{"id":757339,"date":"2026-02-17T03:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/757339\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T03:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:07:15","slug":"super-bowl-contender-interested-in-alabamas-ty-simpson-in-nfl-draft-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/757339\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl contender interested in Alabama’s Ty Simpson in NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 16, 2026, 7:14 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Alabama’s Ty Simpson was offered over $6 million to return to college football for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

He declined, stating that he wouldn’t turn his back on the Alabama Crimson Tide<\/a>. Instead, he reaffirmed his desire to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, and the quarterback is expected to be taken in the first two rounds this April.<\/p>\n

While Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is locked in as the No. 1 pick to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, it becomes much harder to gauge where Simpson will go.<\/p>\n

If scouts only looked at the first three-thirds of the season, Simpson would be an easy top-two selection alongside Mendoza. But after a disappointing end to the campaign and regression, there’s an argument that he might not even get selected in the first round or be the second signal-caller taken off the board.<\/p>\n

But Simpson, at his peak, showed he can be one of the best QBs in the nation, and one Super Bowl-contending team is reportedly very interested in the Crimson Tide leader.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> know that reigning MVP Matthew Stafford will be under center for them in 2026, the 38-year-old veteran is heading towards retirement.<\/p>\n

Per ESPN, the Rams think Simpson is “their type” of QB and could be a perfect successor for Stafford. The plan would be to have Simpson sit behind the MVP for a season or two before taking the reins in Sean McVay’s complex, motion-heavy offense.<\/p>\n

For Simpson, it might be the perfect spot for him. After being open about how he was hurt down the stretch, it’d allow the 23-year-old time to learn the Rams system and be taught by one of the best pocket passers of his generation.<\/p>\n

The Rams have two first-round picks in April’s draft. And although they are currently projected to go for a cornerback or wide receiver with the higher of their two picks (Atlanta Falcons<\/a>‘), a selection of Simpson with their late round selection might be in the cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 16, 2026, 7:14 p.m. ET Alabama’s Ty Simpson was offered over $6 million to return to college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95878,7,6,15,99115,99116,96359,95882,96609,96027,95892,95885,95924,95927,95896,95888,96683,95895,95899,96099,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-757339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-sstssportsnfltouchdown","13":"tag-sstsntouchdown","14":"tag-tagalabama-crimson-tide","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagatlanta-falcons","17":"tag-tagcollege-sports","18":"tag-tagespn-inc","19":"tag-taglas-vegas-raiders","20":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","21":"tag-tagmatthew-stafford","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-draft","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","27":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","28":"tag-tagsports-news","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116083769021275542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757339","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=757339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}