In fairness to the naysayers, Stafford may weigh 215 but he doesn't run and therefore is less often in harms way.

I get it. I don't know if we are starting to split hairs here.

Stafford takes his fair share of shots in the pocket because he isn't mobile. Simpson is a mobile quarterback who can run. He's not a running quarterback. His mobility could help keep him safer from taking big shots. I don't see him taking on defenders when he is outside the pocket.

It amazed me how Goff at 217 Lbs took some big hits and has stayed healthy over his 10-year career, missing only 3 games due to injury. Predicting future injuries here is impossible.

 

[Tano]

How would you get a QB then? Which QBs have you been impressed with in the last decade?

Not too many to be honest

Trevor Lawrence
Joe Burrows
Darnold - but he went to the wrong team
Goff
Wentz - but I was worried he was injury prone due to his play style

Those were the one's that I can remember.

FYI - after watching Ty Simpson, I think he can be a decent QB - doesn't have the arm I would want but he does a very good job scrambling and has good accuracy. And I think he will improve reading defenses.

Now Mahomes jackson and Josh Allen I definitely missed on.

Didn't know enough about Mahomes and Jackson.

Josh Allen couldn't hit the side of a barn when he came out. He really fixed his accuracy issues after the first year.

I will admit I am extremely picky on QBs because I have seen so many bust.

 

[Twopointtry]

The point I was making had nothing to do with team expectations.
My focus was fan expectations and the QB talent typically available at those spots in the draft.

Fans should expect a QB drafted 13th overall to become the franchise QB. Fans should bury their GM if he drafts a bust at that slot. The Patriots don't get a free pass for drafting Mac Jones. That was a bad pick. JJ McCarthy was a bad pick. I don't agree with the "oh well, other 1st rd QBs busted too" mentality. Ty Simpson was not a consensus projection to go that high, so if Snead and McVay swim against stream and act like they are smarter than everyone else to reach early, they better be right about it. This is a much bigger deal than when they went early for Stetson Bennett. When those other teams missed on early QB picks, those misses really hurt their teams. JJ Watt was the next pick after Blaine Gabbert. The Rams got Robert Quinn 2 slots after Christian Ponder. Ugly results.

 

[majrleaged]

Fans should expect a QB drafted 13th overall to become the franchise QB. Fans should bury their GM if he drafts a bust at that slot. The Patriots don't get a free pass for drafting Mac Jones. That was a bad pick. JJ McCarthy was a bad pick. I don't agree with the "oh well, other 1st rd QBs busted too" mentality. Ty Simpson was not a consensus projection to go that high, so if Snead and McVay swim against stream and act like they are smarter than everyone else to reach early, they better be right about it. This is a much bigger deal than when they went early for Stetson Bennett. When those other teams missed on early QB picks, those misses really hurt their teams. JJ Watt was the next pick after Blaine Gabbert. The Rams got Robert Quinn 2 slots after Christian Ponder. Ugly results.

Of course we expect great results. In this case we don't expect them immediately. You see immediate good results sometimes, but usually it is because, either they keep things simple and expect the D to hold Mark Sanchez or Big Ben. Or they design and offense that the QB uses some great skill of his, Lamar Jackson, Cam Newton. Sometimes you see good imediate results and then they peter out or they plateau.

In this case the team will not be changing the scheme. They are bringing Ty along slowly and we will expect results a little later.

 

[Badfinger]

I love the passive/aggressive confidence with which our resident Couch GMs dispense backhanded "compliments" to McVay/Snead for their draft strategy and QB scouting acumen. I'm sure they're ready to take draft advice from you. Keep posting! Hopefully they'll call soon!

 

[Twopointtry]

In fairness to the naysayers, Stafford may weigh 215 but he doesn't run and therefore is less often in harms way.

Stafford has had a long list of injuries in his career, so probably not the greatest model for Simpson to try to follow. I've never thought that size and weight was the biggest factor re QB injuries, because big and strong QBs have often gotten injured too (e.g. Cam Newton, Big Ben, Carson Palmer, Andrew Luck, Dan Marino, Carson Wentz, Josh Allen). IMO, the single biggest factor for injury risk is how frequently the QB gets hit. You can get hit in the pocket and you can get hit running.

When Goff and Wentz were in the draft, most people said that Goff would get hurt more than Wentz, because Goff had a more slender build. Things turned out to be completely opposite of the conventional wisdom. A key reason for that is while Goff is poor at escaping sacks, and doesn't run well, he often throws the ball away quickly, taking incompletions instead of absorbing unncecesssary sacks.

Career ratio of passing attempts to sacks (regular season):
Peyton Manning 31.0
Patrick Mahomes 21.4
Tom Brady 21.3
Jared Goff 18.3
Josh Allen 17.9
Kirk Cousins 17.1
Matthew Stafford 16.7
Ben Roethlisberger 15.2
Carson Wentz 13.3
Lamar Jackson 12.7 (Let's assume for discussion, that half of his career rushing totals were QB scrambles where he dropped back, then decided to run. If we add those to his passing attempts before dividing by his sacks, his ratio would become 15.0, but presumably Lamar gets hit or exposes himself to injury risk on at least some of those scrambles.)

 

[Twopointtry]

People throw elite around like that adjective is easy to give to QB's. How many truly elite QB's are there in the NFL? Maybe 3 or 4? And that's with players drafted and playing now going back to Stafford's draft you could throw Rodgers in there to in the past. Say 5 elite QB's drafted in the last 25 years and only 2 of those drafted in the top 5 picks?

In my mind, I wouldn't even begin to talk about Ty Simpson in relationship with the top tier. Do we really expect him to challenge guys like Mahomes or Allen? I don't think it would be fair to expect him to be a regular league MVP candidate type guy. I guess anything is possible, but that's not my expectation level for him.

IMO, if we take the 2025 season, I count about 16 QBs that I'd say performed where Simpson eventually would need to be to justify his draft slot and 3 to 4 more "maybe good enough" where they weren't great but close enough to at least discuss. Since there are 32 teams, basically all he has to do is be in the top half of the NFL. If he's slightly below that but in the top 20, it becomes a grey area, because I think a team can still contend with a QB like that.

Let's take the conservative number and call it top 20. To me, that's the litmus test. In the past, I've called it the "Joe Flacco" line. Simpson needs to be in the top 20. He doesn't need to be in the Pro Bowl every year. When Carson Wentz was in the draft, I projected him to be that type of QB. A long-term starter, but not an elite QB. He started off well, but wasn't able to sustain it, so even if Wentz had gone in the middle of the 1st and not 2nd overall, I don't think his entire body of work would have fulfilled expectations.

 

[Twopointtry]

The Rams went "early" (4th Round) for Stetson Bennett????????????

Bennett was generally projected to be a late round prospect. The Rams drafted him about 2 rounds earlier than he was projected to get picked.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Fans should expect a QB drafted 13th overall to become the franchise QB. Fans should bury their GM if he drafts a bust at that slot. The Patriots don't get a free pass for drafting Mac Jones. That was a bad pick. JJ McCarthy was a bad pick. I don't agree with the "oh well, other 1st rd QBs busted too" mentality. Ty Simpson was not a consensus projection to go that high, so if Snead and McVay swim against stream and act like they are smarter than everyone else to reach early, they better be right about it. This is a much bigger deal than when they went early for Stetson Bennett. When those other teams missed on early QB picks, those misses really hurt their teams. JJ Watt was the next pick after Blaine Gabbert. The Rams got Robert Quinn 2 slots after Christian Ponder. Ugly results.

No. Fans shouldn't expect anything. The NFL Draft is a crapshoot and fans should hope that a QB selected at #13 becomes a franchise QB. Just like they should hope that any position player selected becomes a quality NFL player.

Besides, so called consensus projections coming from fans, draftniks, or media working on limited information don't always pan out. If they did, then maybe fans should expect something.

 

[OldSchool]

In my mind, I wouldn't even begin to talk about Ty Simpson in relationship with the top tier. Do we really expect him to challenge guys like Mahomes or Allen? I don't think it would be fair to expect him to be a regular league MVP candidate type guy. I guess anything is possible, but that's not my expectation level for him.

IMO, if we take the 2025 season, I count about 16 QBs that I'd say performed where Simpson eventually would need to be to justify his draft slot and 3 to 4 more "maybe good enough" where they weren't great but close enough to at least discuss. Since there are 32 teams, basically all he has to do is be in the top half of the NFL. If he's slightly below that but in the top 20, it becomes a grey area, because I think a team can still contend with a QB like that.

Let's take the conservative number and call it top 20. To me, that's the litmus test. In the past, I've called it the "Joe Flacco" line. Simpson needs to be in the top 20. He doesn't need to be in the Pro Bowl every year. When Carson Wentz was in the draft, I projected him to be that type of QB. A long-term starter, but not an elite QB. He started off well, but wasn't able to sustain it, so even if Wentz had gone in the middle of the 1st and not 2nd overall, I don't think his entire body of work would have fulfilled expectations.

I do not I don't even expect him to be the #2 this year and there is absolutely nothing wrong with him if he is #3 and it doesn't change his future. But then I'm not the one criticizing him non stop and comparing him to other QB's. People are way too harsh on a kid who we all know is here for the long haul and the only thing expected of him this year is to learn. These comments about elite QB's are just not even productive when they're being compared to Ty.

That's what you quoted me talking about.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Right!? Before the Simpson selection, I was asking those who weren't in favor of drafting him what their plan would be to get a potential franchise QB. There were literally no good options presented. I think the best plan was 'hope and pray' - hope that someone good falls to the 30th range in the 2027 draft.

Back then Joe Burrow was headed to LA, as I recall.

 

[DzRams]

Fans should expect a QB drafted 13th overall to become the franchise QB. Fans should bury their GM if he drafts a bust at that slot. The Patriots don't get a free pass for drafting Mac Jones. That was a bad pick. JJ McCarthy was a bad pick. I don't agree with the "oh well, other 1st rd QBs busted too" mentality. Ty Simpson was not a consensus projection to go that high, so if Snead and McVay swim against stream and act like they are smarter than everyone else to reach early, they better be right about it. This is a much bigger deal than when they went early for Stetson Bennett. When those other teams missed on early QB picks, those misses really hurt their teams. JJ Watt was the next pick after Blaine Gabbert. The Rams got Robert Quinn 2 slots after Christian Ponder. Ugly results.

I get disappointment on failed picks, but I don't agree with the "every pick should be a hit" mentality. I'll bury the GM when he fails on early picks often.

In regard to Simpson, I do expect him to become the franchise QB. But I don't expect a QB drafted at 13 to possess superior physical talent. That expectation is unreasonable because you need a top 5 pick for that.

 

[DzRams]

Back then Joe Burrow was headed to LA, as I recall.

Correct.

The 'hope someone falls to 30th' and 'trade for Joe Burrow' were the two common "plans" presented. But neither of those are concrete plans - they're speculation.

 

[OldSchool]

No. Fans shouldn't expect anything. The NFL Draft is a crapshoot and fans should hope that a QB selected at #13 becomes a franchise QB. Just like they should hope that any position player selected becomes a quality NFL player.

Besides, so called consensus projections coming from fans, draftniks, or media working on limited information don't always pan out. If they did, then maybe fans should expect something.

Couldn't have said it better if I tried. This whole expectations and comparisons is just silly.