Ty Simpson will be in the building when the 2026 NFL Draft opens on April 23, but whether his name gets called that night is far less certain than his RSVP suggests. The Alabama quarterback accepted an invitation to attend the event in Pittsburgh, joining 15 other prospects for what figures to be one of the more intriguing draft nights in recent memory. The problem is that two weeks out, nobody in the NFL seems to agree on who is actually taking him.
ESPN’s Matt Miller has been frank about the difficulty in placing Simpson: league sources consistently point to other teams as potential suitors, but no one is willing to commit to who that team actually is. The prevailing read from inside the league is that Simpson will likely still be available when Day 2 begins, largely because no obvious trade-back partner has materialized to move up into Round 1 for him.
Simpson’s draft stock draws skepticism
Recent reports have also indicated that the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and Pittsburgh Steelers have all taken themselves out of consideration for Simpson in Round 1. That narrows an already thin field. There is a contingent of NFL executives who do not even view Simpson as the undisputed second quarterback in this draft class, a significant blow to a prospect who entered the spring with genuine first-round buzz.
One scouting director pushed back on the idea of the Arizona Cardinals trading up to grab him, questioning why any team would part with premium draft capital to jump into Round 1 when clubs picking as high as No. 2 and No. 16 passed on him entirely. That logic has quietly become the defining argument against a late first-round run on Simpson.
Three teams in a five-pick window
What makes Simpson’s situation harder to forecast is how tightly the most likely suitors are bunched together on the board. The Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, and Arizona Cardinals all hold picks within a five-selection stretch from No. 30 to No. 34, which means any one of them could move on him without dramatically altering the sequence of the draft.
Miami recently signed Malik Willis to a three-year deal, which makes a quarterback investment feel redundant, though the team’s acquisition of an additional first-round pick from the Jaylen Waddle trade at least keeps the door open. The Jets hold three of the first 33 picks and four of the first 44, giving them the kind of draft flexibility that makes a developmental quarterback a lower-stakes swing than it would be for most franchises. With three first-round picks lined up for 2027, they have a safety net if Simpson does not develop into a starter.
Arizona presents perhaps the most straightforward case. The Cardinals currently carry Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew II at quarterback, making a second-round pick at No. 34 on Simpson a reasonable investment without requiring any trade-up cost.
A potential trade scenario in Arizona
Bleacher Report’s most recent mock draft projected the Cardinals trading with the Buffalo Bills to move up to No. 26 and select Simpson. The projected cost for Arizona would be its second-round pick at No. 34, a third-round pick at No. 65, and a 2027 third-round selection.
That price is not unreasonable on its face, but it lands awkwardly for a team that needs talent distributed across its roster rather than concentrated in a developmental quarterback. The NFC West remains one of the more competitive divisions in football, and surrendering three picks to accelerate a rebuild around an uncertain prospect carries real risk.
Simpson heading to Pittsburgh with something to prove
Simpson could end up being the second quarterback taken in the entire draft, behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who is widely projected to go first overall. His acceptance of a draft invitation signals confidence in a first-round outcome, or at least a willingness to bet publicly on one. His attendance has added some fuel to speculation that he could still sneak into Round 1, though the league-wide sentiment has moved in the opposite direction over the past two weeks.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has publicly backed Simpson as a first-round talent, though his position as Simpson’s most recent coach makes that endorsement a complicated one to weigh objectively. What NFL teams think behind closed doors has told a different story heading into draft week.
The 2026 NFL Draft begins April 23 in Pittsburgh. Whether Simpson walks across that stage on Thursday night or waits until Friday remains one of the genuinely open questions of this class.
