Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is a rather polarizing figure heading into the NFL Draft.
After some deliberation, Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson decided to enter the NFL Draft, this even though Simpson had a rather rough end to his final college football season.
Simpson is no longer viewed as a top-five pick, but most are expected him to land somewhere in the first round. With Dante Moore returning to Oregon, Simpson could very well be the second quarterback off the board behind Fernando Mendoza.
That being said, Simpson comes with some serious question marks, and Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon is warning NFL teams about drafting him too early, listing him among six players who could be overdrafted this April.
"If he's drafted into the right offense, he could eventually become a good-not-great starter. I'm still betting we've written him off as a career backup by 2028," Gagnon wrote.
Simpson threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 64.5 percent of his passes in 2025.
It marked Simpson's first season as a starter since joining Alabama in 2022, with all 15 of his career starts coming this past year.
Ty Simpson. Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images.Typically, quarterbacks will less than 20 starts on the collegiate level do not experience a whole lot of success in the pros, so many are viewing that as a red flag against Simpson.
Not only that, but Simpson is not great in any one particular area. He only has decent arm strength, and he does not possess the overall athleticism as many of the other top quarterbacks in the NFL today.
Simpson entered the draft because his father, UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson, was told by NFL personnel people that his son would be a first-round selection this spring.
Chances are, that will happen, as there are a bunch of teams in need of quarterback assistance. But will Simpson actually be able to succeed on the professional level?
To be fair, the 23-year-old dealt with injuries during the second half of 2025, so that is certainly one of the reasons why his production declined.
But even before Simpson's downturn began, there were some who wondered if he was seriously starting quarterback material in the NFL.
We'll see which franchise decides to take a chance on Simpson in a couple of months.
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