Andrew Whitworth gives his take on Rams' shocking decision to draft Ty Simpson

When the Los Angeles Rams drafted Ty Simpson 13th overall in the first round a few weeks ago , there were a lot of stunned fans and analysts. Despite the small breadcrumbs linking the Rams to Simpson, few people expected the them to actually take the Alabama quarterback at that spot. Former Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth understands why the Rams did it, having been in and around the organization since 2017.

But he still admits it “shocked (him) that they did actually do it. ” He was on the “Rich Eisen Show” Wednesday and shared his thoughts on the Rams’ decision to draft Simpson. “Uh, I think no, because the only reason it doesn’t surprise me is – and honestly did not know they were going to pick it – I think for me, when I start to look at, all right, when I'm around the organization the last few years, and I just look at what’s going on with Matthew, at one point not really sure how long he was going to play,” he said.

“Then there was last year, kind of the dollar amount and mattered to him and the contract and ‘Hey, do you want to explore and see what’s out there? ’ To me, it feels like – not in a negative way – but just Matthew trying to figure out what does he want the back end of his career to look like? How much longer is he going to play?

And at some point, the organization, I'm just looking at what the Los Angeles Rams have been under Sean McVay and his leadership with Les Snead and Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastoors and those guys, they have continued to try to, ‘Hey, we are always going to be successful, we are always going all-in to try to win. ’ So why would they not be considering, ‘Hey, if we have a high enough pick, why would we not want a quarterback of the future that might not play for four years? But the reality is we’ve got it, so then we can go assemble around it.