NFL Decision-Makers Still Don’t See First-Round Fit for QB Ty Simpson

While some in the media continue to campaign for Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson as a first-round pick, we continue to hear from numerous trusted evaluators that a first-round match is not expected to emerge.

Even with this draft considered pedestrian at best, and bereft at the quarterback position, that is not expected to push the most talked about passer in this draft from getting into the to 32 picks. Yes, it’s fair to say that the chronicles of Simpson have usurped the amount of oxygen given to presumptive first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza, who took a recently moribund Indiana program to a national title in truly improbable fashion.

“I still don’t see it,” said one general manager who is interested in selecting a quarterback at some stage of the draft. 

“I keep seeing it in mocks (mock drafts)  but when I talk to (other teams), no one can figure out who is going to do it. I don’t know why someone would do it.”

Is There A Natural Fit?

So many teams that have lingering quarterback need are already closely eyeing the 2027 class, which is expected to be far superior to this crop. And those teams are trying to position themselves in a rebuild year to have infrastructure in place for whichever QB they do select next year. 

So over-drafting a quarterback who doesn’t merit a first-round grade in the eyes of many (we have asked a bunch and no one replied that they did) doesn’t make sense in a normal setting let alone this one.

“I see a limited quarterback prospect who should be selected somewhere on the second day of the draft,” said a longtime evaluator who has been involved in selecting several first-round quarterbacks. “You can’t reach for a guy like that.”

We’ve been fooled before, fell for the Mason Rudolph hype a few years back, but the Simpson campaign continues to feel forced to us, and ultimately a quarterback with his college resume who lacks transcendent athletic gifts tends to go after the first round. And even in this mundane draft that remains the expectation.

Perhaps Arizona moves up into the back end for him, but they also could likely draft another player at least, as is, and still get him.