Ty Simpson walked off Alabama's pro day convinced he's a lock for the first round. That kind of confidence—whether earned or not—tells you something about how he's positioning himself in the 2026 quarterback conversation. The question for teams like the Patriots isn't whether Simpson believes in himself. It's whether scouts and GMs agree.
Here's what matters: Simpson felt good enough about his performance in front of NFL decision-makers to make a definitive statement. That doesn't happen accidentally. Either he had a genuinely strong day, or he's got the kind of unshakeable self-belief that scouts either love or completely dismiss depending on tape and testing results. The Patriots, with Drake Maye locked in at quarterback, aren't in the market for a first-round signal-caller. But they're watching the class unfold like everyone else—understanding where the market goes, who scouts are genuinely excited about, and how the quarterback hierarchy shakes out.
Simpson's declaration is a window into the confidence level around his game. Whether he ends up a first-rounder will depend on more than his pro day performance: film study, combine metrics if applicable, and how he stacks up against the other quarterbacks in this cycle. But the willingness to publicly commit to that outcome? That's either backed by concrete evidence, or it's a tell that he's thinking bigger than his actual prospects.
For the Patriots, the real story here is the quarterback landscape itself. Teams are still evaluating options. Simpson is one voice in that conversation, and his confidence might genuinely move him up boards—or it might age poorly. Either way, it's a reminder that April is still weeks away, and the first round will sort through a lot of chatter before the actual picks get made.