Dan Orlovsky loved Rams drafting Ty Simpson early: ‘It’s good business’

Fernando Mendoza was the consensus number one pick heading into the NFL draft, and went first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night, but ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky wasn’t convinced he was so obviously the best quarterback in the class.

The longtime backup quarterback turned analyst went as far as to stamp Alabama’s Ty Simpson as his no 1. QB ahead of Medoza, who won the Heisman, national championship, and defeated Simpson head-to-head in the College Football Playoff.

Orlovsky’s capping of Simpson turned into its own news cycle, with the analyst having to issue a public denial that his support for Simpson had anything to do with CAA, their shared agency. He was somewhat vindicated on Thursday, when the Los Angeles Rams drafted Simpson 13th overall, far earlier than he was projected to go by most.

Orlovsky was on-set with McAfee and Co. when the Rams’ pick came down, and he was beaming when the selection was announced.

“Fudge yes, dude. Gosh that makes me feel good, dude,” he said.

Using such a prime pick on a player who figures to back up Matthew Stafford until the reigning MVP retires was widely viewed as a questionable pick, but predictably, Orlovsky thought Los Angeles aced it.

“It’s good business by the Rams,” Orlovsky said on Friday’s episode of First Take. “Good organizations are always living in the now and the future.”

“It’s good business by the Rams. … This isn’t about the now for them. This is about the future.”@danorlovsky7 reacts to the Rams drafting Ty Simpson at No. 13 🏈 pic.twitter.com/0Osld0wGg8

— First Take (@FirstTake) April 24, 2026

“If we look at the quarterback spot, more often than not, the organizations that are drafting that position when they want to, rather than when they need to, long-term win out. If you think back to when the Ravens took Lamar Jackson, they had Joe Flacco. If you think of when the Green Bay Packers took Jordan Love, they had Aaron Rodgers. If you think of when the Kansas City Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes, they had Alex Smith.

“I think this young man is a really good player… I thought it was the best tape in this year’s class. He gets to go to a place that organizationally, top to bottom, well-run; he gets to go to a coach that is as good as anybody in football, and he learns behind a future first Hall of Famer. This isn’t about the now for them, this is about the future, and this is what well-run organizations do.”

The Rams are currently working with Stafford on an extension that would keep him in Los Angeles beyond the 2026 season, so it’ll likely be a couple of years until anyone knows how accurate Orlovsky’s pre-draft evaluation was. Still, Simpson’s going at 13 proves that he was far more in tune with one of the league’s most well-respected teams than other analysts were.