Nearly three hours west of Nashville is Martin, Tennessee, where Ty Simpson was raised effectively his whole life. He grew up there with his younger sister and brother, both athletes (younger brother Graham is also a quarterback) who spent plenty of time around the University of Tennessee-Martin football team because his father, Jason, has been their head coach since 2006.

But Ty Simpson became the talk of Martin, garnering offers from colleges as far back as when he was in eighth grade. In fact there was a point where the University of Tennessee recruited both Ty and Jason Simpson for spots on the team at quarterback and assistant coach, respectively.

Interest in Simpson only grew larger as he stepped into high school ball. Simpson totaled 27 touchdowns as a junior for Westview High School, then led them to the 2A Tennessee State Championship as a senior with 41 passing touchdowns, 2,827 passing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns and 862 rushing yards in 14 games. That was enough to earn him Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year Honors and get admitted to the 2022 All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

When all was said and done, every single SEC school had offers out to Simpson. A five-star recruit per 247Sports, Simpson chose Alabama over LSU, Ole Miss and even Tennessee-Martin.

247Sports recruiting profile

• High school: Westview (Martin, Tennessee)
• Class: 2022
• 247Sports rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (No. 29 overall, No. 4 QB, No. 2 TN)

The 2026 NFL Draft will take place April 23-25 in Pittsburgh. You can find more draft coverage at CBSSports.com, including weekly mock drafts and regular evaluations of the top prospects.

NFL Draft’s top QB isn’t Fernando Mendoza: Former NFL QB says Ty Simpson is ‘QB1’ and some teams seem to agree

John Breech

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Ty Simpson NFL Draft profile

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CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 2 QB | Overall: No. 33

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Brock Purdy

Despite being a little undersized, Simpson is a wiz at processing defenses pre- and post-snap and can act on it appropriately. He’s got a pro-style arm capable of making any throw on the field with the legs to get him out of trouble and a gunslinger mentality that may need to be tamed, not exploited. He should adapt to any offense. 

Brock Purdy is a valid comparison because he’s smart, mobile, accurate and even a bit of a gunslinger himself. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Simpson eventually was a multi-year starter with some success like Purdy.

About

• 2025 Second-team All-SEC
• Threw for 3,567 yards in 2025 (fourth-most in Alabama history)
• Opened 2025 with 21-1 TD-INT and 273.4 pass YPG over first nine games
• Finished season with 7-4 TD-INT and 184.3 pass YPG over final six games
• Could become fourth Alabama QB drafted in Round 1 since 2020 (Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Bryce Young)

College stats

Rate = NCAA passer efficiency rating

Strengths

• Good lower-body strength helps him generate power and velocity on his throws.
• Polished footwork stayed consistent throughout his games, only occasionally crossing up his feet. Simpson did a good job resetting before throwing.
• Experienced changing play calls and protections before the snap. Also had a portion of plays at Alabama from under center. 

• One of the best pre- and post-snap processors I’ve seen in the last few years, with plenty of examples of Simpson scanning the field and settling on a second or third read. This is consistent with son-of-a-football-coach quarterbacks who enter the league. Issues some had with Jaxson Dart or Shedeur Sanders last year do not exist with Simpson, who is equipped to learn and operate any offense.
• Generally has a good release that helps him get the ball out quickly.
• The better the situation, the better the accuracy and ball placement. Simpson was typically great from clean pockets, like most quarterbacks, but also delivered more than a fair share of on-target throws when pressured and/or on the move. His overall completion rate doesn’t account for the 30 drops by his pass catchers in 2025; Pro Football Focus credited him with a 75.3% adjusted completion rate, which ranked 15th out of 57 qualifiers.
• Elite anticipatory thrower, particularly effective at attacking zone coverage by throwing to spaces where his receivers were going.
• Consistently throws with exceptional velocity, but can take something off and deliver with touch when necessary. Also has enough arm to reach the sidelines most of the time.

• Generates quality arm strength from his strong base. There are multiple examples of Simpson putting the ball 45-plus yards in the air, including a 60-yard overthrow in October.

• Gunslinger mentality with an appetite for bigger plays. Simpson will pass on open targets near the line of scrimmage in favor of pushing the ball downfield, sometimes with success. His father, Jason, reportedly suggested he take easier throws more often to avoid hits or lower-percentage targets. NFL coaches will likely echo that, and like most players, he’ll listen.
• Willing to use his legs on designed runs or to extend plays and win on improvisation. Simpson has done that since high school (11 rushing touchdowns and 862 rushing yards as a senior) and should feel comfortable instinctively using his feet. Teams may view his rushing as a bonus rather than a core part of his game.

• Sneaky-good speed, both when taking off for a first down and when moving outside the pocket. Even his dropbacks are quicker than a typical quarterback’s — just enough speed to make defenses sweat.

• Excellent character to pair with his football intelligence. Spent time in high school giving back to the community by volunteering with the elderly and at Goodwill. 

Concerns

• One-year starter at Alabama, leading the way for 15 games. That’s it. He played sparingly in 2023 and 2024, failing to make any starts or throw any touchdowns. It is rare for quarterbacks with limited college experience to make an NFL impact. Teams will also want to understand why Simpson couldn’t unseat Jalen Milroe in 2024, particularly after midseason losses at Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
• Shorter than ideal for the position. Simpson had 10 passes batted down last season, 13th-most in the FBS.
• Lacks bulk, especially in his upper body, which may have contributed to injuries in 2025.
• Injuries were significant and clearly impacted his play. Simpson reportedly suffered a herniated disc against South Carolina that required epidurals and led to gastritis from anti-inflammatory medication that didn’t agree with his stomach.
• He also dealt with elbow bursitis late in the year and a cracked rib that forced him out of Alabama’s CFP game against Indiana.
• Production dipped once injuries set in. In his first eight games, Simpson completed 67.8% of his throws for 8.4 yards per attempt and a 7.66% TD rate. Over his final seven, those numbers fell to 60.4%, 6.5 YPA and 3.77%.
• Defenses adjusted accordingly, blitzing Simpson more frequently once it became clear he wasn’t the same physically.
• Upper-body mechanics were mostly sound, but he sometimes threw with an over-the-top motion. It felt like at least once per game Simpson would throw a pass at a receiver’s feet because of it. Many of those misses came on easier plays like screens.
• Handling of pass rush pressure was inconsistent. There were times when Simpson stayed poised in the pocket with chaos around him and delivered a strike, and others when pressure became a major issue.
• At times, he got happy feet and drifted out of the pocket or rushed his throwing motion to avoid contact. Other times, he failed to recognize pressure entirely and took big hits. There were also plays — maybe once per game — when Simpson would “see ghosts” and sense pressure that wasn’t there.
• He struggled more with pass rush pressure late in the season, likely due to the injuries he was trying to protect.
• NFL coaches will likely make pass rush management an early coaching point. The good news: if Sam Darnold overcame seeing ghosts, Simpson can too — and hopefully a lot sooner.
• Much has been made about Simpson’s accuracy to the sidelines. On throws of 10 or fewer air yards, he posted an 83.3% completion rate, top-25 in the FBS. On throws of 20-plus air yards, his completion rate was a solid 58.3%.
• The concern lies in the intermediate range. On throws between 13 and 19 air yards, Simpson completed just 9.1% (1 of 11). Some of those incompletions were on receivers failing to finish plays on catchable balls, and pass rush pressure was a factor on most of those throws. The hope is that Simpson develops in this area, but it is something teams should note.
• Simpson’s overall off-target rate was 13.3% — 23.5% when pressured and 9.9% when kept clean (both around FBS average). This is more evidence that pass rush management is a problem that must be addressed, though there is also evidence he can handle it when healthy.
• There was also a slight tendency to throw without considering the health of his receiver, i.e., throwing hospital balls. It’s never good when a quarterback leads his receivers into oncoming traffic. 

Bottom line

Simpson has a number of crucial traits — primarily football intelligence, footwork and processing — that most inexperienced quarterbacks don’t have. Those are traits NFL coaches will love because they put Simpson on an accelerated track to the starting lineup compared to passers who relied heavily on athleticism in college.

Teams will have to decide if that’s enough to overlook his lack of experience and pass rush management. They will also need to map out a plan to develop Simpson comfortably without rushing him into action, where he could get overwhelmed.

There’s enough talent to believe Simpson can become a capable, if not successful, NFL starter someday, but no team should expect it to happen in 2026. That’s why teams planning for the future — like the Rams, Steelers and Buccaneers — could be just as interested in Simpson as a team without a franchise quarterback.