The Rams-49ers rivalry was already hot enough.
But after the opening press conferences on Thursday nights following the 20206 NFL Draft, the battle between the division rivals became even more intense.
When speaking with the media, 49ers GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan were asked for their thoughts on what the Rams did: Select Alabama QB Ty Simpson with the No. 13 pick overall in the most shocking move in the first round — by far.
In the now-viral moment, Lynch didn’t even wait for the question to finish before she grinned, gave a small chuckle, and looked away. Shanahan was a little calmer, but he also had a slight smile before looking at Lynch to see his boss’s reaction.
As if that wasn’t enough, Lynch answered the question in a very diplomatic way. But the whole time, it was clear that he was trying to refrain from laughing.
“Well, I think, first of all, there’s another team in our division that has a player that’s going to do that [be an] impact. “I’m talking about Jeremiah Love, he’s a great player. Ty Simpson is a good football player. He’s a great player,” Lynch said. You know, I think there was a lot of stuff about where he was going to go and what teams were going to do, which probably surprised everyone, but one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that with quarterbacks, people are going to do those things. delusion [Rams] It definitely did, so we’ll see.
However, Lynch and Shanahan aren’t the only ones who had interesting reactions when asked about Simpson.
In a video that went viral, Rams coach McVay showed shockingly little enthusiasm when discussing Simpson during Los Angeles’ press conference on Thursday night. He appeared upset for most of the press conference, rarely smiling and lacking the natural enthusiasm and emotion with which he usually speaks.
These two teams are scheduled to open the 2026 season against each other in Australia on Thursday, September 10.