Ty Simpson Shines in NFL Rookie Debut, Showing How Alabama Prepared Him for This Moment

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There is a temptation after a rookie quarterback makes an impressive NFL debut to immediately start talking about what he might become.

A future starter.

A franchise quarterback.

The steal of the draft.

The next big thing.

And after watching former Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson make his preseason debut for the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night, I understand why people are excited.

Simpson completed 21 of 25 passes for 190 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in the Rams' 20-12 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. He completed passes to seven different players, both of his touchdown throws went to running back Dean Connors, and he became the first player since Baker Mayfield in 2018 to throw for at least 190 yards and two touchdowns in his preseason debut.

That is a pretty good way to introduce yourself to the NFL.

But if you are an Alabama fan, I don't think Saturday night felt completely new.

We've seen this before.

Maybe not in an NFL uniform. Maybe not at Arrowhead Stadium. Maybe not with Sean McVay standing on the sideline. But the things that made Simpson impressive Saturday night were many of the same things we watched develop during his years in Tuscaloosa.

The patience. The decision-making. The ball security. The willingness to take what the defense gave him. The composure. And perhaps most importantly, the ability to stay ready even when he wasn't necessarily the guy everyone was talking about.

Tuscaloosa helped make Ty Simpson ready for this moment.

And I think sometimes we forget just how important his entire Alabama journey was in making him the quarterback we are watching today.

Simpson arrived at Alabama as one of the most highly regarded quarterbacks in the country. Players with his recruiting profile generally expect to play. Quickly.

Instead, Simpson had to wait.

He entered a quarterback room that included Bryce Young, a Heisman Trophy winner who would become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. After Young left, Simpson battled for the starting job, but Jalen Milroe ultimately became Alabama's quarterback.

Then Simpson waited some more.

In the modern era of college football, that part of his story is almost difficult to comprehend.

The transfer portal makes leaving easy. NIL opportunities make starting somewhere else financially attractive. Quarterbacks across the country change schools every offseason because somebody else is ahead of them on the depth chart.

Simpson could have left. More than once. He didn't.

Instead, he kept practicing. Kept learning. Kept developing. Kept waiting.

During the 2023 season, he saw action in six games. One of the most important came against South Florida when Alabama's offense was struggling. Simpson entered the game and helped the Crimson Tide score 17 unanswered points, finishing 5-of-9 passing for 73 yards while also contributing with his legs.

It wasn't some 400-yard masterpiece.

It was something more representative of the quarterback Simpson was becoming.

Be ready when your number gets called.

In 2024, he remained Alabama's backup. Again. He appeared in six games, throwing for 167 yards while continuing to develop behind Milroe. Think about that.

For years, Simpson practiced knowing there was a good chance Saturday would come and go without him playing meaningful snaps. He prepared anyway. And I believe that matters when you are trying to understand what happened Saturday night in Kansas City.

Because when Simpson finally got his opportunity to become Alabama's starter in 2025, he didn't play like someone overwhelmed by the moment. He played like someone who had been preparing for it for years.

Simpson started all 15 games for Alabama and completed 305 of 473 passes for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and only five interceptions, completing 64.5 percent of his attempts. He became a finalist for the Manning Award, earned Second-Team All-SEC recognition and finished his lone season as Alabama's full-time starting quarterback with one of the most productive passing seasons in program history.

But even those numbers don't completely explain what impressed me about Simpson at Alabama. It was the way he played.

Against Georgia in Athens, with Alabama walking into one of the most hostile environments in college football, Simpson completed 24 of 38 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns while adding another touchdown on the ground in a 24-21 Alabama victory. That performance earned him SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors and national recognition from the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien awards.

That was one of those games where you watched Simpson and thought:

Okay. This kid might be different.

Then there was the incredible efficiency.

Against ULM, Simpson completed all 17 of his passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Alabama noted that he became just the third quarterback in SEC history to accomplish that level of perfection. Those performances showed the flashes. Saturday night showed them again.

Simpson wasn't recklessly throwing the football downfield trying to create a viral highlight on every possession.

He was running an offense. There is a difference. He completed 84 percent of his passes. He protected the football. He moved the offense. He found the open receiver. He delivered touchdowns when opportunities presented themselves. He looked comfortable.

For a rookie quarterback playing his first NFL game, even in the preseason, that matters.

And perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.

One of Simpson's greatest strengths at Alabama was protecting the football. Across 523 career pass attempts with the Crimson Tide, he threw only five interceptions, giving him the lowest interception percentage in Alabama history. The Rams themselves highlighted his processing, accuracy and ability to read defenses after selecting him.

Those aren't always the things that make SportsCenter. But they are the things that keep NFL quarterbacks on the field.

Sure, I love the big throws. I love watching a quarterback uncork one 50 yards downfield.

There will be opportunities for Simpson to make those plays.

But what impressed me Saturday night wasn't that he looked flashy. It was that he looked comfortable. That might be an even bigger compliment.

There were questions when Los Angeles selected Simpson with the 13th overall pick in April.

Was one year of starting experience enough? Was No. 13 too high? Could the Rams really project an NFL franchise quarterback based largely on 15 college starts? Those were fair questions.

Even pre-draft evaluations acknowledged that Simpson's limited starting experience made him one of the more difficult quarterback evaluations in the class. At the same time, scouts consistently pointed toward his processing ability, mechanics, accuracy and decision-making as reasons to believe he could develop into an NFL starter.

But this is where I think simply counting starts misses something important about Simpson.

Yes, he only started one season at Alabama. He didn't only develop for one season at Alabama. There is a massive difference.

He spent years inside an Alabama quarterback room. He learned behind Bryce Young. He competed with Jalen Milroe. He experienced a coaching transition from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer. He learned multiple offenses. He practiced against Alabama defenses filled with future NFL players. He dealt with expectations. He dealt with losing quarterback competitions. He dealt with people wondering why he hadn't transferred. He dealt with finally becoming Alabama's starting quarterback and all the pressure that comes with that position.

Then he went on the road and beat Georgia.

He helped take Alabama to the College Football Playoff. He experienced success. He experienced failure. He experienced criticism. He experienced adversity.

By the time he walked onto an NFL field Saturday night, Ty Simpson might have been a rookie by NFL standards. But he wasn't inexperienced when it came to pressure.

Tuscaloosa had already given him plenty of that. And maybe that's what I enjoyed most about watching his debut.

I wasn't watching some completely different version of Ty Simpson.

I was watching the next version.

The Alabama version was still there. The calm quarterback who didn't feel like he had to force something. The player willing to trust the offense. The quarterback who understood that sometimes the correct play is more important than the spectacular play. The kid who spent years waiting for an opportunity and then tried to make the most of it when it finally arrived.

That doesn't mean Simpson is already ready to replace Matthew Stafford. It doesn't mean one preseason performance guarantees NFL success. It doesn't mean there won't be rookie mistakes coming. There absolutely will be. The NFL is too difficult for there not to be. But Saturday night was encouraging because the traits that made Simpson successful weren't dependent on one lucky deep ball or a broken play.

They were foundational quarterback traits. Accuracy. Processing. Composure. Decision-making. Ball security. Those things translate.

And for Alabama fans, there should be something incredibly rewarding about watching this chapter begin.

We watched Simpson wait. We watched people question whether he would ever become Alabama's starting quarterback. We watched transfer portal speculation.

We watched him continue to stay. Then we watched him finally earn his opportunity.

He threw for 3,567 yards. He threw 28 touchdowns. He walked into Athens and beat Georgia. He became an NFL first-round pick. And now, in his first opportunity wearing an NFL uniform, he completed 21 of 25 passes and threw two touchdowns.

That's quite a journey.

And maybe the greatest lesson from Simpson's story is that development doesn't always happen where everybody can see it. Sometimes development happens while you're the backup. Sometimes growth happens when somebody else gets the attention. Sometimes you're becoming the player you will eventually be while everyone is wondering why you aren't playing yet.

Ty Simpson's Alabama career wasn't delayed development.

The waiting was part of the development.

Every quarterback meeting. Every practice. Every rep behind someone else. Every competition. Every Saturday spent preparing without knowing whether he would play. Every moment inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Every difficult SEC road environment. All of it helped prepare him for what came next.

Saturday night was Ty Simpson's NFL debut. But the quarterback we saw didn't suddenly appear in Los Angeles.

Alabama fans watched him being built for years. We saw the flashes in Tuscaloosa. Now the rest of the NFL is starting to see them, too.

Roll Tide. 

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