Why the Rams Aren’t Worried About Ty Simpson’s Lack of Experience

With the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams shocked everybody when they took quarterback Ty Simpson out of Alabama. Very few expected the Rams to take a quarterback, let alone Simpson.

To say Simpson isn’t your typical first-round quarterback would be an understatement. At 6’1, 212 pounds, Simpson only has mediocre size. He doesn’t have a special arm like Fernando Mendoza and his athleticism won’t scare opposing defenses. However, the biggest red flag was that Simpson was the starting quarterback at Alabama for just one season and only had 15 starts.

The Bill Parcells requirement for drafting quarterbacks may be outdated, but it isn’t a bad guideline to follow. Brock Purdy hit all of Parcells’ boxes. The Parcells rules for drafting a quarterback state:

The prospect must be a Senior and to have graduated.
Be a three-year starter who has started 30 games and won at least 23 of them.
Have a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Must complete a minimum of 60 percent of his passes.

It’s not a perfect guideline, but it values experienced passers who win, are accurate with the football, and don’t turn the ball over. Simpson checks three of the four boxes, but misses the important ‘three-year starter with 30 starts and 23 wins’ requirement.

That may seem like a small thing, but the history of quarterbacks with 15 or fewer starts isn’t promising. It makes sense that Simpson declared for the draft as a first-round pick. However, quarterbacks with 15 or fewer college starts who were selected in the first round over the last decade include Anthony Richardson, Mitchell Trubisky, and Dwayne Haskins. If you expand the filter to quarterbacks to be drafted in the first round despite having only one season as a college starter, you can add Mark Sanchez, Cam Newton, Trey Lance, and Kyler Murray.

In the cases of Richardson, Trubisky, and Haskins, was their failure caused by a lack of experience or their team situations?m To put it simply, did these players fail because of their lack of experience or because they were thrown into a burning house and told to put out the fire with gasoline?

The quarterback position is undoubtedly the most important position on the field and a good one can mask a lot of issues. Still, the situation matters. Matthew Stafford didn’t have a single playoff win in Detroit. Drake Maye had a less-than-stellar rookie season with Jerod Mayo as the head coach. Jared Goff was seen as a bust when he went 0-7 as a rookie before Sean McVay took over.

When it comes to the names listed above, many of them were thrown directly into a dumpster fire before they were ready and told to fix it. However, they weren’t given the correct tools to give them a fighting chance.

The same offseason that the Chicago Bears drafted Trubisky, they also signed Mike Glennon to a lucrative $45 million contract. After having eight turnovers in four games, Glennon was benched and Trubisky was starting by Week 5. Trubisky was handed one of the worst wide receiver groups in 2017. The next season he had a new coaching staff with a new offense. Between 2010 and 2024, the Bears had 16 different starting quarterbacks and used two first-round picks on the position. At some point, the organization is at fault for the situations they create for their quarterbacks.

Matt Nagy never adapted his offense to fit the quarterback and everything began to unravel. Trubisky was raw to begin with and surrounded by a weak supporting cast and a system that hasn’t worked outside of Kansas City with Andy Reid overseeing it. It also says a lot that Nagy wasn’t brought back in 2026 by Reid and the Chiefs. However, unlike Trubisky, Simpson’s processing ability should give him an advantage.

Much like Trunisky, the Washington Commanders initially planned to sit Dwayne Haskins his entire rookie season. However, Case Keenum struggled while the team dealt with injuries at the skill positions and Colt McCoy was also injured.. Haskins started his first game by Week 9. Head coach Jay Gruden was fired midseason and replaced with a defensive head coach in Ron Rivera. The team signed Alex Smith in the offseason and traded for Kyle Allen. It was clear the new regime wanted nothing to do with Haskins and he was released midseason.

Haskins was drafted against Gruden’s wishes in 2019 and the pick was made by Dan Snyder. While Haskins was partially to blame for some of his preparation habits, organization instability also played a major role.

The player who should have succeeded in these examples was Richardson. Richardson was placed in a situation with a good offensive head coach, a running game, and good players at the skill positions. However, Richardson couldn’t stay healthy because of his play style. Richardson needed to play early in his career and he was the Week 1 starter his rookie season. However, by Week 5 he was out for the year. His approach to the game left a lot to be desired. That’s something that shouldn’t be an issue with Simpson.

When looking at the cases of Trubisky and Haskins, the quarterbacks themselves certainly aren’t blameless. However, both players had instability around them and were expected to succeed. Both had their head coaches fired after their rookie seasons. In the case of Haskins, neither of his head coaches wanted him.

Despite the reaction on draft night, the Rams were on the same page in drafting Simpson. Unless Stafford suffers an injury, Simpson won’t start his rookie season. When Simpson eventually does take over, the offensive system runs through McVay. He'll have a coaching staff with experience developing young quarterbacks. Simpson will have the coaching staff and organizational stability that the others didn’t.

The lack of starting experience is certainly a red flag, but it’s also what makes Simpson an interesting case study. Would Trubisky or Haskins have succeeded elsewhere? Their lack of experience didn’t help, but the situations that their organizations put them in also played a major role. That doesn’t mean Simpson wasn’t a gamble, but if there is a situation where this can work, it’s with the Rams.

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