The Rams went ahead and drafted for the future instead of potentially adding a rookie who could immediately impact a team with legit Super Bowl aspirations. Matthew Stafford is coming of an MVP-winning season, and considering the 38-year-old QB is essentially on a year-to-year basis stage of his career, getting the Rams back to the Super Bowl is the top priority for 2026. All that is why the selection of Simpson at No. 13 overall was so surprising.
McVay made it a point on Thursday to affirm that the Rams are still Stafford’s team while adding that Simpson will have to compete with Stetson Bennett for the backup job. Those sentiments could have also stoked the flames of perception, but Snead maintained on Friday that everyone is on the same page.
“I think Sean had a chat with Matthew before last night, and that’s one thing that Matthew’s definitely earned,” Snead said. “It’s one of the things that we’re working together to go through it. Matthew is on his way to, I would say this, a Hall of Fame career, right? And he still has gas left in the tank. And big picture, our vision’s always been, ‘Hey, let’s make the most of this time with Matthew and his teammates — let’s chase special together, however long that may be.’ I mentioned at the beginning of the segment, there’s no timeline on this. The longer, the better. Matthew just came off an MVP season, so if he continues playing, it’s like, this is better for everyone involved.”
Snead pointed out on Friday that the Rams have already addressed the club’s “most urgent need” when acquiring cornerback Trent McDuffie in a trade with the Chiefs, which required one of L.A.’s two first-round picks (No. 29). The McDuffie addition highlights a complete revamp of the Rams’ CB corps this offseason and was seen as the club’s biggest move until Thursday night.
The Rams still have an opportunity to improve over the next two days with six draft picks remaining, as well. Snead will be going forward — with McVay at his side — in doing so, especially following a first-round pick that won’t materialize until Stafford’s ready to call it a career.
“We’ve always known that there will be a time when we need our future quarterback,” Snead said. “And the way the stars aligned in this draft, that was the opportunity, we felt like, we should take. And at the end of the day, too, going into this season with the possibility of Jimmy (Garoppolo) retiring there was definitely an immediate need for a backup. And Stetson Bennett’s been around and knows our system and is going to be vying for that too. But at the macro level, it was really, based on where we’re at as a team and what we’re trying to accomplish — we don’t pick that early often — you have a draft where this quarterback was falling somewhere into the middle first round late, wherever he was gonna go, it was a chance to make that move and then move forward.”
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