Whether or not the Los Angeles Rams should have used the No. 13 pick to draft Ty Simpson will be debated throughout the young quarterback's entire NFL career. However, one former Rams legend was a fan of Simpson's even before the team took him.
Kurt Warner, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams and made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, said before the 2026 draft that he thought Simpson looked better than the eventual No. 1 overall pick, Fernando Mendoza, at times throughout their respective college seasons. Warner noted Simpson's ability to make "NFL throws" as well as his athleticism in and out of the pocket were also points in his favor between the Alabama and Indiana prospects.
"When you pop on the tape, I think there's times that his tape is better than Fernando Mendoza, just in terms of seeing the high-level throws, seeing what we call NFL throws, NFL-type offense where you have to read plays a certain way," Warner told Rich Eisen hours before Simpson went No. 13 to the Rams. "I believe Ty Simpson is the best quarterback in this draft in terms of his movement skills, his ability to run the naked bootleg and buy time out in space and make those plays. So I think he fits in a lot of systems from that standpoint. So there's a lot to like about him."
"There's time's his tape is better than Fernando Mendoza."@kurt13warner broke down what he sees in Ty Simpson ahead of tonight's #NFLDraft 1st Round:#NFL pic.twitter.com/wUycph72UW
High praise from one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the franchise that Simpson now plays for.
Simpson's lack of experience was Warner's only real knock against the Alabama quarterback, and he noted that it would be best for Simpson to land on a team with an entrenched starter, like the Rams. The best part, too, is that Simpson will get to sit behind Matthew Stafford for at least one season to learn the Sean McVay offense before he is tasked with taking over.
It will be some time before we know if the Rams made the right decision or not, but at least one of the best quarterbacks of the past 25 years is of the mindset that Simpson has all the skills to be successful in the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Kurt Warner says Simpson's tape was better than Mendoza's at times