Rich Weighs In on Ty Simpson’s Impressive Rams Debut Running Sean McVay’s Offense

Ty Simpson's first NFL football looked less like a rookie audition and more like a guy running an offense he has been in for years. That was the whole point of drafting him.

The line was 21 of 25 for 192 yards with touchdowns and a passer rating of 125, spread across seven different receivers. On a weekend of quarterback debuts, it was the one that made people rewind.

"He just looked like he's been there and done that in the Rams system forever, which is why they hired him, that's why they drafted him," Rich said. "They looked at him and they're like, he's exactly what we're looking for for our offense. He'll fit right in. He gets it. He'll get it right away. He's got a sixth sense for what we want."

Simpson's own explanation was about as calm as his tape.

"I definitely felt more comfortable than I ever had in a game, but I also didn't know what to expect, first NFL game, first live NFL against NFL teams," Simpson said. "Once that first drive kind of got done with, I was like, all right, this is just like playing in the backyard in Martin."

Backyard is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and it is also the tell. A rookie who feels that way three series into his first professional game is usually describing his coaching staff, not his own nerves. Drew Allar said something similar after his own good Thursday night, crediting preparation for keeping the anxiety down, which earned Mike McCarthy a tip of the cap. Sean McVay gets one here.

There is a caveat baked into the whole exercise, and it came from earlier in the show. Jordan Palmer spent his segment warning that preseason week one defenses are full of players who will not make a roster, and that pumping the brakes is the correct posture. Garrett Nussmeier went 13 of 19 for 98 yards for the Chiefs the same weekend and drew similar coos.

Still, the reps matter more here than the numbers do, because of what the depth chart looks like in September.

Behind Matthew Stafford, Simpson is going to get close to nothing. Zero reps when the season starts, all the way through to a minicamp next year that everyone in that building hopes arrives with another trophy in the case. Preseason is the entire laboratory.

That raises the actual question. Stetson Bennett came out second in terms of playing time and sits second on the depth chart, and he has never really done it either. If Simpson keeps looking like this, does he pop over Bennett?

It is not a comfortable spot. Los Angeles is set up the way a table gets wired, with the dice in hand and the point there to be hit. Handing the emergency job to a rookie is tough. Handing it to a quarterback who has not proven it is also tough.

For now, the box gets checked. One member of the show had already started coming around before any of this, texting Chris after catching Georgia and Alabama highlights to say that maybe Simpson was not a bad pick after all. By the end of Saturday, that take looked early rather than wrong.