Why the Rams Believe Ty Simpson Benefits From Sitting Behind Matthew Stafford

After drafting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick, the Los Angeles Rams will hope that he follows a similar path as Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, and other successful quarterbacks who have sat to start their careers. The expectation is that Simpson will sit for at least his rookie season.

It used to be rare for first-round picks at quarterback to start immediately. First-round quarterbacks typically sat most of their rookie seasons and sometimes didn’t start until their second or third year. With less patience for quarterbacks to develop and more pressure from fans, the benefit of sitting has become rarer.

Why the Rams Drafted Ty Simpson Now

After taking Simpson in the first round, the Rams were largely criticized because he wasn’t a player who could help them win now. Additionally, he only had 15 starts in college. However, the best time to take a quarterback is when you don’t need one. The worst thing that a team can do is get forced into taking a quarterback that may not fit the system or team infrastructure. With Simpson, the Rams believe that they have both. That doesn't mean it's still not a risky move.

Quarterback development isn’t what it used to be. The position may be very good at the top, but it lacks depth. Teams struggle to find a starting quarterback, let alone someone they can trust as a backup..

There’s a lack of patience, understanding, and overall coaching. If a quarterback doesn’t succeed in their rookie year, they are already under pressure. Too often a young quarterback is thrown into a house on fire and asked to put it out with gasoline. The result is a high volume of quarterback turnover in recent years. Teams are much quicker to move on from a quarterback even if it means eating significant dead money.

Why Situation Matters More Than Ever

Organizations fail young quarterbacks more often than young quarterbacks fail organizations. While quarterback is the most important position on the field and it’s hard to win without a good one, the system and infrastructure around the player matter significantly..

The Rams learned this first-hand with Matthew Stafford. Stafford was seen as a quarterback who couldn’t win while he was with the Detroit Lions. In five years, Stafford has won a Super Bowl and been named the NFL MVP.

With Sean McVay at the helm, the Rams have created a stable infrastructure and a system that should be able to support a young quarterback. While Simpson may not have been the most talented quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft, he’s going to the best situation. He’ll be playing in an offense with one of the best offensive head coaches, have Kliff Kingsbury on the coaching staff as someone with experience coaching young quarterbacks, and learn behind Matthew Stafford. At some point, the Rams had to start planning for the future.

Sitting behind an established veteran used to be the norm and was seen as a key part of a quarterback’s development. The Rams are hoping that Simpson can benefit from spending time behind Stafford and the lack of college starts becomes moot.

The Benefits of Sitting Behind a Veteran

In 2004, Phillip Rivers sat behind Drew Brees his entire rookie season with the Chargers in San Diego. “The biggest thing I learned from him as a young player was really how to be a pro and how to prepare," Rivers said. “I learned early on watching him, whether it’d be a big win or a loss like we had in Indy, he was going to do the same thing. He was very steady emotionally and went about his business.”

Since 2000, 16 quarterbacks have been drafted in the first round and started three or fewer games during their rookie seasons. Only seven have gone without starting a game at all. Some of the obvious success stories are Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Jordan Love.

Year	QB (Pick)	Rookie Starts	Starting Vet QB
2000	Chad Pennington (18th)	0 Starts	Vinny Testaverde
2001	Michael Vick (1st)	2 Starts	Chris Chandler
2003	Rex Grossman (22nd)	3 Starts	Chris Chandler
2004	Phillip Rivers (4th)	0 Starts	Drew Brees
2004	J.P. Losman (22nd)	0 Starts	Drew Bledsoe
2005	Aaron Rodgers (24th)	0 Starts	Brett Favre
2007	Brady Quinn (22nd)	0 Starts	Derek Anderson
2010	Tim Tebow (25th)	3 Starts	Kyle Orton
2011	Jake Locker (8th)	0 Starts	Matt Hasselbeck
2014	Johnny Manziel (22nd)	2 Starts	Brian Hoyer
2016	Paxton Lynch (26th)	1 Start	Trevor Siemian
2017	Patrick Mahomes (10th)	1 Start	Alex Smith
2020	Jordan Love (26th)	1 Start	Aaron Rodgers
2021	Trey Lance (3rd)	2 Starts	Jimmy Garoppolo
2024	Michael Penix (8th)	3 Starts	Kirk Cousins
2024	JJ McCarthy (10th)	0 Starts	Sam Darnold

This isn’t to say that Simpson is going to be the next Rodgers or Mahomes. A quarterback sitting during their rookie season also doesn’t guarantee success. For every Love or Mahomes, there’s a Chad Pennington, J.P. Losman, or Jake Locker.

However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a benefit. "I learned a lot,” said Love. “I was able to watch a great quarterback, how he works every day, how he handles business in the locker room, interacts with teammates, and how he attacks every day…I was able to sit for three years and kind of just pick his brain and watch him work."

Again, it all comes down to the situation that the quarterback is put in. Talent matters, but as seen with Sam Darnold over the past two years, a quarterback can look like a bust with two teams in a bad situation and then take two teams to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl in more stable situations.

Out of the 16 quarterbacks who sat their rookie years, only four took over for teams that had previously made the playoffs. That list includes Aaron Rodgers, Paxton Lynch, Patrick Mahomes, and Jordan Love. However, Lynch sat behind Trevor Siemian and had a new head coach by his second season.

The Rams Are Giving Simpson the Best Chance to Succeed

Examples such as Johnny Manziel and Tim Tebow are difficult because neither was widely viewed as a first-round-caliber quarterback prospect. Manziel has gone into detail how Brian Hoyer created a toxic quarterback room. Even if Simpson wasn’t seen as a top prospect, he was widely considered a first-round talent. It’s also hard to see Stafford not taking some sort of mentorship role to Simpson in the same way that Alex Smith did with Mahomes.

“I don’t even think Alex was trying to do it. Alex was being Alex, and he left the door open for Patrick to join him,” said head coach Andy Reid. “He didn’t make him come, but he just said, you know, I’m gonna be here at this time. He gave that freely to Patrick and that doesn’t always happen.”

That’s likely a similar situation that Simpson will enter into. There’s not a lot of correlation between sitting a rookie quarterback and their overall success. With that said, teams that are able to sit their quarterbacks in year one are typically better than teams that don’t have that privilege. While there may not be statistical evidence that it’s beneficial, that doesn’t mean it isn’t the optimal path or in the player’s best interest. It truly is a case-by-case basis.

There’s no guarantee that sitting Simpson will result in him being a successful quarterback for the Rams. However, the Rams are setting him up in the best way that they can. They’ve created a stable environment, surrounded him with one of the best offensive coaching staffs in the NFL led by McVay, and allowed him to learn behind a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Stafford. If Simpson is going to succeed, he couldn’t ask for a better situation.

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