{"id":662766,"date":"2026-01-08T03:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662766\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T03:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:19:13","slug":"alabama-qb-ty-simpson-makes-2026-nfl-draft-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662766\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama QB Ty Simpson makes 2026 NFL Draft decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ty Simpson has <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/03\/sports\/alabama-qb-opens-up-on-2026-nfl-draft-decision\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">played his last down<\/a> in Tuscaloosa. <\/p>\n<p>The Alabama quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTNwU75EVEj\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">announced in an Instagram post<\/a> on Wednesday that he is declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrateful for every single second. Blessed beyond measure to be able to chase my dreams,\u201d he wrote in a caption alongside of a video of his highlights from youth football all the way to this season with the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38125029\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP_APTOPIX_CFP_Alabama_Oklahoma_Football_64467-912c8-0.jpg\" alt=\"Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson (15) celebrates winning after the first round of an NCAA College Football Playoff against Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Norman, Okla.\" class=\"wp-image-38125029\"  \/>Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson celebrates after Alabama\u2019s first-round College Football Playoff win over Oklahoma on Dec. 19, 2025 in Norman, Okla. AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTime to roll. Roll Tide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simpson came to Alabama in 2022 and finally became the starter as a junior this season. He impressed most of the way with 3,567 passing yards with 28 touchdowns to five interceptions. <\/p>\n<p>He led the SEC in both completions (305) and pass attempts (473).<\/p>\n<p>Simpson delivered a strong College Football Playoff first-round game on the round against Oklahoma with 232 yards and two touchdowns, but the same couldn\u2019t be said for the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/01\/sports\/kirk-herbstreit-stunned-by-alabamas-effort-against-indiana\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">quarterfinal against Indiana<\/a> when he was benched in the second half after getting suffering an injury \u2014 which he said was a cracked rib \u2014 on a big hit. <\/p>\n<p>He finished 12-for-16 passing and 67 yards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFelt like I had a good thing going on that drive when I got hit,\u201d Simpson said after the Rose Bowl. \u201cIt kind of changed the momentum for sure. \u2026 The competitor in me wanted to make sure I got the first down. Got more than the first down, and then should have been smart and just got down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper Jr. ranks Simpson as the third quarterback likely to be taken in this year\u2019s draft behind Heisman Trophy-winning Indiana signal-caller Fernando Mendoza and Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore.<\/p>\n<p>Though there are questions about whether Simpson will be a first- or second-round pick, his father, Jason Simpson, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/story\/_\/id\/47539318\/alabama-qb-ty-simpson-says-entering-nfl-draft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">told ESPN on Wednesday<\/a> that all the teams he had been in contact with said they have his son as a Day 1 selection. <\/p>\n<p>Who those teams are is unclear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody said second round,\u201d his dad said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ty Simpson has played his last down in Tuscaloosa. The Alabama quarterback announced in an Instagram post on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[930,331,7,6,15,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-662766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-alabama-crimson-tide","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115857324001291120","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}