Rams’ Sean McVay would’ve passed on Ty Simpson if it guaranteed a Super Bowl

When the Los Angeles Rams selected Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, it quite literally changed the fate of multiple other franchises.

Suddenly, the Arizona Cardinals had to pivot to Carson Beck in the third round after widely being linked to Simpson as a late first-round trade-up by the vast majority of NFL talent evaluators. The Philadelphia Eagles, too, went from being linked to offensive tackles at pick No. 23 to landing Makai Lemon, the player most often linked to the Rams during the predraft process, in a move that makes the eventual trade of AJ Brown all the more palatable.

So why did the Rams make a forward-thinking move instead of adding a win-now player to a roster designed to do just that? Well, in an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, head coach Sean McVay broke down the move, noting that no rookie draftee automatically guarantees a Super Bowl win.

“I understand the narrative from people that, ‘Oh you’re one player away.’ Well, here is what I would tell you. If you could’ve guaranteed me that us taking a great player like Lemon or another skilled player would’ve insured us, you’re d**n right that’s what we would’ve done,” McVay said. “But that’s not how it works. Every single year is a new year; you’ve got to come together as a team. I’ve been a part of teams where we go to the Super Bowl, the very next year we win five games, or the very next year we win nine games.”

Would the Rams have been better off with Lemon and, say, Beck in the second round than Simpson and Max Klare as their first two picks? Short-term, probably so, but for a team like the Rams, who want to win now and for years to come, who likely won’t be in the position to draft a potential franchise quarterback unless they bottom out, selecting Simpson is the kind of big swing Les Snead has built a career on, even if it flies in the face of his he usually does business.

"Let's not get it twisted. We're trying to win right now and we've got decisions for the short and long term."@colincowherd and @RamsNFL head coach Sean McVay discuss the decision to draft Ty Simpson 13th overall pic.twitter.com/U9GCJRYb0C

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) April 29, 2026

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