zn wrote:

18. Matthew Caldwell, QB, Texas
Caldwell backed up Archie Manning last year.

from https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2026-nfl-draft-profile-texas-185800133.html

As a prospect, Caldwell has good size — he’s 6’4 and listed above 210 pounds. He also possesses sneaky athleticism, posting a 4.62 40 and a 34-inch vertical.

wv wrote:

1 Ty simpson

2 Reuben Bain, Edge, Miami
3 M.Lemon, WR, USC
4 Blake Miller, OT, Clemson
5 KC Concecion, WR, Texas AM
6 Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
7 Omar Cooper, wR, Indiana

No way they would have gotten Omar Cooper in the 7th round.

Ranking the Rams’ 2026 Undrafted Free Agents and Their Chances to Make the Roster

Blaine Grisak

https://www.si.com/nfl/rams/onsi/rams-2026-undrafted-free-agent-rankings

That group will have a difficult time making the roster, but players like Omar Speights, Alaric Jackson, and Jaylen McCollough have carved out roles as former undrafted free agents. Some of these players may make the practice squad while one or two sneak onto the final 53. Let’s rank the undrafted free agents and how likely they are to make the roster.

1. Dean Connors, RB, Houston
If Connors works out, it’s possible that he could be the Rex Burkhead in the offense as the Rams look to recreate the mid-2010s New England Patriots. Connors dropped in the draft due to his lack of elusiveness, history of fumbles, and size concerns. Said The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. “Connors is at his best in the screen game or when he finds an outside track to show off his short-area quickness and open-field acceleration.” Connors could compete with Jarquez Hunter for a roster spot.

2. Al’Zillion Hamilton, CB, Fresno State
Last season, Hamilton earned Second-team All-Mountain West as he tied for second in the conference with four interceptions. He lacks some size and explosiveness, but is active on the ball. Hamilton allowed just 23 receptions on 44 targets and a passer rating of 55.6 when targeted, which ranked inside the top 25 in college football.

3. Wesley Bailey, EDGE, Louisville
The top RAS comparison for Bailey is Brian Burns. While Bailey isn’t Burns, he is a versatile pass rusher with limited bend and can struggle against the run. It will be hard to make it at edge rusher, but Bailey’s versatility should keep him on the practice squad.

4. Austin Blaske, OL, UNC
Blaske has experience as a center and left tackle, proving versatility. He allowed five pressures all season and excels in the run game. Blaske lacks some strength, but brings a lot of upside. It will be tough for him to make the roster, but he’ll be a good developmental option on the practice squad. He ranked inside the top 15 in pass protection via PFF in 2024.

5. DB Nick Anderson, Wake Forest
It’s possible that Anderson ends up as a special teams contributor at some point. At Wake Forest, Anderson finished his career with 27 pass breakups, which was the most in program history. Last season, he led the team with 106 total tackles, seven pass breakups, and had a blocked kick.

6. Nikhai Hill-Green, LB, Alabama
After transferring to Alabama from Colorado, Hill-Green’s numbers dipped. Hill-Green talked about his journey in an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated. “I had a lot of great experiences at every program,” said Hill-Green. “I played with some great players. I was coached by some great coaches. I ultimately feel like the journey was worth the destination. I maximized my opportunity.”

7. Nyzier Fourqurean, CB, Wisconsin
After the 2025 season, Fourqurean was meant to go back to school, but the NCAA stripped him of his eligibility and it was too late to enter the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s 6’1 with good length and plays very physical.

8. Chad Lindberg, OL, UNC
Lindberg also brings valuable versatility with center, left guard, and left tackle experience. With that said, he can get caught reaching in pass protection. He has good size, but is a developmental project.

9. Drey Norwood, CB, Missouri
Norwood lacks agility and is slightly undersized. He also lacks long speed. Over four years with Missouri, Norwood recorded 93 total tackles, 14 pass deflections, and three interceptions. Norwood was the 24th ranked cornerback via PFF last season.

10. Darryl Peterson, EDGE, Wisconsin
Peterson led Wisconsin in sacks and tackles for loss last year. However, he lacks explosiveness. He’s a bit of a Swiss army knife on the defensive line and has done a little bit of everything. Peterson said in an interview with Sports Illustrated, “I played some three-tech, as well as playing along the edge. I think showing that versatility really elevated my game to another level.”

11. Eddie Walls, EDGE, Houston
Walls had seven sacks last year at Houston where he was named All-Big 12 second team. His 30 stops via PFF ranked 36th nationally and third in the Big 12. Walls is among the project pass rushers that the Rams brought in.

12. Jaxson Moi, DL, Tennessee
The Rams will like Moi’s intangibles and that will probably earn him a spot on the practice squad. He’s a strong, experienced interior defensive lineman and developed into a leader on the defense after transferring from Stanford.

13. Payton Zdroik, DL, Air Force
What if I told you that Zdroik’s top RAS comparison was Aaron Donald? Zdroik is a very good athlete, but the Rams are very deep on the defensive line which makes it tough. At best, he’ll fight for a spot on the practice squad.

14. Dan Villari, TE, Syracuse
It’s going to be difficult for a tight end to make the roster, but Villari is a fun player. He got a chance last season and took advantage of it as one of the few positives of the Syracuse offense. However, what makes him intriguing is his past experience as a quarterback. In 2023 with Syracuse, Villari took over at quarterback and ran the wildcat. He rushed for 326 yards on 55 carries.

15. Jalen Logan-Redding, DL, Minnesota
Logan-Redding is just 285 pounds, but was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2024. He’s a technique-first player, but will have a long way to go to make the roster.

16. Rohan Jones, TE, Arkansas
Unfortunately, it’s just going to be very difficult for a tight end to make the roster as the Rams have to keep five as it is. Jones was just the fourth Arkansas tight end to register 500+ yards in a season. After transferring from Montana State, Jones showed he could play with tougher competition.

17. Bryce Henderson, OT, Vanderbilt
Henderson jumped from South Dakota at the FCS level to Vanderbilt last season and struggled. His 21.5 pass-blocking grade via PFF was the second-worst in college football last season. It was the opposite from his time in South Dakota. He was the second-best OT behind Spencer Fano via PFF in 2024.

18. Matthew Caldwell, QB, Texas
Caldwell backed up Archie Manning last year. He will likely just be a camp arm with a name that’s not as cool as Dresser Winn.

"The things [the Rams] did defensively, I think are the things that are going to put them over the hump." @LRiddickESPN shares his thoughts on the Los Angeles Rams draft class, and what it could mean for their Super Bowl aspirations 🏆 pic.twitter.com/n6wBW3XOYr

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) April 28, 2026

Why Rams, Ty Simpson lied about meetings before NFL draft: ‘Stayed on script’

Vincent Bonsignore

https://nypost.com/2026/04/28/sports/why-la-rams-ty-simpson-stayed-silent-on-predraft-meetings/

The Rams‘ interest in Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was always much deeper than they let on.

But the signs of their infatuation were always there. Like when they sent their southeast area scout as their lone representative to Simpson’s pro day in Tuscaloosa last month.

Nothing against Billy Johnson at all. He’s very good at what he does. That’s evidenced by the talent the Rams keep pumping into their building every year.

But in contrast to the Raiders, who sent an army of executives and coaches to Fernando Mendoza’s pro day in Indiana, the Rams went as minimally as possible for Simpson.

It was a classic head fake to downplay their intentions with the Crimson Tide quarterback. Not so much to their fans, but to the handful of teams across the NFL that needed a quarterback.

The esteem the NFL holds for Rams general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay is so high that when they see potential in a prospect, especially a quarterback, other teams will want that prospect too.

The Jets and Cardinals come to mind. Both passed on Simpson with the picks they held at No. 2 and No. 3, with the idea of potentially selecting him later in the first round or early in the second.

Concerned that those teams might learn of their interest in Simpson, and perhaps trade up in the draft to snag him before their first pick at No. 13, the Rams kept their courtship of Simpson decidedly low-key.

That included the clandestine meeting Simpson recently revealed he had with Rams head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead in the days leading up to the draft. In that meeting, McVay and Simpson conversed for multiple hours.

“They talked football at a high level,” Snead said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

Remember, Simpson completely downplayed his pre-draft interactions with the Rams shortly after they selected him in the first round last Thursday.

“It was really brief, to be honest with you,” Simpson said at the time. “I met with some scouts in Alabama, and that was really it. They talked to my agent, but that really wasn’t much.”

Simpson completely reversed course this week during an appearance on ESPN’s “Amber and Ian” show, finally admitting that he and the Rams not only had a far deeper connection than many assumed, but that they wanted to keep those feelings as confidential as possible.

“We tried to keep this under wraps as long as we could,” Simpson said during his radio hit. “It was something to where I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn’t want people to know that they were interested.

“So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay, and I just was trying to be on script and do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody.”

“He stayed on script,” Snead said.

The interactions with McVay are of particular importance, given his stoic demeanor during his post-first-round media availability on Thursday. To some pundits, it gave the impression that McVay did not support the Rams’ decision to use such a high draft pick on a player that might not see the field until 2028.

Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Anyone who knows the relationship between McVay and Snead, and the collaborative manner in which they make personnel decisions, knows Snead would have never selected Simpson or anyone else at that point in the draft unless McVay was completely on board.

Turns out, McVay and Simpson had been building a relationship for a while now. No surprise that the son of a college football coach would vibe as well as he did with McVay during their private meeting.

“It was just straight football. And it was like a kid in a candy store,” Simpson said. “Me and him are sitting there, and we’re just going back and forth. You can tell the obsession he has for the game, and you can tell the love he has for quarterback play.

“It’s something that I appreciate, and it’s something that I enjoy because I really enjoy playing the position and value the position. So, being with him and then getting to know him and then just seeing a little bit of how I would get coached if I was fortunate enough to go there was something that I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”

wv wrote:

I certainly dont understand how drafting ‘players who should contribute two or three years’ later equals ‘stockpiling additional cheap contracts.’

It just means rookie contracts are cheaper.

But you’re right, it’s not all that illuminating since–as the Rams are about to demonstrate (after this season)–then, you have to pay them.

Peter Schrager@PSchrags
One big talking point from this Draft is the teams that took their guys and trusted “their” boards vs “consensus”.

Bears, Rams, Jags, and most notably — 49ers — had the largest Deltas between their picks and where the Consensus Big Boards listed.

All playoff teams in ’25

Ty Simpson pick explained

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7235565/2026/04/28/nfl-draft-ty-simpson-strategies-favorite-classes-tight-ends/?source=emp_shared_article&unlocked_article_code=1.eVA.d9MP.HoU0uf4HKnOc

If there is one thing I’ve learned about the NFL Draft, it’s that everyone is going to argue about it for weeks afterward.

That’s where I come in: I’m not here to change your opinions, but to talk to you about the process behind some of the more interesting moves and trends you watched throughout this year’s draft, and to highlight a few of my favorite classes.

Let’s get right into it and start with the draft’s biggest surprise:

In case you aren’t tired of reading about what I’m calling “Grumpy Gate” — Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay’s sour body language in a news conference after the team selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson at pick No. 13 on Thursday night — allow me to make a few notes as someone who once spent a season and an offseason inside the team’s scouting department:

• The Rams do not pick players McVay does not emphatically want, especially in early rounds. He always has a significant say over the first pick they make, after dialogue with and ultimate agreement from general manager Les Snead. McVay may get impatient during the process, and so may Snead — but neither unilaterally makes picks. Both coach and GM would have had to be completely on board for this to happen.

• I do believe McVay was attempting to downplay the pick in general, with reigning MVP Matthew Stafford in mind. McVay wants to be respectful to Stafford, which he has since said publicly, and to avoid the impression that he has put a timer on the rest of Stafford’s career. Unsaid: The two sides have not yet fully agreed on Stafford’s adjusted contract, although a league source said progress has been made.

No, McVay didn’t have to go that far with his mannerisms to show Stafford that respect. Yes, he came off poorly. I have to think that McVay also could have been projecting some defensiveness about the pick in light of the instant reaction to it, and/or something personal could have happened behind the scenes (he alluded to this in a couple of interviews during the coverage of the second and third days of the draft).

I am certain, based on conversations with league and team sources plus a recent conversation with McVay, that he is very high on Simpson. So is Snead. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also reported before the draft began that Snead has a relationship with Simpson’s father, who is a college coach, and even was among the voices who told Simpson he could go as early as the first round of this year’s draft.

Ty Simpson told ESPN Radio on Monday that he secretly met with McVay before the draft. That is significant because neither Snead nor McVay typically meets with any prospects, and they don’t attend the scouting combine or other pre-draft events.

Picking him at No. 13 was still a surprise to me, however. The Rams could have addressed upcoming tackle and receiver needs, or they could have traded back for more picks.

• Simpson is a developmental prospect with traits the Rams like but who needs plenty of reps and time behind Stafford. In a best-case scenario for Stafford, Simpson and the Rams, the young quarterback will get that time. McVay stressed that Stafford, 38, will play for L.A. as long as he wants to.

• The rest of the Rams’ team-building, combined with the Simpson pick and the rest of this year’s draft class, tells a story:

After a sprint-rebuild in 2023 and postseason runs in 2024 and 2025, the Rams turned back to the picks-for-players model that helped them win Super Bowl LVI as this offseason began. They recently swapped their other first-round pick in this class for top cornerback Trent McDuffie and then extended him with a four-year, $124 million contract. That already told me that they weren’t stockpiling ammunition for the 2027 quarterback class, like many believed. They also signed free agent cornerback Jaylen Watson to a three-year, $51 million deal and could soon extend priority players out of a strong 2023 draft class.

They will be all-in this season to aim again for a Super Bowl, and if I’m studying their previous pattern in this mode, that could mean more moves may come, and more future picks would be in play, just as they were before the trade deadline in 2021. The Rams previously traded all of their first-round picks up to 2024, all between 2019 and 2021, to help win their last championship.

If that happens, they had better be cost-controlled at quarterback after going all-in this year, and/or on the other side of Stafford’s window — whenever that may be. (I wouldn’t bet that window closes quickly as he seems to hit a new level of play each time he’s challenged by some outside force, which makes this draft pick even more of a risk.) This and last year’s draft classes both hint at a team identifying players who should contribute two or three years into their career, not immediately — therefore stockpiling additional cheap contracts.

Enter Simpson, who shouldn’t play this season. But if he does within the four seasons following 2026, he will help keep the rest of the roster financially competitive because he’ll be on his rookie contract (he’ll have a fifth-year option available as a first-round pick). If the Rams can develop him like they say they can, the team has a higher floor in a post-Stafford era.

That’s a lot … a lot … of “ifs” for a top-15 pick, and a quarterback no less.

Ian (Rams Up Podcast)@RamsUp_Ian
Wow!

New #Rams QB Ty Simpson said he had a secret meeting with Sean McVay before the Draft for “hours and hours”!
Per: @sarahbarshop

Jackson Durham@JDurham_FBall
Very interesting, Ty Simpson spoke on the radio with ESPN today about pre-draft process with the Rams

Zooey wrote:

So I’ll take him over Ryan Leaf.

Well I don’t go THAT far.

Zooey wrote:

People seem to believe he is a mid-level guy, but I’m okay with that.

My own take? Some things about him point to a “mid-level guy.” But some things point to him being more than that.

Football IQ plus fast processing under fire plus accuracy plus very good feet/movement plus toughness (he had a terrible OL at Alabama)…plus intangibles.

He could be a “Brock Purdy Plus.” I don’t know how many “plusses.”

I am optimistic about the guy and will need to see some bad stuff in games to lose that view.