The secrecy around the Los Angeles Rams' infatuation with Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson continues to be revealed following the 2026 NFL draft. Despite head coach Sean McVay's "grumpy" press conference after the pick and Simpson saying he never met McVay, the two had actually met before during a "secret meeting" before the draft.

Simpson told Ian Fitzsimmons of ESPN Radio that the Rams wanted to keep their interest in the quarterback as close to the chest as possible so as not to alert the rest of the league that L.A. wanted to take the Alabama prospect.

"I knew they were interested, but they wanted to make it private and didn't want people to know that they were interested," Simpson said. "So, I had some secret meetings with Coach McVay. I just was trying to be on script and, you know, do what everybody told me and not to tell anybody.

"We met at the facility and it was something to where, you know, we just talked for hours and hours and it was just football. It was just straight football. And it was like a kid in a candy store, you know, where me and him are sitting there and, we're just going back and forth."

Ty Simpson had a private meeting with Sean McVay and the LA Rams before the #NFLDraft?!@Ianfitzespn caught up with the 13th round pick after hearing his name called on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/Wuej8yEePZ

This is all very weird. It makes sense why the Rams wanted to keep their interest in Simpson a secret — every team does that with prospects they covet. But there has also been a deluge of new information being reported about this situation immediately following a lot of negativity around the pick.

It almost reads like the Rams want to over-emphasis their interest in Simpson, now, because of the public sentiment around the decision.

But maybe the Rams truly went overboard with hiding how much they wanted Simpson in this draft. We'll find out of the next few years while he learns under McVay and Matthew Stafford.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Ty Simpson, Sean McVay had 'secret meeting' before draft