NFL Researcher@NFL_Researcher
Ty Simpson this preseason…

🔹78.3 completion pct (2nd)*
🔹382 pass yards (1st)
🔹3-0 TD-INT ratio (1st)*
🔹109.9 passer rating (1st)*
🔹0 sacks taken (T-1st)
🔹0 giveaways (T-1st)

*Among 28 QB with 30+ attempts through Thusday

.@chargers @ty_simpson06 lots to like…Regardless of preseason … he is calm…he sees a lot presnap…good decision maker… #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/iuNcl2llUl

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) August 28, 2026

After 3 preseason games.

This is Simpson’s qb type.

Processing skills and field vision. Short to mid-range accuracy. Quick release. Not a cannon arm but not a bad arm either. Has anticipation, rhythmic timing, and quick decisive decision-making. Confident. Looks like he belongs out there. Quick movements. Can bail on a sack with abrupt suddenness, but it’s under control–he can bail abruptly and still position himself on the run to make throws. More than just mobile, though not a classic running threat. He can dart around.

No other Rams qb we’ve seen has had this particular combination of traits.

Will all of that hold up against NFL defenses as they get to know him? I think quite possibly, yes. In fact, I’m optimistic. Though you can’t say it has happened until it happens.

So either this is a case of time will tell if we shall see, or a case of we shall see if time will tell.

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’nother angle

A mf dot.
The walk at the end. 😮‍💨Oh yeah, we are in good hands. #Ramshouse pic.twitter.com/0519HTYCtN

— Carlos B (@MrCarlosBurrell) August 28, 2026

wv wrote:

But until i see it against NFL defenses who have had time to study him, I will remain agnostic.

I am more optimistic than you because, along with everything else, he also has first-class escapability. He’s not just mobile, he’s twitchy quick mobile. That gives him a big margin of error. When he bails on a play, there’s yardage gained.

That kind of ability can negate the fact a defense has studied you (“meep, meep!”). And it’s not just the quick recognition and the quickness moving–he’s an improviser. I can’t think of the last Rams qb where a broken play can be less of a disaster and more of an opportunity.

Let’s send Simpson back in time to the 99 super bowl. When Warner gets it to Bruce on the game winning TD pass, he stands in there and takes a hit. Simpson on that play would have the ability to avoid the hit, move, and still make the throw.

wv wrote:

Reminded me a bit of Purdy.

Yes they’re both of a type. Somewhat smaller frame, not a rocket arm (though not a bad arm), mobile and can run but not a Lamar Jackson, but what they do have above all is a combo of a quick release, good short and mid-range accuracy, and very rapid mental processing. The latter being the key to it all. They process things fast.

Who else fits that type? “Not very tall” accurate quick processors? Warner, Bulger, Montana, Brees….though Simpson’s more mobile than those guys.

First couple of drives, btw, Simpson was going against the Chargers first-string defense.

The Chargers fumble and Darrly Peterson III secures the W for the @RamsNFL!

(Via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/FueC3ZgMKM

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) August 28, 2026

5 Takeaways from Rams’ 20-18 preseason Week 3 win over Chargers

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/5-takeaways-from-rams-20-18-preseason-week-3-win-over-chargers-qb-usage-harrison-mevis-perfect-preseason-and-more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Rams finished up the 2026 preseason with a 20-18 win over the Chargers Thursday night at SoFi Stadium. That preseason finale saw rookie quarterback Ty Simpson start before fellow rookie Matthew Caldwell took over for him in the second half. Two days before kickoff, it remained to be seen whether Stetson Bennett IV would play, and Bennett ultimately did not.

On the flip side, the Chargers played their starters on offense and defense for each unit’s first two drives before a mix of second-, third- and fourth-string reserves checked in and played the rest of the game.

The Rams clinged to that 2-point lead until 49 seconds left, when outside linebacker Darryl Peterson III recorded the game-sealing strip sack. Peterson finished with two sacks overall on the night.

More on the Rams’ quarterback usage, plus four other takeaways, below.

1) Simpson starts, plays first half before Caldwell takes over in third quarter: The Chargers had their first-team defense on the field for the first two drives, which was a good test for Simpson. He showed off his mobility on the third series with a 9-yard scramble. That third drive was his best one of game to that point, but Rams were up-ended on 4th-and-goal from the Chargers 1 after safety Tony Jefferson stopped running back Jordan Waters for no gain. Compared to last week when he entered with a 27-point lead behind him and the Rams opting to run the ball more, Thursday night’s circumstances allowed them to ask Simpson to do more. On the Rams’ fourth drive, Simpson took advantage of short field position of shanked punt and led a scoring drive he ended with 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brennan Presley. Simpson finished 18 for 23 passing for 119 yards and one touchdown, leading the Rams on three of the five drives he was a part of in the first half.

Caldwell took over on the first drive of the second half, and had a memorable play on that first series where he scrambled for an 8-yard gain. On his second drive, he led the Rams to points via an 8-yard touchdown pass to running back Dean Connors. Caldwell finished 5 for 10 passing for 31 yards and that touchdown.

2) Andersen pounces on early takeaway: The undrafted free agent safety out of Wake Forest jumped on a botched handoff between Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and running back Omarion Hampton at the Chargers’ 14. However, the Rams had to settle for a 27-yard field goal gaining just five yards following the change-of-possesion. Peterson’s strip-sack added to the takeaway count.

3) Mevis finishes preseason perfect: Converting a pair of 27-yard attempts, Mevis concluded the preseason a perfect 6-for-6 on field goals this preseason.

4) Extended looks at Connors and Jordan Waters at running back: Connors and Waters both got more run after the Rams earlier Thursday agreed to trade Jarquez Hunter to the Dolphins for wide receiver Tutu Atwell. Waters finished with 15 carries for 53 yards – including a long of 25 – while Connors had 18 carries for 69 yards plus three receptions for 24 yards and one touchdown.

5) Mostly reserves playing for Rams offense, defense: The Rams approached the preseason finale they way you’d imagine, with the majority of the players who snaps Thursday night in the third- or fourth-strings of the unofficial depth chart.

Well the 3rd and 4th quarters were just an orgy of Rams missed tackles.

Caldwell is fairly accurate on short passes but not on anything over 15. Though–he may be the fastest running quarterback I’ve ever seen in a Rams uniform.

They won though because even their 6th and 7th unit pass rushers can produce.

Of course I’ll watch, even knowing they are not likely to improve over recent performances and suddenly become a competent football team.

Oops, sorry!

That was an earlier me from the past, time jumping into the present.

Ignore him. He breathes hopeless despair like an exhausted runner doubled over panting at the finish line.

If they sign Donald, maybe they can trade him to Dallas for CB Cobie Durant.

Zooey wrote:

They have to keep Edwards. A guy who wins contested catches has a job. It doesn’t matter if he can’t always separate if he catches the ball anyway. Sometimes you need 6 yards.

We know they already have 4. Nakua, Adams, Mumpfield, Whittington. They won’t keep more than 6 I think (we’ll see).

My bet is that Daniels won’t make the practice squad. Edwards could make the practice squad.

They do seem to be going out of their way to giving Smith a 2nd chance after he cost them a super bowl. Plus he may be the only one out of all of them who has some speed.

99 was different. In hindsight you could see where it came from, but at the moment, when the season started, people were thinking they would be lucky to have a winning record.

And then it became a season that at the end had 2, not 1 but 2, “The Catches” (Proehl and Bruce).

This is different from that. If they don’t make it, it will be like “yeah, figures”—because it won’t be the team being a paper tiger, it will be some kind of bad luck or unexpected obstacle. If they do make it, it will actually be a huge feeling of relief.

But then we haven’t seen them play. Maybe they really are a juggernaut.

Zooey wrote:

What do you think?

I don’t think I have a real good handle on writing team v. team comparisons.

So I am just going to crow about the Rams team-building over the last few years. This was posted somewhere else a few days ago but it didn’t go anywhere so now I put it here.

The other day I was posting some media buzz about Josiah Stewart, who has impressed people in camp and then didn’t play in the PS games cause I guess he’s already elevated on the Rams roster. Then I posted a bit about Kobie Turner being a great pass rusher.

You know the feeling. I mean…this is ridiculous.

Think of the sad, empty days from 2000 through to probably 2017 when Rams drafting was sometimes downright awful though mostly was just mediocre. Name another team that completely wasted 2 #2 picks in the 1st round in the space of 5 years on complete busts at left tackle–-Jason Smith and Greg Robinson. (And even saying that much leaves out the bottomless abyss of despair that were the Rams drafts from 1989 to 1997.)

Actually the McVay/Snead regime was pretty much okay but not stellar from 2017-2023. Then, somehow, in 2023, they found their wings.

Plus this is the only team I can think of that had 2 blockbuster trades in one off-season–McDuffie and Garrett. It’s as if the 99 Rams traded for Faulk and then soon after that traded for Deion Sanders. And this regime can afford those big trades because their lower round drafting (plus UDFAs) are so good right now.

It’s like Rams fans overpaid for a house that needed some fixing up, and when they moved in, more and more went wrong (“now it’s the roof!”)…then one day while digging in the weed-choked yard to start a garden, find buried treasure.

Now of course I am just talking about personnel acquisitions. They haven’t won anything yet. And I always remember the 2007 Patz, who went 18-0 through the playoffs and then lost the super bowl. Results are finicky. Luck is part of that.

But…the Rams do have themselves some players.

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Zooey wrote:

The sky is not falling in SF.

Well, based on the little bits that we know now, how do you rate the 3 big NFC West teams in comparison to each other? The Rams, the Searocks, and the SF Substationers? I’m honestly asking.

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