Ty Simpson is projected as a first-round pick in this spring’s NFL Draft. Stacy Revere / Getty Images
Alabama junior quarterback Ty Simpson will enter the 2026 NFL Draft, he announced Wednesday.
Simpson led the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals in his lone season as the starter and was projected to be selected in the first round in The Athletic’s most recent 2026 mock draft.
Alabama’s season ended on New Year’s Day with a 38-3 Rose Bowl loss to Indiana. Simpson competed 12 of 16 passes for just 67 yards in the loss and was pulled from the game in the second half after suffering a cracked rib on a hard hit by Hoosiers cornerback D’Angelo Ponds that forced a fumble.
Sophomore Austin Mack took over for Simpson, completing 11 of 16 passes for 103 yards in what was essentially two full quarters of garbage time.
Simpson finished his junior season with 3,567 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Dane Brugler on Ty Simpson as an NFL prospect
Simpson put plenty of encouraging things on tape for NFL teams, and it is understandable why he would want to declare in such a light quarterback draft class.
But the fact that he’s made only 15 starts is tough. There is a very short list of NFL quarterbacks who panned out with such meager college experience. In the last 10 years, here are the quarterbacks drafted after making 15 or fewer starts in college: Anthony Richardson, Mitchell Trubisky, Dwayne Haskins.
However, Simpson is a unique case, because he is already 23 years old and grew up around a college program — his dad, Jason, has been head coach at Tennessee-Martin for two decades. Simpson is an efficient processor, and his mobility is an asset. He struggled with inconsistencies and turnovers over the second half of the season, but he also didn’t receive much help from Alabama’s middling offensive ecosystem.