The Los Angeles Rams selected quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 24. He has not signed a contract. Training camp opens July 23.

Simpson is one of three first-round picks still unsigned, joining Denver's edge rusher at pick 18 and Miami's corner at pick 21. Every pick above him—including Philadelphia's quarterback at 10 and the Chargers' tackle at 5—signed between May 12 and June 8. The rookie wage scale sets Simpson's four-year deal at approximately $28.4 million fully guaranteed with a $16.8 million signing bonus, per Over The Cap's 2026 projections. There is no contractual variance in those figures. What remains is structure: offset language, payment schedules, and roster bonus timing.

Offset language matters when a team cuts a drafted player before his rookie deal expires. Without offsets, the original team pays the full remaining guarantee even if another team signs him. The player collects twice. With offsets, the new salary reduces what the original team owes. It is a $28 million insurance argument for a franchise that recently paid $49 million guaranteed to an incumbent quarterback who lasted 18 months. The Rams' cap sheet carries $44 million in dead money from Matthew Stafford's restructures and Cooper Kupp's void years. Their vice president of football operations spent June 16-19 in a Dallas conference room with 31 other executives discussing the league's new streaming economics, which begin in 2027 and include a $110 billion media package with variable payouts tied to audience delivery. The room wants cost certainty. Simpson's agent wants flexibility.

Simpson threw for 3,420 yards and 28 touchdowns at Alabama in 2025, completing 64.2% against SEC defenses. The Rams have not drafted a quarterback in the first round since Jared Goff at pick 1 in 2016, who signed on June 15 of that year after a three-week negotiation over the same offset clause. Goff's deal included partial offsets—he would collect some double payment in years three and four, none in year one. Simpson's camp is understood to be seeking a similar structure, which the Rams' front office now views as an artifact of the pre-2020 CBA's looser language.

The Rams open their first preseason game August 9 against Dallas. Veteran backup Jimmy Garoppolo, signed in March to a $8.5 million one-year prove-it deal, is taking first-team reps. The offensive coordinator installed a new play-action system in April designed around a mobile quarterback who can manipulate safeties with his eyes before pulling the ball down—Simpson's college calling card. That system is being taught to Garoppolo, age 33, whose career scramble rate is 4.1%. Simpson has not attended a single walkthrough.

Watch for Simpson's signature before July 20, when rookies report. If talks extend past camp's start, the Rams gain leverage: he cannot practice, cannot learn the system, and begins to lose developmental reps that matter more for quarterbacks than any other position. His agent loses leverage the day another first-rounder signs, which Tampa's pick 19 is expected to do this week. The offset language will likely settle at partial offsets in year four only, the midpoint structure that closed deals for Chicago's 2025 first-rounder and Arizona's 2024 pick.

The Rams play their 2026 opener on September 7 in Las Vegas. The quarterback taking that snap is currently unclear.