stafford

Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player, was in a tower at the starting line.

Ty Simpson — the 13th pick in the draft — and the rest of the Rams rookie class were at the finish.

The Rams present and presumably heir-apparent quarterback bookended Saturday’s WalkUnitedLA fundraising event at Hollywood Park.

On Monday, they will be in the same meeting room and on the field together for the first time as the Rams continue their voluntary offseason workout program in Woodland Hills.

“So excited to be here, not only in a great city like Los Angeles, but a great organization like the Rams,” Simpson said in an interview after greeting and presenting medals to runners and walkers who completed a 5K. “There’s great people and great friends in the rookie class, just excited to get started.”

Rams quarterback Ty Simpson, right, poses with a fan during a WalkUnitedLA fundraising event on Saturday.

(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)

Simpson was back in Los Angeles for the first time since April 24, the day after the seemingly Super Bowl-ready Rams surprised many by passing up the opportunity to select a receiver to choose an Alabama quarterback with only 15 starts. Simpson said he was not aware of the initial reaction by some fans.

“I just know they called my name on the 13th pick — and, sign me up, I was going to Los Angeles,” he said. “I don’t really get into all that. … I just have to make sure I do whatever my process is, and make sure that I do whatever the team needs me to do.”

On the night the Rams drafted Simpson, general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay were uncharacteristically subdued during a news conference. McVay later explained he was attempting to be respectful of Stafford’s status as the team leader, and that a personal situation also had affected his demeanor on draft night.

Asked if he had watched the news conference, Simpson said, “I didn’t really see it.”

“I know one thing though,” he said. “I know coach McVay has been in contact and he’s super fired up. And I’m super excited.

“I know that I couldn’t have asked for a better situation, not only with the best player in the league in front of me but the best coach in the league at the helm.”

After he was drafted, Simpson, 23, received a message from Stafford’s wife, Kelly, welcoming him and offering assistance to him and his family. He said he also received a text from Stafford that he did not initially see.

“It was really cool too,” Simpson said, “because they didn’t have to do that.”

Stafford, 38, was the No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia in 2009. His message to Simpson?

“It was funny because, of course, he was like, ‘Welcome, man. I’m super pumped,’” Simpson said. “He was like, ‘Loved watching you play, but you played for the wrong jersey,’ because he’s pumping up Georgia.”

Simpson chuckled.

“So when I see him on Monday, I’m going to give him heck about that,” he said. “But it’s cool. I’m super excited, especially having him and [quarterback] Stetson [Bennett] in there, Georgia guys, and me, an Alabama guy, so I’ve got to stand up for myself.”

Simpson spent the last few weeks working out in Tennessee. He requested a Rams playbook immediately after he was drafted, but said that McVay, quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone and offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase counseled that all of the rookies would be onboarded together.

He is eager to get started with the first phase of his pro career.

His goal for offseason workouts?

“Just get my feet underneath me,” he said. “Be the best guy I can be. It’s going to be such a different vibe, whatever you want to call it, from college.

“I just want to go in there, soak up as much as I can from Matthew and the guys and be the best player I can be.”

Quarterback Ty Simpson arrived in Los Angeles on Friday — and the Rams’ first-round draft pick sounded as if he couldn’t wait to start learning from coach Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford.

“The best head coach in the league, the best quarterback in the league, the best … franchise in the league — it’s a perfect situation,” Simpson said during a news conference at the Rams’ draft headquarters in Inglewood.

How the situation plays out — short and long term — remains to be seen.

Stafford, 38, will enter his 18th NFL season as the reigning NFL most valuable player.

With free agent Jimmy Garoppolo mulling retirement, McVay said Thursday night that Simpson would compete with Stetson Bennett to be Stafford’s backup.

The Rams used the 13th pick to select Simpson, 23, who started 15 games for Alabama.

McVay said that he had informed Stafford that the Rams would select Simpson.

“He was great,” McVay said of Stafford’s reaction. “He’s a stud. He’s always first class in every sense of the word.”

But McVay and general manager Les Snead were not their typically ebullient selves when discussing Simpson during their Thursday night news conference. Some observers perceived that as a break in what is regarded as one of the NFL’s best coach-general manager partnerships.

On Friday, Snead said in an interview with ESPN radio that he and McVay work “in lockstep.”

So their muted reactions Thursday might have been out of sensitivity, warranted or not, to not upset Stafford after drafting his heir apparent in the first round. McVay took pains to remind that the Rams are Stafford’s team, seemingly to not offend the Rams’ most important player.

After last year’s draft-day trade with the Atlanta Falcons, the Rams went into the offseason with two first-round picks — their own at No. 29 and the one acquired from the Falcons at 13.

Ty Simpson poses for a photo with his family during a news conference in Inglewood on Friday.

(Caroline Brehman / Associated Press)

In March, the Rams used the 29th pick in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, so perhaps the 13th pick was regarded as a luxury.

They spent it on a player who was at Alabama for four seasons, but started only one.

Snead acknowledged that as Simpson pondered whether to remain at Alabama or make himself available for the draft, Snead spoke with Simpson’s father, Jason, who like Snead played college football in the Southeastern Conference and is now the coach at Tennessee Martin. Snead said it was in the role similar to the NFL’s College Advisory Committee, which evaluates prospects and lets them know in what round, if any, that they might be selected. Snead reportedly told Jason Simpson his son was first-round caliber.

“You try to get across it’s not about where you get drafted,” Snead said Thursday night. “It’s more about where you go and what situation you go and what you do with that opportunity after.”

A few months later, the Rams drafted Simpson, who was upbeat as he met with reporters, while his parents and his brother and sister sat nearby.

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The Rams drafted Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft in Pittsburgh.

Simpson, who passed for 28 touchdowns, with five interceptions last season, was in Southern California last January when Alabama lost to Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide did a walkthrough at SoFi Stadium.

Now he will begin his NFL career there.

“I’m, I guess, like a redneck in Southern California,” he joked. “So we’ll see how that goes. But I’m super excited to be here. This is a great place, with great people and I can’t wait to get started.”

Simpson said that Rams safety Quentin Lake had texted him. He also received a social media message from Stafford’s wife, Kelly, inviting him and his family to reach out if they need anything.

“Can’t wait to talk to Matthew,” said Simpson, who characterized the veteran as “an assassin” on the field. “I’m super excited because I just want to pick his brain about everything.”

Simpson met with McVay on Friday.

“He’s got the juice, man,” Simpson said, “like that dude … he’s a fireball.”

Simpson said he benefited from the years he spent at Alabama before he got his opportunity to play last season.

“The years that I sat were … probably more important,” he said, “because I had to learn how to practice. I had to learn how to study when I wasn’t playing because I didn’t know when that time was going to come.

“And so whenever that time did come — it was this year — I made the most of it.”

Now he is ready for the next phase of his career.

He said his faith was his foundation, and that he aspires to be “not only be the best football player I can be,” but also a better teammate and person.

“I want people to come into the locker room and smile, knowing that ‘Hey, Ty’s here,’” he said. “I want to lead, influence people and I think at the quarterback position that’s what you need to do.”

His immediate goal is modest.

“My plan is just to get better each and every day,” he said, “so, eventually, I have a long career like Matthew.”

The Rams have a roster that is Super Bowl ready.

So on Thursday, with the 13th pick in the NFL draft, the Rams looked beyond the Matthew Stafford era to the future.

The Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, making him the heir apparent to the reigning NFL most valuable player.

Simpson started only 15 games at Alabama, but that was enough for coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead to determine that he could be developed into an eventual starter.

Stafford, 38, and the Rams are expected to work out an adjustment to his contract for this season, but whether Stafford intends to play beyond 2026 is unknown.

Last season, as a fourth-year junior, Simpson passed for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading the Crimson Tide to an 11-4 record.

He is the first quarterback drafted in the first round by the Rams since 2016, when they traded up a record 14 spots to pick Jared Goff with the No. 1 pick.

Fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett is the only other quarterback on the Rams roster. Free agent Jimmy Garoppolo, Stafford’s backup the last two seasons, is mulling retirement, according to McVay and Snead.

After advancing to the NFC championship game last season, and then fortifying the roster by trading for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams are expected to be a favorite to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

Star receiver Puka Nacua will fully participate in voluntary offseason workouts, the Rams are getting closer to another contract adjustment with quarterback Matthew Stafford, and coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead hope backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo decides to put off retirement and return for a third season and possible Super Bowl run.

McVay and Snead addressed those topics and the NFL draft on Tuesday during a videoconference with reporters.

Nacua led the NFL in receptions last season but also was involved in a string of off-the-field incidents the last few months, including an alleged biting incident that led to a civil lawsuit. Those situations put the brakes on any immediate discussion between the Rams and Nacua about a massive extension for the fourth-year pro.

In March, Nacua began a rehabilitation program in Malibu, but he was present for the first day of workouts on Monday.

Nacua, 24, “looks great” and is “doing really well,” McVay said. McVay declined to detail discussions he’s had with the All-Pro, who was a finalist for NFL offensive player of the year.

“He and I have a great relationship,” McVay said. “Feel really good about kind of the direction we’re going.”

Stafford, 38, led the Rams to the NFC championship game last season and is the reigning NFL most valuable player. According to overthecap.com, he is due to carry a salary-cap number of $48.3 million this season.

But Stafford has no doubt demanded, and will receive, a raise and a possible additional year in a deal that the Rams acknowledged two years ago is essentially a year-to-year situation.

“Progress has been made,” Snead said of negotiations.

There is no timeline, Snead said, “but don’t expect any drama, per se.”

Garoppolo, 34, has backed up Stafford for two seasons, and he has been invaluable.

Last year, with Stafford sidelined for training camp because of a back issue, Garoppolo ran the offense and prepped the defense with a skillset honed during a 12-year career that included a Super Bowl appearance. Stafford joined workouts before the season and remained healthy throughout, but Garoppolo was perhaps the most valuable insurance policy in the NFL.

Last season, Garoppolo played on a one-year contract and earned $4.5 million, according to overthecap.com.

McVay expressed confidence in fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett, but said he was hopeful that “when the time is right,” Garoppolo will “change his mind,” and return.

“You leave the door open,” McVay said when asked if there was a point that Rams would press Garoppolo to return. “I don’t think you want to press. What you don’t want to do is ever force a guy to play if in his mind he’s ready to move on.

“But you don’t want to minimize that, ‘Hey, if you do decide you want to play, let’s make sure it’s here with us.”

The Rams have the 13th pick in the NFL draft, which begins Thursday in Pittsburgh. They have one pick in the second and third rounds, one in the sixth round and three in the seventh.

Receiver, offensive line and edge rusher are among the positions the Rams could address with their first top-15 pick since they selected quarterback Jared Goff with the No. 1 pick in 2016.

“There’s a lot of possibilities,” McVay said. “We don’t control what happens in those 12 picks before, and so what we’ve done is a lot of contingency planning and a lot of conversations, and feel really good about that.”