Breaking Down Ty Simpson’s Preseason Debut

The Rams shocked the NFL world by taking Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft. But his preseason debut on Saturday seemed to justify that decision (I know, I know! It’s just preseason!).

Simpson completed 21 of 25 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he looked good in the process.

The best aspect of his performance is that you saw a little bit of everything, including improvement in some of those areas where he struggled in college.

Sean McVay started his outing by taking advantage of Simpson’s athleticism and comfortability throwing on the run. He called boots on 4 of his first 5 pass attempts. That allowed him to settle in by getting him out of the pocket where he could make some risk-free throws:

At Alabama, I thought Simpson needed to do a better job in the quick passing game of getting the ball out in rhythm and on time. Perhaps that’s been a point of emphasis with McVay in practice, because I thought Simpson was really good in this area on Saturday.

On this first example, watch him peak left and eliminate his two routes to that side almost immediately during his drop before hitting his back foot and getting the ball out to the other side: