NFL Draft expert nailed the most controversial 1st round pick

The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft had a number of unsuspected moments.

Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame) going third to the Arizona Cardinals was the first shocker of the night. No one thought the Cardinals, a team bereft of talent at multiple positions, would pick what many would consider to be a luxury position so early.

Then the Kansas City Chiefs jumped the Washington Commanders and traded with the Cleveland Browns for the sixth overall pick. The Chiefs may have thought the Commanders were targeting their top choice, Mansoor Delane (LSU), so loosing picks 9, 74 and 148 to the Browns to get their guy was a no-brainer.

The Commanders then choosing Sonny Styles (OSU) was also somewhat of a surprise. The Philadelphia Eagles jumping the Pittsburgh Steelers to take Makai Lemon (USC) was probably the second biggest shocker of the night, because the top spot has to go to the Los Angeles Rams and their choice at 13: Ty Simpson.

The quarterback out of Alabama had been slated by most analysts as a late first-round pick. But everyone knows that being a quarterback grants you special privileges, and being the consensus second-best quarterback in your class (behind number one overall pick Fernando Mendoza) meant that some QB-hungry team was going to take him.

Turns out it wasn't a QB-hungry team that would take him. It would be the team whose quarterback won the NFL MVP award last season. The Los Angeles Rams.

While most analysts and fans couldn't see that pick coming with the Hubble Telescope, draft analyst Todd McShay called it perfectly days beforehand.

Todd McShay nails surprise Los Angeles draft pick prediction

NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay was on The Herd with Colin Cowherd days before the big day with a bombshell that he said would "shake up" the draft. The Los Angeles Rams were going quarterback, according to McShay.

"Let's talk about the things I know. I know that there was a lot of interest and maybe some contact between the Rams front office and Ty Simpson's camp," McShay told Cowherd. "They like the guy. They've got an aging quarterback. This could be a little bit of a 'luxury pick' and I think Les Snead is going to be a wildcard in this draft."

The Rams faithful on Twitter were not happy with McShay's big board.

"McShay is a fraud... compare mock with reality. Plus he is an insider, bad info..." declared @America007now.

Related: Top NFL Draft pick Sonny Styles fits Washington's ambitions perfectly

"No way are they doing that, stop already there (sic) in a win now he does nothing for them stupid," said @Genoc74.

"Not a chance in hell that happens, they are not taking the 13 pick and drafting a quarterback, even if they trade back they're not drafting a quarterback in the first round. They're going all in while Stafford is on the team," said @cali101872.

You can't blame fans for feeling that way, because Rams head coach Sean McVay looked like he couldn't believe it himself. He immediately threw cold water on the idea of a quarterback controversy in LA.

Stafford not only won the MVP, but he also guided the Rams to the NFC Championship game, knocking on the doorstep of his second Super Bowl appearance. Usually you spend your 1st round pick on an immediate impact player, but the Rams don't have much practice when it comes to first round picks.

In the 10 NFL drafts since the 2017 season, Ty Simpson is only the second Rams first-round pick (Jared Verse at 19 in 2024) because they traded all of the rest of them. No team disrespects their first-round picks like the Rams.

In fact, the only reason they had the 13th pick this year is that they traded their first-round pick last year to Atlanta for it.

The team is so good that it never gets high draft picks anyway. They are often slated in the late 20's or even 30's, so they have no problem trading those picks for players.

But the Rams finally had a relatively high draft pick, and they took a guy who won't start this year and probably won't start next year either.

And somehow, Todd McShay knew about it and called it days beforehand.

Related: NFL Draft brings relief for football fans

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This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 10:46 AM.