Sean McVay cleared up his Ty Simpson feelings after ‘grumpy’ viral Rams draft moment

This time, Sean McVay flashed a smile.

“What do you guys think, am I angry right now?” the Rams’ coach asked reporters Friday night before laughing to begin his press conference during Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft.

McVay wasted no time Friday addressing his notably sour tone and outward expression from one day prior after the Rams shockingly used the No. 13 pick to draft Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, who, if all goes well, will only play in garbage time this season as Matthew Stafford’s backup.

While admitting “I get my demeanor last night,” the Super Bowl-winning coach insisted that he and general manager Les Snead “couldn’t be more in lockstep” about their decisions.

“We’re excited about it,” McVay said. “Always want to be mindful of how things come off, things like that. Very excited about last night, very excited about (Friday) and couldn’t be more excited about us continuing to lead together, but every decision that we make is collective and collaborative.

“That was never my intended way to come off, but sometimes I can be a little grumpy”

McVay learned he that he went viral due to the influx of texts he received after his presser Thursday, even joking with one reporter how they had tweeted about his reaction.

The normally jovial coach instead offered some short responses to reporters, and didn’t spend much time focusing on what they liked about their potential quarterback of the franchise.

Some speculated if McVay would have preferred a player to immediately help a Rams team that fell one game short of the Super Bowl instead of planning for the futre.

“There were a lot of players that we liked but when you do look at it, I think the thing you liked about the body of work — let’s make one thing clear, this is Matthew’s team,” McVay said Thursday night.

“You get a chance to address the backup quarterback, we’ve got Stetson (Bennett), we’ve talked about the importance of Jimmy (Garoppolo), so to add somebody 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 … We’ll be excited to get to work with him.”

McVay explained Friday that his “grumpy” demeanor stemmed from outside factors, but added that though he’s excited about Simpson, he wanted to be respectful to Stafford.

Drafting a star quarterback’s replacement can always be tricky, as shown with the situations the Packers have faced over the years when they picked Aaron Rodgers with Brett Favre under contract and later when they took Jordan Love with Rodgers still playing at an MVP level.

McVay noted that it’s important to be mindful of how “things can be interpreted.”

Stafford has contemplated retirement before, but he’s already committed to returning in 2026 for the final year of his contract after winning his first MVP this past season.

“The demeanor would have been stoic by nature because you are excited, but by no means — it is Matthew’s football team,” McVay said. “Excited to be able to add Ty. What a blessing it is for him to be able to learn from Matthew, to be able to come into this atmosphere and environment.

“But whenever that time comes for him to get an opportunity to be Matthew’s successor, will be on Matthew’s terms. And I think that’s really what the important thing was. I didn’t want that to ever be misunderstood, while not minimizing the excitement for Ty, the buy-in.”