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Classicalwit
They prefer different kinds of players. Not super fast or super big or super strong. Like, most teams covet those traits, but the Rams don't. They never have really.
It's possible that they value other traits like versatility or coachability instead. They don't draft the Jamar Chases or Nick Emmanworis.
Now, they will sometimes pursue those types of players as free agents. So, maybe they are just not that great at identifying them upfront.
I'd be really interested to hear from Les Snead what factors go into choosing certain players over others, like Terrance Ferguson instead of moving up to draft Nick Emmanwori.
And by dice roll I mean they took on a bit more risk than I believe you want to take on, by focusing on his early season play this past year and saying "if we can get this guy playing consistently like this, he may be our answer." I'm not a huge stats person, eyeball matters more to me personally in these matters, but it is clear historically that a low starting count makes it hard to transition into the NFL at that position. And on top of that on the eyeball side he looked like a smallish backup to me in their playoff run.
But I do think his high floor factored in. He is clearly a good kid. A respectful and hard working kid. He is intelligent by all accounts and if McVay took him it means he impressed in whiteboard sessions. He can make all the throws McVay wants made. Worst case they will have QB2 solved for a while with him, which is important because it gives them another option in their annual contract discussions with Stafford.
Basically I suspect the Rams were tired of being held over the barrel by Stafford. And it was their fault, for not having a legitimate alternative in the backfield to at least say "well if you hang them up we have this guy worst case."
It is possible the Rams were head over heels in love with him. To me though this just felt like a situation where he's a good option to remove what has been a concern and offseason problem for them, and they took it. And it helps that the other positions of need for them, like OT for example, weren't slam dunks either in the early going of the draft.
Hopefully they hit on the pick. Really that's what it comes down to. Also despite my dislike of the pick at the time, I have come around to where I am excited to see Simpson in preseason. It does feel good to have a young QB on this roster behind Stafford. I just think they could have rolled the dice on OT and then went Klubnik later, as I didn't see a ton of difference in them. Though maybe in a few years that opinion will not age well. And hopefully that will be the case because I don't root against Rams players ever, even when I don't like their selection in the draft.
