Former Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson is officially headed to the NFL Draft, but he certainly passed up on some very lucrative opportunities to avoid doing so.
Simpson said he received enormous offers to transfer and play out his senior season, and that he had been strongly tempted to do so. The Miami Hurricanes offered him $6.5 million to play for them, which Ole Miss later said it would match.
“Miami was kind of like, ‘All right, we’re moving on,’ and then they lost out on Sam Leavitt and came back with that big number,” Simpson told Chris Low of On3. “And then Ole Miss called again and said they could match it.”
Some advice from Nick Saban ultimately drove Simpson to pursue the NFL opportunity anyway. Saban advised Simpson to take money out of the equation and do what he would want to do if no one was offering him anything. The quarterback added he did not want to taint his reputation at Alabama by jumping to another school. Simpson had made it very clear how much playing for the Crimson Tide had meant to him in his NFL Draft announcement.
Simpson turned down huge money to play another season. The Hurricanes were apparently willing to pay him more than they paid Carson Beck this season, and they were not the only ones offering such figures. Simpson, however, believes he has a good chance of being a first-round pick, and does not want to wait another year to make it happen.
Simpson threw for 3,567 yards with 28 touchdowns and 5 interceptions this year as he guided Alabama into the College Football Playoff.
