Ty Simpson didn’t have to participate in Alabama’s Pro Day to convince scouts. As a projected QB2 off the board, a bad throw could cost him dearly but that didn’t matter to him. Fortunately for him, the NFL-bound QB showed up while enjoying his final throws to teammates Josh Cuevas and Germie Bernard. But when you strip away the Pro Day performance, what’s left is a 22-year-old admitting something very human.
“I’m going to cry, for sure,” Ty Simpson said of getting called on draft night. “All the adversity I had to deal with through here, I’ve been dreaming of it since I was a kid. The sacrifices my mom and dad had to make. All the hard work. God has blessed me in so many different ways. Being able to hear my name being called is super surreal.”
Ty Simpson’s Alabama journey started in 2022 as an early enrollee who redshirted after limited action. It was only until 2025 when he finally took over as QB1 and delivered. With 3,500+ yards and 28 scores, he led the Tide to an 11-4 CFP quarterfinal run. It ended in a tough Rose Bowl loss to Indiana but his tedious path to become the starter only raises his projection as it highlights his loyalty and commitment.
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Even after a stellar season and a positive NFL combine showing, Ty Simpson still chose to participate on A-Day, showing his dedication to Alabama. And he delivered in front of all 32 NFL teams. At the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility, he went 50-of-55 passing and recorded just two drops. The rest is clean and controlled where he mixed rhythm throws with deep shots. And he didn’t even play it safe.
Ty Simpson leaned into the high-risk, high-reward reps with tight-window lasers and off-platform shots. In his mind, proving you can execute your game matters more than padding a stat sheet and that mindset came from a warning that’s not unheard of in Alabama. When Nick Saban led the Tide, a term came up known as “rat-poison” in 2017. And you might’ve heard him say so many times since then – don’t eat rat poison. If you’re wondering, the GOAT coach actually defined it.
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“Rat poison is anything that distracts you from doing the things that you need to do to do your job,” he said. “Whether it’s created by the media, the weather, it could be created by anything.”
Needless to say, Ty Simpson bought into that completely.
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“It’s the same way that I processed you guys (the media) during the end of the year last year,” he said of the hype surrounding his draft projection. “You’ve just got to ignore it and keep playing.”
Still Nick Saban’s teaching came in a nick of time because right now, Ty Simpson is living in the noise.
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Ty Simpson’s NFL draft projection
On one side, you’ve got analysts like ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky calling Ty Simpson QB1 betting on his poise. On the other hand, evaluators are handing out second- and third-round grades, hesitant to fully buy in. And sitting at the top of the board is Fernando Mendoza, who is widely projected as the No. 1 pick, keeping the former Bama QB in that uncomfortable, uncertain space. But he’s treating it like Nick Saban taught him to block it out, go to work, and trust the tape. And after his final Pro Day showing, he doubled down.
“Why not? You let it rip,” he said. “You look at my tape, I make the big-time throws, and I make easy throws. But this is something that is fun. And being able to show off my arm and show off my feet is something I wanted to do. That was something I emphasized to David [Morris], like, ‘Hey, let’s go show out, have the best Pro Day ever.”
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