NFL GM lashes out at Ty Simpson draft 'propaganda'

In the closing days of March, multiple ESPN personalities revealed that they couldn't "find one team that" had a true first-round draft grade on Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson.

It appears that Simpson's draft stock will remain a hotly-debated topic through the start of the player-selection process on April 23. 

Is Ty Simpson not even the QB2 of this year's draft class? 

On Thursday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom US shared that "it’s been far easier for me to find trusted sources who do not have Simpson going in the first round and who don’t even rate him the second- or third-best quarterback option in this draft than it’s been to find football execs to parrot what certain talking heads are saying about Simpson’s first-round merits."

La Canfora's piece went public roughly 24 hours after it was learned that at least one unnamed NFL coordinator referred to Penn State's Drew Allar as his "favorite quarterback in the draft outside of" Fernando Mendoza. The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to make Mendoza the draft's first choice. 

"It’s complete propaganda," one general manager told La Canfora about Simpson possibly being a first-round pick. "I don’t know if it’s just because they (some television analysts) have the same agent as this kid, but that’s what it looks like." 

That GM seemingly was referencing how former NFL quarterback/current analyst Dan Orlovsky and Simpson are represented by Creative Artists Agency. Orlovsky has referred to Simpson as "the best quarterback" in this year's draft class. 

How far could Ty Simpson slide during the draft? 

The general manager who spoke with La Canfora has Mendoza, Miami’s Carson Beck and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier ranked ahead of Simpson among quarterback prospects. Beck and Nussmeier are among the signal-callers expected to be Day 2 or even Day 3 picks. 

"The draft is a made-for-TV event, and that’s a made-for-TV storyline," one longtime NFL executive told La Canfora while speaking about teams possibly passing on Simpson. "It’s bull----. He (Simpson) is QB4 for me."

That said, all it takes is one team to fall in love with Simpson for the polarizing prospect to become the draft's second quarterback selected after Mendoza.