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Todd McShay doesn’t believe there’s a significant gap between Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson, claiming that Simpson is every bit as good as Mendoza and, in some ways, is NFL-ready.
Throughout the majority of the college football offseason, Mendoza has been the clear No. 1 quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft class. He has the prototypical size and frame. He proved this past season that he can win at a high level. More recently, thanks to Dan Orlovsky and now McShay, Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson has been getting praised as the true best QB in the upcoming draft class.
Here’s what McShay had to say in regard to Simpson and Mendoza on a recent podcast from The Ringer:
“If you’re watching the tape into November, Ty Simpson’s clearly better than Fernando Mendoza,” McShay said. “Couldn’t stay healthy his one year as a starter. 15 starts. It means you are the outlier of outliers. Anyone with fewer than 25 starts it’s been a struggle, and anyone with fewer than 20 starts it’s been an outright bust as a first-round pick at quarterback. So it’s this juggling of like my eyes tell me Ty Simpson’s every bit as good, in some ways better, and more NFL-ready than Mendoza.”
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“My eyes tell me Ty Simpson’s every bit as good as—in some ways better and more NFL-ready than—[Fernando] Mendoza."@McShay13 talks about whether there’s a big gap between Ty Simpson and Fernando Mendoza. pic.twitter.com/GnttkVROPc
— The Ringer (@ringer) March 25, 2026
The lack of experience Simpson has as a starting quarterback doesn’t favor his success in the NFL, but as McShay stated, Simpson could be the outlier of all outliers.
Over on Kalshi, Mendoza is a near lock to be a top-10 NFL Draft pick while Simpson has an outside chance to get into that range, per the latest market odds:
Luke Greco