NFL exec claims Les Snead promised Ty Simpson's agent Rams would draft QB
An NFL executive says he was told Les Snead made a deal with Ty Simpson's agent, promising the Alabama QB wouldn't get past the Rams.
When Ty Simpson was deciding whether to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft or continue playing college football, his dad consulted people around the league, one of them being Los Angeles Rams GM Les Snead. This info came out just before the draft, and Snead reportedly told the elder Simpson that his son was a first-round talent. Apparently, Snead made a deal with Simpson’s agent that the Alabama QB wouldn’t fall past the Rams in Round 1.
That’s according to an NFL executive, who was told Snead made that pact with Jimmy Sexton, promising Simpson’s floor would be Los Angeles. Here’s what The Athletic’s Mike Sando wrote in his piece on Thursday: “Drafting a quarterback without talking to him would be crazy — unbelievable,” another exec said. “I was told that (GM) Les (Snead) made a deal with (agent) Jimmy Sexton when the kid was coming out and promised him he’d get no lower than them.
” It’s unclear whether those conversations were made before or after the Rams traded the 29th pick for Trent McDuffie, but that point is moot. All indications are that the Rams were planning to take Simpson at 13 if he were there after previously targeting him with the 29th pick . The Rams have liked Simpson for a long time, Mike LaFleur said this week, going back to last season when LaFleur was still on the staff as McVay’s offensive coordinator.
So this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment decision on draft night. Whether Snead made a deal with Simpson’s agent or not is not 100% clear, but we do know he consulted Simpson’s dad and thought highly of the young quarterback. This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL exec claims Rams GM made deal with Ty Simpson's agent before draft