Keeping a good poker face when on camera is a valued skill for all people in the public eye. But Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay failed to keep his poker face intact on Thursday night.
The Rams made former Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson their first-round selection. A pick that struck many as odd considering that Los Angeles has Matt Stafford, for at least one more year, as well as Stetson Bennett on the roster.
It struck McVay as odd too, apparently, as the coach maintained a pained look on his face as he gave short and not so sweet answers about his team’s brand-new quarterback.
“We’ll see, he’s going to compete with Stetson,” is not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Later, McVay did say this about Simpson: “We’ve talked about the importance of Jimmy [Garoppolo]. To be able to add somebody that you can evaluate a body of work where he was asked to play the position and a lot of things that do translate in terms of concepts, reading with his feet, some of the different things in the drop back in the play-action game and the movement game. There are a lot of things that [Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan] Grubb did that’s very similar to how we operate so it made it an easier evaluation to be able to say, ‘Alright, what would that look like if he did translate it to our level?’”
However, even after that lukewarm endorsement, McVay still hastened to add, “[L]et’s make one thing clear, this is Matthew’s team.”
McVay added, “[W]e’re always going to make decisions that we think are best for the short and the long term. We will be excited to be able to get to work with [Simpson]. That’s where we’re at.”
The Rams coach is a well-known backer of Stafford. And he should be, they won a Super Bowl together. Still, given that Stafford’s career is winding down and McVay would like nothing more than to put another Super Bowl ring on his finger before all is said and done, it’s likely that McVay wanted to get another weapon for Stafford instead of planning for the future.
That’s understandable, but he will be asked about his reaction to the drafting of Simpson when he next sits in front of the media.