WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — Matthew Stafford is back for an 18th NFL season. He has a new contract. And he’s also in a place he’s never been before.For the first time in a nearly two-decade career, Stafford is sharing a quarterback room with the player who will eventually take his spot.That quarterback is Ty Simpson, whom the Los Angeles Rams selected with the No. 13 pick in this year’s NFL Draft. And Thursday, they took the field for organized team activities, where they stood side-by-side as they dropped back from a shotgun formation and zipped throws to wide receivers running routes on air.They are teammates now, and they have different jobs to serve this season: Stafford’s is to replicate as much of his play as possible from last season, when he won his first MVP trophy, in hopes of guiding the Rams to a second Super Bowl victory in six seasons. Simpson’s is to back up a 38-year-old veteran and learn as much as he can through osmosis.“I think my job, first and foremost, is just to get myself and our team ready to play as best I possibly can,” Stafford said. “(Ty) is a part of that team. There’s no question about it: We’re in a unique position in the fact that we play the same position. I have a ton of experience, and he’s just now starting his journey as an NFL player.“I know he’s going to watch not only me, but other guys like Stetson (Bennett), who’s been around a little bit too, and really just soak up as much coaching as he possibly can. He’s a guy that asks questions. I’ve been trying to answer those as honestly and as thoroughly as I possibly can.”The Rams surprised some when they spent their highest draft pick in a decade on a quarterback of the future rather than on positions that could see the field more organically in a season with Super Bowl aspirations. General manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay were muted in their enthusiasm for Simpson in the initial news conferences following the selection but later explained that it was out of respect to Stafford, whom they didn’t want believing this was anything but his team for the foreseeable future.But Stafford, who chose to keep his conversations with leadership about it private, said he understood the pick.“Listen, I’m not 25 years old, and I get that,” Stafford said. “We’re doing everything we can to be as good a football team as we can for now, for the future, for all of it.”The Rams have told Stafford this will be his team until he decides he’s finished playing, and that timeline remains uncertain. He and the team just agreed to a contract extension that will pay him $55 million plus incentives next season. But whether he plays just one more season or multiple is yet to be determined.“Obviously, if I’m feeling healthy and like I said, it’s a family decision,” Stafford said. “I can’t sit there and tell you what it’s going to look like 365 days from now. If you can, let me know. … I’m doing the best I can to make sure that I can play as long as I can and make sure that my family and I are all on the same page before we embark on whatever season it may be.”One factor will be how his back feels after another 17-game season and, the Rams hope, another postseason run. Stafford has a degenerative back issue that cost him almost all of training camp last year.He returned and cast those fears aside with the best season of his life, when he led the NFL with 46 touchdown passes and 4,707 passing yards. It all came together as the Rams found a way to protect Stafford with a surging offensive line, a steady run game and the help of two- and three-tight-end sets that they ran at the highest rate of any team in the league. Los Angeles finished No. 1 in scoring offense.But the time off last summer was also a critical form of load management, and the Rams plan to do some of that again this year. It’s why they tried to sign veteran backups such as Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins, and why they valued the backup role enough to help justify spending the No. 13 pick on Simpson.The marriage could have some awkward moments, as the timelines are difficult to compress cleanly, but Stafford’s need for time off could allow Simpson to get extra first-team reps in training camp in addition to starting preseason games. The hope, then, will be that Simpson won’t have to see the field in any meaningful games this season, as he spends a year redshirting and learning from watching an 18th-year reigning MVP perform the job he’ll eventually command.The development is just starting. The settings are light, with seven-on-seven drills offering none of the hits and pocket management that will help define who Simpson is as a future starter. But it’s all important education in a bet that the Rams chose to place on the future of their franchise.“(The) offseason’s about setting foundations in the fundamentals because you can work those things,” McVay said. “What does it look like to be able to communicate, especially as a quarterback? How am I saying the plays? … You have to see plays when you’re saying them, otherwise you can’t call plays in this offense. … Practicing in the mirror. What does your voice inflection look like? How are you emphasizing certain things? How are you really being able to go through the mechanics of everything that happens before the snap? And then what’s my footwork? What’s my timing and rhythm?“It’s really setting foundations and just getting the fundamentals and some of the stuff that you can control above the neck.”