{"id":835035,"date":"2026-03-26T15:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/835035\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:26:17","slug":"alabama-qb-ty-simpson-im-absolutely-a-1st-rounder-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/835035\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama QB Ty Simpson: I’m ‘Absolutely’ a 1st-Rounder in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ty Simpson<\/a> felt like he made a final impression at Alabama<\/a>‘s pro day in front of NFL<\/a> scouts.<\/p>\n

The Crimson Tide quarterback went through a 40-plus-minute throwing session Wednesday for dozens of the league’s key decision makers. He previously threw at the NFL Scouting Combine in February but elected to go through another workout in Tuscaloosa.<\/p>\n

“Why not?” Simpson said. “Go have fun. Go sling it. You watch the tape of the pro day. There wasn\u2019t any easy throws. I didn\u2019t want to make it easy.”<\/p>\n

Simpson is widely considered the No. 2 quarterback available in the draft behind Indiana<\/a>‘s Fernando Mendoza<\/a>, although at least one draft analyst believes Simpson is the top QB available.<\/p>\n

Simpson said he was invited to attend the draft in person in Pittsburgh. While he hasn’t decided whether he will make the trip, his play on the field paired with his rise during the process reaffirmed what many believe: that he’s a lock to be a first-round pick.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely,” Simpson said. “I feel like I\u2019ve done everything I can, but it\u2019s not up to me. I just know that wherever I go, I\u2019m going to give it my all and make sure I\u2019ll put my best foot forward.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s going to be a lot of questions around my name. I know what I\u2019m capable of, and I know whoever gets me is going to get a good player and a guy who loves football and a guy who loves the team and loves being a part of something bigger than himself.”<\/p>\n

Simpson completed 64.5 % of his passes last season for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns. He was much more efficient early in the season. In his final five games, he averaged 156 yards passing with six touchdowns and three interceptions. It turned out he was dealing with injuries, including gastritis that dropped his weight below 200 pounds before the College Football<\/a> Playoff; he left Alabama’s blowout loss to eventual national champion Indiana in the Rose Bowl with a rib injury.<\/p>\n

Simpson weighed 211 pounds at the combine and is fully healthy entering the final phase of the draft process. He has already met with two teams: the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> and the New York Jets<\/a>. The Rams have the 13th overall pick, while the Jets select second and 16th.<\/p>\n

“I feel great,” Simpson said. “Just getting back to normal \u2014 sleep, recovery. Things in the season you get caught up in because you\u2019re watching tape, you\u2019re practicing, you\u2019re trying to cram everything in to make sure you\u2019re ready for Saturday. I feel healthy as an ox.”<\/p>\n

Simpson’s positioning on draft boards will continue to drive conversation leading into next month’s event. Now healthy, he hopes to display what he showed early in the 2025 season: a quarterback capable of elite play. He’s confident he’ll be able to convince teams that he’s worthy of being one of the first players chosen.<\/p>\n

“When I go into a program, I\u2019m program-changing,” Simpson said. “I don\u2019t just make myself better, I make other people better. If you draft me, and you want me to be your franchise quarterback, I\u2019m not just coming in to look after myself. I\u2019m looking after the whole team and making sure I leave it better than I left it.”<\/p>\n

Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ty Simpson felt like he made a final impression at Alabama‘s pro day in front of NFL scouts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[930,331,7,58,122,255,6,15,20708],"class_list":{"0":"post-835035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-alabama-crimson-tide","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-national-football-league","13":"tag-new-york-jets","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-draft","16":"tag-ty-simpson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116296181302240904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835035","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=835035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}