Is the Los Angeles Rams squad better after Round 1 of the NFL Draft? Yes, it is. They added a desirable quarterback to their roster.
With Jimmy Garropollo potentially retiring, the Rams didn’t have a backup quarterback outside of Stetson Bennett. Unless Bennett and the Rams surprise everyone more than they did with the Simpson pick, Bennett will not take the field for L.A. in any meaningful games.
With Simpson drafted, the Rams can continue their plan of having Bennett on the roster for whatever their reasons are, but they have two actual quarterbacks who they can stomach putting on the field in Matthew Stafford and the newly added Simpson.
Could the Rams have picked someone other than Simpson? Yes. Did the Rams improve their roster taking Simpson? You can say no. The Rams will disagree, so would I. The roster improved.
Maybe years from now there will be a book written, and that book will spell out that someone in L.A. hated this pick (maybe I’ll write a book about how counterintuitive the Simpson pick is), but for now, Simpson is the pick, and the Rams are going to try and sell that fans on improving their roster both now and later.
On paper, L.A.’s roster has improved.
Was this improvement worth the 13th overall pick of 2026? To be determined. Could the Rams have done better with their 13th overall pick? To be determined.
