Les Snead (left) and Sean McVay (right) Credit: Los Angeles Rams
By Sam Neumann on

Ty Simpson had never spoken to Sean McVay.

Not during the pre-draft process, not at the combine, not a phone call at any point between February and Thursday night. When Rams scouts showed up to Alabama’s Pro Day, Simpson shook some hands, and that was roughly the extent of it. He told reporters after the pick that the first time he ever spoke to Les Snead was the moment Snead called to tell him he was the 13th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

So when the Rams made the pick, the natural follow-up was what the head coach thought about it. That question answered itself about an hour later, when McVay sat down at a podium in Los Angeles next to a very enthusiastic Les Snead and proceeded to say as little about Ty Simpson as it is possible to say about a player you just spent a first-round pick on.

Multiple reporters in the room said they’d never seen anything like it. One called it the most muted post-pick presser he’d witnessed across four different beats.

Snead had no such problem. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Snead has a relationship with Ty’s father, Jason Simpson, who is the head football coach at UT Martin. When Ty was deliberating whether to leave behind significant NIL money and declare for a draft that had largely turned a cold shoulder toward him, Snead was among the voices in the family’s ear. He told Jason his son was a first-round talent. He believed it enough to act on it on Thursday. Whether McVay shared that belief is a question the press conference did not answer, because McVay did not answer questions on Thursday so much as he moved his mouth around in the general shape of answers.

The Los Angeles Rams head coach, by every visible indication, was informed of this decision more than he made it.

McVay has made a career out of being the most enthusiastic person in any room he walks into. He is the coach who has never once in his professional life been accused of failing to show up emotionally for something, until now. That version of McVay wasn’t present on Thursday. The version that did show up was a head coach who, at best, looked like a man still warming up to an idea that had already been decided for him.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann