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Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead cleared the air over comments from quarterback Ty Simpson.
The Los Angeles Rams continue to be a lightning rod for criticism over their decision to select Ty Simpson 13th overall in the 2026 draft, and his recent comments have only fueled the discussion around general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay.
Snead has since expressed sympathy for Simpson, who did just as he was instructed in following the Rams’ plan to get him to LA.
Despite the fuss, the situation continues to paint the pick in a less divisive light for the Rams.
GettyThe Los Angeles Rams worked to keep their interest in Ty Simpson quiet before the 2026 NFL Draft.
Snead fielded a question about how the decision to select Simpson came about, following the solemnity of the Rams’ post-draft press conference in which the GM and head coach appeared to lack energy.
Simpson, who previously touted the company line, said he had never met McVay before the draft. He has since let on that the Rams were on him from the outset of the pre-draft process.
Snead lamented what Simpson has endured and emphasized that the Rams were in lock-step.
“At the end of the day, here’s where it went awry. We do like to emphasize, Pat, hey, look, try to keep these private meetings between us, right, for that gamesmanship. Just, you know, we’d like for other teams not to know we’re interested,” Snead said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on April 28, noting his experience with teams tracking pre-draft visits. “So, we emphasize, keep it quiet. Felt really bad for Ty. He stayed on script. Poor guy stayed on script.”
“Historically we don’t do top 30 visits..
There’s a little strategy there because you don’t want teams to know who you’re interested in..
We like to go & meet the player on their campus..
We did 66 private meetings with players during this draft cycle” ~ Les Snead #PMSLive
“Here’s what I do know: I think y’all all know Sean. There’s no way he would pick a QB without meeting him. That’s what we do know. I think that’s probably common sense, and I understand kind of why it got convoluted. Hey, Ty stayed on script. We were really trying to keep it from other teams,” Snead said.
“When we were able to connect with him when he came out–because he visited us the next day–and we were able to say, ‘Yes, you can let everyone know that you visited with [us].’ And so, here we are.”
The entire process has been written about at length, but Simpson’s recent comments still caused quite a stir.
GettyTy Simpson spoke glowingly about his “secret meetings” with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay.
To Snead’s point about McVay, not only was the Rams’ head coach on board with taking Simpson, but the two before the draft.
That is contrary to the QB’s previous initial remarks.
“What’s … crazy is, we tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could. It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested. So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script, and do what everybody told me, not to tell anybody,” Simpson told ESPN’s Ian Fitzsimmons on April 27.
“It was something to where I knew that they were interested, I just didn’t know when. And then, sure enough, I had a lot of confidence in myself, and that’s why I decided to come out. If it wasn’t them, I felt like that it was going to be somebody else.”
Simpson said his meeting with McVay was “great,” noting that it took place at the team’s facility and that they talked “just football” for “hours and hours.”
Simpson said he “was like a kid in a candy store.”
Snead joked that he was out of his depth during the football discussion between McVay and Simpson. Simpson spoke glowingly about landing in LA with a quarterback-focused head coach and play-caller.
“I was told to not say anything because they didn’t want anybody to know,” Simpson said of the clandestine meeting. But we had one meeting, and we kept it private.
“It was just something to where it happened that way.”
Josh Buckhalter covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. He has covered both leagues since 2016, including bylines at FanSided, Last Word on Sports and Clocker Sports. He's based in Villa Park, Illinois. Follow Josh on Twitter and Instagram: @JoshGBuck More about Josh Buckhalter
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