private draft – General Manager Les Snead explains the Rams’ approach to pre-draft visits—aimed at secrecy, gamesmanship, and protecting interest in key targets like Ty Simpson.
The Rams’ selection of Ty Simpson last week sparked a familiar pre-draft storyline: did he meet the people calling the shots before the pick?
According to General Manager Les Snead, the answer is more specific than what some draft-week comments initially suggested.. Simpson had said earlier that he had not met with head coach Sean McVay or Snead as part of the pre-draft process. then changed his account a few days later.. On Tuesday. Snead offered more detail about their interaction during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. tying the confusion to how the Rams handle visits and meetings before the draft.
Snead explained that many prospects conduct facility visits in the weeks leading up to the draft. but the Rams have historically leaned away from those public-facing steps.. His reasoning is practical: each team receives an allotment of 30 visits. and once those meetings are widely known. the entire league can track who a club is targeting.. That visibility creates risk—particularly when other teams identify a desired player and move quickly to change the draft outcome.
From Snead’s perspective, the advantage comes from controlling the information flow.. If visits aren’t broadly disclosed, rival teams have less clarity about where interest is truly focused.. The Rams, he said, prefer to build relationships through meetings that don’t carry the same reporting footprint.. In this year’s process. Snead said the team held 66 such meetings—an effort that reflects how front offices increasingly treat the draft as much about strategy and timing as it is about talent evaluation.
There’s also a clear message embedded in those interactions.. Snead described how they emphasize to players the idea of keeping certain meetings private—framing it as gamesmanship and signaling that the Rams want other teams to remain uncertain about their priorities.. Simpson, Snead added, took that instruction seriously.. When the quarterback initially spoke after being drafted. Snead said Simpson “stayed on script” longer than necessary before speaking more openly.
That “stayed on script” detail matters because it sheds light on how pre-draft narratives get formed and then reshaped.. Prospect comments can become instant headlines, and teams have to manage both the football side and the information side.. If a player’s public remarks run ahead of the team’s preferred messaging. the story spreads—sometimes even before the draft itself is fully understood by fans.
Another key point from Snead’s explanation is the internal football logic: McVay. Snead said. would not be on board with drafting a quarterback he had never met.. That claim helps connect the dots for why Simpson ultimately landed in Los Angeles.. Even when the timeline of public comments looked messy. the Rams’ internal process—centered on meeting. assessment. and fit—appears to have been in place.
The larger implication is that the Rams’ approach reflects a broader shift across the league.. Draft positioning is competitive, but the information battle is becoming just as intense.. When teams can limit how their interest is detected. they can reduce the odds of losing a target to a surprise trade or a coordinated move by a rival.
For readers following the Rams. this also reframes the Ty Simpson narrative away from simple “who met whom” trivia and toward how teams protect options.. The quarterback is now part of the Rams’ long-term plans. but the path to the pick involved careful control of visibility—because in a draft room. certainty is never just football.. It’s also leverage.
Looking ahead, how the Rams handle future quarterback prospects may be a tell.. If Snead’s philosophy remains consistent. expect the organization to continue favoring meetings that keep interest under wraps. aiming to make it harder for opponents to react early and harder for the league to anticipate the next move.