Table of Contents
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’ll give the NFL some credit. Last night’s draft broadcast was so much better than previous years. Shortening the time between picks had a huge impact on the viewing experience. (I still think you should have your head examined if you attend the draft in person, though.)
If you’re reading this on SI.com, click here to subscribeand receive SI:AM directly in your inbox each morning.
In today’s SI:AM:
📝 First-round draft grades
🤔 Rams’ curious pick
⭐ Best players still available
A rare miss for a celebrated front office
I’ll admit, last night’s first round of the NFL draft was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.
The lack of top-end talent available in this year’s class was a major talking point in the months leading up to the draft, but that actually made the first round more compelling, as teams made a whole bunch of head-scratching decisions.
The Cardinals took Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with the No. 3 pick, and while Love is one of the most talented running back prospects in years, Arizona had bigger holes to fill (like on the offensive line, so its backs don’t immediately get blown up in the backfield). The Titans had the next pick and took Ohio State receiver Carnell Tate, who wasn’t considered a top-five pick. Both teams passed on selecting Arvell Reese, the versatile Ohio State linebacker who had been in discussion to go to the Jets at No. 2. (The Giants took Reese with the fifth pick.)
The biggest surprise came in the middle of the first round when the Rams elected to take Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick. It was a weird choice for a variety of reasons. First and most importantly, Simpson wasn’t widely regarded as a first-round talent after just one season as the starter with the Crimson Tide. But even if Simpson does turn out to be a quality NFL quarterback, it’s still a bizarre choice to select a backup quarterback with your first-round pick. Simpson has plenty of experience as a backup, at least. He spent his sophomore and junior seasons sitting on the bench behind Jalen Milroe.
The Rams are nearing the end of their competitive window with Matthew Stafford under center, and they should be trying to add contributors at other positions to improve a team that very nearly reached the Super Bowl last season. They will have to replace Stafford eventually, but did they really feel so strongly that Simpson was the answer that they needed to take him that high? Couldn’t they have found someone comparable in next year’s more robust quarterback class?
The 13th pick had originally belonged to the Falcons and was acquired by Los Angeles when Atlanta traded up in last year’s draft. That allowed the Rams to use their own first-round pick in this year’s draft (No. 29) to trade for Chiefs defensive back Trent McDuffie. Picking in the top half of the first round is a rare luxury for a team that reached a conference championship game, but the Rams chose not to use the pick to make next year’s team better. SI’s Matt Verderame gave the Rams a C for the pick, the lowest grade of any team in the first round.
It was a weird decision made even weirder by the way the Rams’ braintrust spoke about it. General manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay addressed the media briefly last night to discuss the Simpson pick, and they didn’t appear to be 100% on the same page. If you watch the whole 11-minute presser, you’ll notice a few things. First of all, McVay wasn’t his usual excited, enthusiastic self. Snead was the one who spoke most highly of Simpson, while McVay mostly sat back in his chair with his hands in his lap. McVay, in fact, barely spoke about Simpson at all, and when he did, he wasn’t exactly effusive.
“Let’s make one thing clear, this is Matthew’s team,” McVay said. He went on to say there were a lot of things that Simpson was asked to do at Alabama that were similar to the way the Rams do things, “so it made it an easier evaluation.”
But it’s what McVay didn’t say that makes this most interesting. He said that “there were a lot of players that we liked” but didn’t say that he liked Simpson best of the players remaining on the board. He listed the things Simpson did at Alabama that might translate to the Rams’ scheme, but he didn’t say he was blown away by how Simpson executed them.
McVay has a reputation for being able to get the best out of his quarterbacks, but it sounds like he didn’t plan on having to coach up a rookie this season.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Chris Mannix writes that the Knicks’ lifeless showing against the surging Hawks could accelerate sweeping changes this offseason.
- Conor Orr says that the Rams’ surprise first-round selection of Ty Simpson will set up a fascinating experiment, one in which Sean McVay’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer will be put to the test.
- Can Tom Brady’s blueprint actually create his successor? With Fernando Mendoza now in Las Vegas, Orr argues that the Raiders are about to find out.
- Gilberto Manzano breaks down Round 1 winners and losers, which includes a trio of NFC East teams.
- There are still several first-round-caliber players available in the second and third rounds of the NFL draft. Daniel Flick predicts Friday night’s 68 picks with his mock draft for Rounds 2 and 3.
- Matt Verderame hands out his grades for all 32 picks in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Michael Brennan’s hilariously failed shot at the Zurich Classic. His ball landed on the edge of a water hazard, so he took his shirt off to avoid getting mud on it. His swing sent a whole bunch of nasty water flying everywhere (including all over himself) but failed to get the ball back on the course.
4. Sabres goalie Alex Lyon’s save on a penalty shot in the second period. The stop helped Buffalo come back to win Game 3 and take a 2–1 series lead over the Bruins.
3. Gavin Sheets’s three-run homer to cap a big ninth-inning comeback and give the Padres the lead over the Rockies. (It happened to be Sheets’s 30th birthday, too.)
2. Jarren Duran’s diving catch in left. (Unfortunately for the Red Sox, it happened in the ninth inning after the Yankees had already taken the lead with a big rally in the seventh.)
1. CJ McCollum’s game-winning step-back for the Hawks to take a 2–1 series lead over the Knicks.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
Loading recommendations… Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations
Published | Modified 
DAN GARTLAND
Dan Gartland writes Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, and is the host of the “Stadium Wonders” video series. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).
Share on FacebookShare on XHome/NFLOriginal Article
