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Raiders And Fernando Mendoza Reach Deal, Rams And Ty Simpson Next?

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 15: Fernando Mendoza accepts the Best College Athlete, Men's Sports award onstage during the 2026 ESPY Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on July 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Las Vegas Raiders reached an agreement on a rookie deal with Fernando Mendoza, the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. The deal is reportedly a $57.27 million deal that is fully guaranteed with a fifth year option. Now that that domino has fallen, will Ty Simpon’s deal with the Los Angeles Rams be next? He’s the only player taken in the first round of the 2026 draft waiting to be signed.

Though heavily debated as a good or bad move, Simpson was selected by the Rams with the 13th overall pick. That’s more than 10 picks after Mendoza, but still within the top-15 of the draft. How much will those picks in-between impact Simpson’s deal?

For comparison’s sake, Bo Nix was taken in the 2024 NFL Draft with the 12th overall pick, and spotrac.com lists Nix’s deal as an $18,613,166 deal. The cap has gone up since 2024, so odds are Simpson will command a larger deal than Nix, but that’s not official, yet.

If you use Google/AI (this is likely subject change), it’s expected that Simpson will fetch around a $25 million deal. That’s quite a bit more than Nix, but still well under Mendoza’s contract, which makes sense given that Mendoza was taken first overall as opposed to Simpson at pick 13.

Unless something truly unprecedented happens, Simpson will be signing his deal with the Rams. It’s a matter of when and not if. With Mendoza’s contract now handled, that when (not if) may be sooner than it was prior to today.

Stay tuned.