On this episode The OG and Fantasy Uncle take a look at March and it's Madness, fantasy TE and the Main topic of the episode will be a deep dive into the AFC and NFC South Divisions
On this episode The OG and Fantasy Uncle take a look at March and it's Madness, fantasy TE and the Main topic of the episode will be a deep dive into the AFC and NFC South Divisions
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Pony Podcast. It's me, the OG Strangston, and the fantasy uncle, Joshua Pershing. What's happening?
Pershin:Howdy, howdy. Excited to be back for another week of talking ball. Absolutely. I know I, I know I had every damn week I talk about how I'm excited to talk about the things we're going to talk about. But I'm telling you guys, I'm especially excited this week. I love this wide receiver class and stick around to the end. I get to tell you all about why.
Jason:Yeah. So hang out with us for the next hour or so. We're going to talk about a little bit about March Madness, a little bit about UFL and the, the big news of today. Then we're going to dive deep into the AFC NFC South and what they are going to do in the draft or what we believe they're going to do. And then fantasy wide receivers. So yeah, let's get right into it. So let's start the show.
The Pony Pony Podcast.
Jason:All right. So March Madness on the men's side, we have gotten down to the final four. And it is not Clemson, even though I felt like they, they could have won that game, but Alabama, it just lives or dies by the three, man. I I've never seen a team shoot so many threes. It was insane.
Pershin:Sounds like they lived by the three this time.
Jason:Yes, they did. So we got Alabama playing UConn. And then Purdue playing NC state, the number 11 NC state versus the number one, Purdue and the number one Yukon versus the number four, Alabama. I love that Wolfpack. Yeah. Upset city took out Duke and yeah, took out Duke and Texas tech. They played Oakland in their second game. So Oakland, Detroit.
Pershin:I wonder how many decades it's been since NC state made it this far in the tourney.
Jason:I don't know. I'm the, I don't know that I've ever seen it either way. I think it's gotta, it's gotta be a minute. I think this is going to be Yukon versus Purdue. Number one versus number one. Seems, seems dusted. We shall see. It
Pershin:gotta be the odds on favorites.
Jason:And on the women's side, got South Carolina undefeated in the regular season. They're in the final four playing NC state, the number three women's team. So NC state has both the female and the men in the final four. Then on the other side of the bracket, we've got Caitlin Clark, who just recently took out Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers. I blame it on Kim Mulaney or Mokaly or whatever her name is. The LSU head coach, he normally wears more flamboyant, more flamboyant outfits and she did not, she wore just a regular ass green. So that's probably why they lost. Caitlin Clark was just ridiculous. She had like 40 points. Unstoppable. I mean, So she's playing the Yukon. So another team has both, both meet male and female in it. I think this is going to be Iowa, South Carolina final. And I I'm here for it. I think I would watch that. I'll probably watch some of these final fours. If I, if I get a chance to, to catch it. What's
Pershin:crazy is Yukon has done this several times throughout history now, where they've had. The girls and the men still alive in the final four.
Jason:Yeah. Pretty incredible basketball school up there
Pershin:for sure.
Jason:All right, so let's get into the UFL. It kicked off last weekend. We had the Stallions playing the renegades which the stallions won 27 14 the battle Hawks beat The battle Hawks lost to the Panthers 18 16 the only Panthers team that wins A the rocks team, the Brahma's, they won, they beat the defenders 27 to 12 and the showboats have beat the roughnecks 18, 12. So, you know, tons of scoring. I like it.
Pershin:I like it. Since there's no Colorado team, I've decided that I'm going to root for the showboats cause they just have the funnest name.
Jason:Okay. Okay. I like it. I like it. I I'm a, I'm a Brahma, I don't know man. I don't watch it. It's hard to watch these games. I'm still waiting on you to watch it Did you watch
Pershin:no man? I screwed the pooch I tuned in I tried to tune in 4 p. m And the only game that I could have watched happened at noon apparently so I I missed the boat but A little birdie did tell 8 p. m game on saturday this coming week So I think i'm gonna be able to catch at least the majority of that
Jason:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So week two's lineup. We got the Brahmas versus the Showboats. So my team versus your team.
Pershin:Whoop whoop.
Jason:That's at 12 o'clock. Oh, I love it.
Pershin:I love
Jason:it. On ESPN. You already owe
Pershin:me five dollars.
Jason:Yeah, whatever. I'll put five on it. I got five on that virtual handshake, virtual handshake. And then renegades versus the battle Hawks at 8 PM on ABC. Then we've got the stallion. Well, see, the problem is, is they're going to be going up against WrestleMania. That's going to be tough.
Pershin:Oh, yeah, we know which one you're watching. Yeah,
Jason:exactly. Stallions versus the Panthers on Sunday at 12 o'clock on ESPN and the Roughnecks versus the Defenders at 4 o'clock on Fox. See, they did it right on Sunday. They went earlier because of, you know, WrestleMania is going to be on Sunday too. So,
Pershin:and, and so they are the defenders. Is that what you said?
Jason:Yeah. The D the DC defenders shock shocker that that's what the DC team would be named. Well, all right, well, there we go.
Pershin:Just be happy. It's not football team.
Jason:Yeah. Right. All right. So the big news
Be new. Uh,
Jason:of today iS the trade, the Buffalo bills traded, traded Stefan digs. For a 2025 second round pick, I believe a conditional pick is in there. And then they are giving up a 2024 sixth round pick. What do you think about that? I,
Pershin:I think this makes a lot of sense for both teams involved here. I like it better from the bill side than I actually do from the Texan side. Just because blasphemy. I, what, what I witnessed last season was the second half of the season. Stephon digs look literally slower. I think there's a good chance that he's finally Hit that point in his career where he loses a step, and he's not the same dude. That being said, I don't think the Bills really had much of a choice anyways. When you got a disgruntled player, whether he's really good or not, you gotta say to yourself, is it worth it to force him to stay on the team, or is it better to just get whatever compensation you can for him? I'm in the camp where if homeboy is toxic. In the locker room, creating tension with the QB or the coach or whatever it is, I'd rather just ship him out, you know, if he's going to be a little bitch about it, you know, and in fact, I didn't like the idea that they went after him after the stuff that he pulled in Minnesota, you know, and that's another story for another time. But the thing is just that they managed to get a second plus I think another possible third, depending on how much he actually put plays it's stuff like that. So they probably weren't getting much more than that for him, given the way the last season went. And the thing is that if you are going to, you know, dump all your receiver talent, you know, they let. Gabe Davis walk and they're trying to wait digs, obviously this is the draft class to take your shots to try to replenish and get young and, you know, try to replace those guys where we're obviously getting into that at the end of the episode. So I won't belabor the issue, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad state that they're in. You know, they've got Kincaid who can work out of the slot when necessary. And he's great receiving option. Anyways, they did bring in Curtis Samuel, who's pretty good on a lot of the underneath stuff there. They're not necessarily in as bad of a shape as some of their fans you know, are panicking about right now. I think is this probably was a good mood for move for them. Just giving,
Jason:you know, he
Pershin:wants a trade.
Jason:I mean, I think it's a win win. I think it's a win for Houston. They didn't give up anything to give them really. I mean, they, they gave him a second, but whatever. I mean, they've already got wide receivers. They've already got the core, you know? So, you know, this is a great move for them. I, you know, worst case scenario, he's disgruntled in a year, which how could he be disgruntled in the first two seasons? You know what I mean? Like they're at least like getting a a window there. And then if he wants to be disgruntled, well, guess what? We don't have to resign you, you know, see and then, you know, maybe, maybe somebody else will pick you up at the vet minimum, you know? So yeah, I mean, I like it. Don't think Kade stock rise.
Pershin:Yeah, I think, I think that, I think that there, there already was times last year where they. You know, moved him around a little bit and let him play kind of wide receiver routes. And you know, this just makes it all the more likely that they'll do some more of those two tight end sets where they'll have Dawson Knox play the more traditional. You know, chip block and then do a row and then have Kincaid actually, you know, just work out of the slot as a receiver. I think he's good enough to do it. And yeah, I think that this is good. I always, you know, tend to view these things from a fantasy perspective. I think unfortunately for Diggs himself, as well as. You know, Nico Collins, especially someone like Noah Brown, he's going to get pushed out of the picture and there's probably going to be less targets going around for all three of those guys, but then, you know, for Stroud himself, this certainly doesn't help to have another proven vet guy that you can rely on. Certain situations. You know, so I think arrow up for him, probably arrow down for everybody else involved aside from Kincaid, which we already talked about.
Jason:Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, we'll see what happens. It kind of stings a little bit for Nico Collins and tank Del fans. But we'll see. We'll see. Season hasn't started yet. So let's get in to, Oh, one of the other things that I meant to mention real quick on the USL. And I hope the NFL is taking a good look at this, the 4k technology, the, for the down markers for the, the line of scrimmage all of the the use of the cameras and how referees mistakes were overturned because of those cameras. And it. I mean, this is what we need. This is what we need in the NFL. So I hope after this XFL, UFL season, like there's, there's a hard look into that. Yeah.
Pershin:I like it.
Jason:All right, let's get in to the big meat part of the episode, the AFC, NFC South, and what they must do in the draft. Or leading up to the draft to make their team better. Let's start with the AFC and we'll start with the tax sense just because we hinted on them a little bit with this trade. And so what do you think they still need? I mean, I feel like, I mean, we're adding depth at this point on most things.
Pershin:I mean, I mean offensively, they actually don't need much. I could, I could see them going for, you know, alignment, getting at least some depth, maybe some point in the draft. It is a pretty good draft as far as like, it's pretty deep for offensive tackles. So they might do that at some point, but I I'm willing to bet, especially with this digs trade, that they are just going to hammer, hammer, hammer, defensive pieces. They definitely could use a corner back. And definitely could use linebackers and probably even like an interior defender. If they could get a guy who could actually be disruptive and get pressure, a pass rush from the inside, I think they would love that. Not sure how much of that there really is in this draft, but these are basically the positions I expect them to go. It's basically going to be defense focused draft for them, which I think makes a lot of sense. Yeah. D'Amico Ryan's nose. Knows what the fuck he's doing. And I think he got a pretty decent defensive performance out of his team last year, despite most people agreeing that there's not a ton of talent on that unit. And so that's what I expect them to really. You know, shore up.
Jason:Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, they don't have a first round pick, so their first pick isn't until the second round, which it is the 10th pick in the draft in the second round. The really, their only needs are a quarterback offensive lineman, like you said, so, you know, we'll see, we'll see what they do. Yeah, I mean, I think they're going to go to cornerback in the draft. That's, that's obvious for me. I think the core of the team is there and they established and picked their dime in a rough out of CJ Stroud. So, arrow up, arrow up.
Pershin:And I, I also think that like at that 2 10 spot, They could get lucky and have one of these like first round graded cornerbacks fall to them. I think there's a chance that, that the first round is just going to be so offensive focused, you know, with so many teams really needing help with quarterback and wide receivers. And then of course, Having some pretty good ones for them to draft when it comes to these cornerbacks, you've got a pretty large tier of like that, that upper echelon guys, but you've got a lot of disagreement as to who's actually at the top of that tier. You've got a nice bunch of like Cooper Dejean, Terry and Arnold, Kool Aid McKenstry, Nate Wiggins, Quinion Mitchell. I'm willing to bet one of these dudes ends up falling to the second round and they could get really lucky and basically get a first round talent in a, in a position of need in the second round. So we'll see how that.
Jason:Yeah. I mean, I'm very intrigued and excited to see what happens for D'Amico Ryan and company. I re I really liked that team and that is a, a hot team the last year, fantasy wise. I mean, you could start Niko Collins and Tank Dell, and I mean, they're both going to get you 15 points or more, most of the games. It was, it was incredible. Moving on to the next team let's go to the Indianapolis Colts. The home of Peyton Manning not his real home, but his football home. There you've got the 15th pick in the first round, you know, sign resigned Michael Pittman, Jr. Resigning Kenny Moore is the second. So I think they've got some wide receivers. I'm surprised that, you know, maybe they might not want to go. If they want to go there, I wouldn't be surprised. Or tied in, maybe they could be in the running for Brock Bowers at 15. That would be pretty huge for them. So yeah, I mean, and then Anthony Richardson will be back next year. So that's, that's another arrow up for them.
Pershin:Yeah, I think they're definitely all in on Anthony Richardson. They, they absolutely believe in him. And I felt like Josh Downs had a pretty promising rookie season for them last year. Some, some, some really good flashes. And of course, Pittman is solid. So I don't expect them to do a lot offensively. They, they already signed Jonathan Taylor last year. So, you know, the, the. The rookie running back that they actually drafted to be the backup last year, Evan Hall got injured in the preseason. He's coming back. So I don't even think that that's a need for them. I expect them to be defensive focus. They could definitely use secondary help both cornerbacks and safeties. I think they're going to take shots on. And I agree with you about the tight end. I was going to suggest that I think that there's a chance again, because of the, the really elite wide receivers and quarterbacks. Or in quarterbacks that so many teams need them. I think there's a chance that Brock Bowers could fall out of the top 10. And I think that if he does, they're one of the teams that's going to be willing to trade up and try to snag him. I could see them trading up to. 11, 12, 13, and just making sure that they, they get him. They haven't gotten what they were hoping for out of any of those tight ends. Yeah. And so I think, I think that that's a possibility for them.
Jason:I mean, even if Brock Bowers goes first, I mean, not first, but like early, earlier than expected. I mean, they're still in a good spot to show up that, that cornerback position with Nate Wiggins. At 15, you know, cause I don't have him really go into the, almost just the second half of the first round. So, and I mean, man, the way I'm looking at it, man, I think Brock Bowers is looking real nice right there.
Pershin:Yeah. I mean, me personally, I just think that his, his performance, the past couple of seasons in the sec and his upside is to the point where. I would prefer him over any of these cornerback, like these cornerback prospects are not bad, but they're not like elite blue chip guys. They're just kind of a bunch of guys where there's. A lot of disagreement about who actually stands out among them. I, there's no question about who stands out at that tight end class, you know?
Jason:So, yeah, I mean, that might just be a situation where you're just like, look, I got, we got, yeah, he's the best guy on the board of our need. You know, I,
Pershin:and you know me, I'm not a big fan of teams trading up cause you lose that long term value. But if, if ours does end up falling to 11 or 12, I would be interested in seeing what those teams, what, what it would take to move up and get him if I was them, but also it's not a, not a bad idea to just sit there and take a position of need. Go ahead and whichever guy you prefer, there's probably going to be. Three or four between Kool Aid, Terry On, Nate Wiggins, Quinnian Mitchell. There's probably going to be three or four of those dudes available at that spot. Take, you know, just pick whichever guy's highest on your board.
Jason:But give me Kool Aid. I want Kool Aid McKinstry. I just want that name to be said on my team.
Pershin:Yeah. And that is also, you know, I'm like a fantasy focused guy, but that is by the way, my favorite cornerback in the draft. I think it's Kool Aid. I think it's Kool Aid.
Jason:There we go. There we go. All right, moving on. Plantin my flag. Your what? Said I'm plantin my flag. Oh, okay. All right, okay, gotcha. All right, moving on to the Uninspiring Jacksonville Jaguars of last year. Man, that season was a fucking stinker. Oh, we had such high hopes for this team, and they just really shit the bed. I mean, well, I think we saw that hurt them the most. I agree. Was their lack of defense? And then that wide receiver room is kind of suspect, man,
Pershin:man, I just, I, they keep making moves, you know, personnel moves that I just hate that. I just can't get behind. You know, they lost Calvin Ridley and still, they're one of like the top 5 you know, most expensive, Wide receiver rooms because they went and paid overpaid in my opinion for Gabe Davis. And it's like You got you you got You're you're overpaying zay jones, you know christian kirk has at least been good, right? but you're over overpaying zay jones, you're overpaying gabe davis and You know, I don't even know if christian kirk is really an alpha like that You know what? I mean? And it's like the the amount of money that they're paying them. It's just like You might as well have just paid a few more dollars and kept Ridley instead of Gabe Davis. I'm just, I'm just, this is a team that just keeps disappointing me with the decisions they make. This fucking guy hates Gabe Davis. I hate Gabe Davis! Like, the dude sucks. All he is is a tall dude who, who, yeah, I'll give him credit. He can go up and grab the ball in some contested catch situations, but the dude never gets situa never gets separation. I wouldn't pay him all that money. Fuck him. No. There's a reason why he disappointed three years in a row in Buffalo. It's because he never gets open. He just, all he does is He's like a poor man's Mike Williams, where he'll run down the side of the field and sometimes he'll make good catches when he's covered, but he's always covered. He's always covered. You know, it's like he was supposed to be kind of speedy coming out and he doesn't seem to play with that speed though. Like he could run a 40 and make it look good, but. It's just, it's not, it's not in his play. You know, it's disappointing.
Jason:Gabe Davis, man. What a fucking,
Pershin:anyway, back to the draft preview that I was supposed to be doing is I, I think it's likely that they'll take some interior alignment. They really could use a center upgrade and probably both of those guards upgraded. So I could see them. Getting on the interior offensive line and in the first round, it's not a very deep class for these interior offensive guys. It's more so set up for the tackle position, which I feel like they're pretty decent at any rate. They've invested a bunch of money into, so they're probably not replacing those guys anytime soon. So I also, along with the other teams we've already spoken about, I could see them bolstering their secondary. Bringing in, they could probably use multiple safeties. I don't think they have a single like good safety on their team right now. So that's kind of what I expect to see from them in this draft.
Jason:Nice. Well, a team that made quite a few moves in the off season, the Tennessee Titans getting rid of Derrick Henry. They have the seventh pick in the first round. I mean, I think, I think one of their biggest issues is, is in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They don't have a single, but also get this. They don't have a single defensive lineman who played a hundred snaps, a hundred snaps, not a single one. Oh, is that right? Yeah. And then their best, their best, their best guy on pressures is just went to the Texans Danico Autry. So yeah, they got, they got, they got to go offensive tackle and defensive linemen. I think they're in play for, for Joe Alt from Notre Dame. That's the more important because. They, you know, the, the, they, they weren't terrible defensively, but they were awful offensively, awful on that offensive line, dead last, almost dead last in pass blocking.
Pershin:Yeah, they need basically every single position along that offensive line. Luckily for them, they, they brought in Ridley. So now they've got the Ridley Hopkins combo and they don't need to, they don't need to worry about the wide receivers available on the draft or whatever. So if I'm, if I'm them, I'm trying to get edge defenders and I'm trying to get basically, Anyone I like on the offensive line, just any dude I think has promise, has a good value that drops to third round, fourth round, whatever. I'm just, I'm taking shots all over the offensive line. Every, every single position could use an upgrade. You know, they might have something in Ben Skoronsky last year. They drafted him as a guard, ended up moving him to tackle just kind of out of necessity. I think if they move him back to guard, they might actually get good play out of him. But even he, even he is kind of a question mark at this point. So that, that's what I'm hoping to see from. That's what I'm expecting to see from them.
Jason:But do you think that they could pull the trigger on a quarterback in the first round? Like how, how sold are they on will love us Malik Willis and Mason Rudolph and co.
Pershin:It's hard to tell, to be honest with you. I, I think them bringing in Calvin Ridley. And not cutting DeAndre Hopkins clunky contract. It makes me believe that they really want to see what Levis can do if they have more around him. I think they understand that the offensive line play and the wide receiver play kind of made things harder for him last year. And if I'm them, if I'm them, I want to give him a shot. With a little more protection and an upgrade at that second wide receiver spot, which they did. And so if they bring in some better offensive linemen for him and give him a shot like that, then they could really make the future decision next off season, you know, and
Jason:let's not forget they have Tony Pollard as well. So if they, you know, if they really make that O line real good, Tony Pollard will eat.
Pershin:Yeah. And that's a good thing too, is now they've got two different running backs that are good pass catchers out of the backfield. So that helps too. It, I wasn't blown away by Levis is, you know, performance. It seems like sometimes he struggles with identifying what kind of coverage is actually happening. But I think he showed enough, he showed enough to where he emerits another, another go round.
Jason:Right. Well, from one, one side of the NFL to the other, the NFC South, let's go to the dirty birds. Hotlanta, making big time off season news. Pulling in the best regular season player of all time. Kirk Cousins.
Pershin:Yeah. Hey, I mean, you know, we, we laugh at Kirk Cousins because, you know, he's a funny fellow, you like that, you like that. But I, I think this probably was literally just the biggest move of the off season
Jason:of any free absolutely. And he got paid yet again. I mean, this guy just keeps pulling the wool over the NFL. Bro, he is the king
Pershin:of,
Jason:no,
Pershin:I
Jason:need guaranteed money. Yeah, and they'll
Pershin:give it to him. I, I, I'll give him, I'll give him credit for that. He's very good at the the getting paid game.
Jason:Well, I mean, what, they got the, they got the eighth pick in the first round. You know, we know what, what they have at running back wide receiver, Drake London, Darnell Mooney, Rondell Moore. I mean, I'm not like loving that wide receiver team and that's
Pershin:I'd, I would not be shocked if they did try to go after like an upgrade at that second wide receiver position, you know, like a really good wide receiver. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, they. I think that that that's probably the only offensive position where they're really feeling like they might need help. I expect them to do a lot on defense. I think they definitely need another cornerback. They, they really don't have much outside of Torell and they especially need some pass rush. They really don't get much in the way of pass rush, so I expect them to try to go edge defender early and then probably try to bolster the secondary and the later rounds where there's a little more guys who are hopeful. I mean, in this particular class, it's really, Really hard to see many dudes that are going to be like usable pass rushers at the NFL level. So they're probably going to get snagged up in the first couple of rounds. And so if I'm them, I'm focusing early on you know edge defenders, basically
Jason:Dallas Turner from, from Alabama.
Pershin:Absolutely. That would be great if they could get their hands off Dallas Turner. Yeah, at 8, I don't see why they couldn't. I mean, And then the defensive secondary, I think, is what they, what they should be focusing on after that. Because they just don't have much outside of AJ Terrell, who is really good, but I mean, you know, you can't, you can't make an entire secondary out of one good player, so.
Jason:Agree, agree. Moving on to every America's team, the Carolina Panthers, the, the, the fighting tempers.
Pershin:I, you know, I've given them a ton of hell the past couple of years. I haven't liked a lot of the trades that they've done, but I will say this off season actually kind of agree with the moves that they've made, you know, that, you know, Perhaps a little bit of an overpay for one of the guards they brought in, but he is a proven reliable guard. So it's a position of need that they had. They basically got Deontay Johnson to come in for peanuts, you know, and in that trade. So that's obviously a position of need there. They still definitely need offensive linemen and pass catchers. So I. Expect them to slash would love them to focus on a second tackle. I forgot the guy's name. They got one good tackle, but they should probably bring in another. It's a good draft class for that. And wide receivers, you know, they, they got Deontay Johnson, but I don't see anything of note outside of that. Jonathan Mingo was a letdown and the second half of the season, you know, more than a deal. Adam Thielen ran out of gas there, which I don't blame him. They used the book out of him the first But but yeah, I mean even Hayden Hurst was disappointment in my opinion so I I could see them you know Taking a shot on one of these tight ends at some point as well. I just think that they should focus on getting Bryce young, some, some better weapons. And I think that this is the class to do that. So that's what I hope that they do.
Jason:Yeah. I think they could do that in the second round too, because that's when they get their first pick is the first pick in the second round in the seventh pick in the second round. I mean, with it being a deep wide receiver class, you can get a wide receiver with that first pick and then come back defensively or offensively. Offensive line with the second. Second round pick.
Pershin:Yeah. And I, I mean, I w I would not be surprised. You know, they let Brian Burns go. I would not be surprised if they used one of those second round picks on an edge defender and then, you know, focus, focus more of our receiver later when a lot of good talents going to fall, you know, there's got, there's going to be guys slipping through the tracks, you know, falling. So
Jason:absolutely. Next team up. Everyone's favorite, favorite team, the old Sean Paytons, the New Orleans Saints. Only because we love Mardi Gras. That's why they're our favorite team. Never been, but it's always a good time. Who needs a reason to drink, you know?
Pershin:This one's interesting because, I could totally see them being one of the teams that targets one of these second round QBs. One of these guys that people feel like has a lot of promise, but a little rough around the edges. Whether that be Penix, that's available in the second round, or Bo Nix, or Spencer Rattler. I could see them Trying to go ahead and grab one of these guys to sit for a season or two. And then I don't think they plan on, you know, keeping a car throughout his full contract. They have basically an easy out. There's no more guaranteed money after this coming season. So I'm willing to bet that. You know, they're already planning on his exit. So I think that they're an interesting team for like a second or third round QB, you know, developmental type guy. That being said, I could see them doing like defensive line. I feel like that they haven't got a lot out of that defensive line the past couple of seasons and, and on the offensive line, they could probably take a tackle too. I think it might be like a trenches sort of draft for them, but yeah, they, they feel like kind of a wild card for me. What do you think?
Jason:Well, they are a wild card in the sense that, I mean, they have their car, you know, I mean, he's an okay quarterback. I mean, I have to, I personally think they really desperately need, desperately need a quarterback. They've got the 14th pick in the first round. So I don't, I don't know that there's going to be one necessarily that you're going to. You know, in the first round. So I don't think you take one there. I think, like you said, maybe you pull, pull the trigger on a, on a second round QB, third round QB, let them sit for a year or two behind Derek Carr and hope that he is like a Georgia love or something like that. You know, they did sign chase young in the off season, which I really like. But they do desperately need help again. It seems like a lot of these teams, trenches, they need offensive line and defensive line guys, cornerbacks. They're just, I don't even know. I mean, I don't even know if that would even help because I also feel like they need to, they need another wide receiver. You know what I mean? Like Taysom Hill at some point is going to dim. Yeah.
Pershin:They, yeah, they, is Taysom Hill is still a free agent right now, which I think is interesting. You, you think that Payton would want to snag him up. Although they, there's no money right now in Denver because it's all Carter Russell who's playing for another team, but that's, that's a whole other can. But. Yeah, Michael Thomas left and I think that they've got a pretty solid one two punch with Rasheed Shaheed and Chris Olave But I wouldn't be surprised if they decided they wanted to take a shot on a, you know, on a third wide receiver I think that You know, the outside of, I want to say they've got 80 Perry would be like third in line. I don't, I don't know that that's very impressive. I could see them taking a wide receiver in this draft. Like there's really a lot of positions that I think they could take. Cause there's a lot of positions where it's like, okay, they've got one good player at this position, but then the rest of them kind of feel like, eh. You know, it's like they
Jason:got that's what I'm saying, man. They're just kind of got
Pershin:one good cornerback, but then the rest of the secondary is like, all right, I guess. Pretty man. It's like, they got chase young, but then what else is on the defensive line? They've got one good
Jason:tackle, like a 50 year old, 50 year old. What's his name? What's the dude. Oh man. He's been there forever, man. Guy's got dreads. He's so old. He's on like his 20th season dog. I swear, man. I can't remember his name.
Pershin:Yeah, I'm forgetting his name. The tackle they've got that's, that's still pretty decent, but
Jason:yeah,
Pershin:then on the other side, they, they're lacking and they, they're a wild card. Cause like I said, there's, there's a lot of, a lot of spots where they're not necessarily like desperate, but you know, you could see them drafting all over the board kind of. So it'll, it'll be interesting to see what they do with their
Jason:Cameron Jordan. Cameron Jordan. That's who I'm talking about. He's been there forever, man. I swear he was on that Super Bowl team in 2009.
Pershin:Well, he, I don't think that's true. That might be true. But I know that he, he's, he's one of those players where they kept. Pushing the money back into the future. Yeah, he just loves, you know, manipulate that to manipulate the salary clap cap So it's like they they never can save money by cutting him because there's so much guaranteed money coming down the pipe So they're stuck with yeah.
Jason:Yeah, they are pretty stuck. I mean, they don't really have a whole lot of cap space and they don't really have a lot of draft picks. So it seems like Derek Carr and company are going to be there for at least another year. And we'll have to see what happens. But onto another team who is stuck in a pickle with a baker Mayfield. The Tampa bay Buccaneers. They have baker, but no Canalis. So I say Aero trending down. You think that there's a possibility they'll get a QB in this draft.
Pershin:I don't think that a draft into QB in this one. They just, they just paid, they just paid Baker. I think that they could use another cornerback and certainly an edge defender. Probably though it might look like a defensive centric draft for them. Maybe an interior lineman, like a guard or, or a center they might, they might fuck with. I think that they're probably going to want to focus on the defense though. I think certainly secondary they could use some help and, and pass rush. I think they kind of surprised people by how well they played toward the end of last season. And I think that they're, they're really feeling like, Oh, we could do this. Like we, we got a playoff team here. We're, you know, we're all in, they, they signed Mike Evans to a pretty aggressive deal. They signed Baker. And I think that they're just going to try to add whatever pieces they can and make a run for it. So I don't know. I think You know, Godwin and Evans still played well as a one, two punch last year. Maybe they go ahead and, and draft the wide receiver just because they know that Evans is going to slow down any season now and, you know, maybe they weren't excited with Trey Palmer. I thought Trey Palmer looked pretty good as a, as a third option, a deep, you know, deep threat field stretching specialist last year as a rookie, I felt like he. He did all right. So I could see them just kind of foregoing the position or deciding they want to draft for the future of that position too.
Jason:Yeah, we saw that canal is gone. And so baker Mayfield is definitely going to turn back into a pumpkin at this time around. Um, moving on from all of that good draft analyst. Analysis. To what we think some wide receivers could be, that you could look for in fantasy either in deeper leagues. And, uh, rookies to stash away for dynasty leagues. Uh, also other guys that might, you know, make a name for themselves. If injuries become a thing again, this year, So, uh, what do you think about that? Who do you like?
Pershin:Yes. Okay. I want to tell you that I believe this will be the best wide receiver class we have seen period. I think that that's what we're going to see. I think that you've got blue chip, it'll be prospects. You've got 1, 2, 3 with Marvin Harrison Jr., Romo Dunze, Malik Neighbors, particularly with Harrison Jr. The expectation is that Like he's got such a high floor and, you know, you, you couple that with the fact that not only do you have three unbelievable prospects at the top, but then you just got so much depth and so many promising players who have pretty high ceilings in their own right, who are going to fall, you know, not all of these guys are going to be able to get selected where their draft grades would be. Basically. There you've got a dozen different dudes from that wide receiver four, you know, it's obviously you got the clear cut top three, but then from four to like 16, you basically got a dozen dudes that have either like late round one grades or, or round two grades. And then you've got another 10, maybe 11, depending on, you know, how you, how you're viewing these guys. Guys that have like round three grades or late round two grades. So basically you're, you're talking about 25 different dudes that are expected to go day one or day two. I don't think that's happening. A lot of these guys are going to end up. Falling to that day three. And I think that there's going to be a lot of value for NFL teams to scoop up because not everyone's going to be selecting wide receivers like that. These guys are going to eventually fall, but you know, just wanted to give you that overview that there's just a ton of talent at the wide receiver position. And, you know, Like, let's compare this with last year, the JSN was clear cut, like most people's wide receiver one as a prospect. And like this year, he's not even sniffing. He wouldn't even sniff those top three. He would be in conversation with the rest of that next tier guys like Brian Thomas, Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, Troy Franklin, Lad McConkey. The list goes on and on and on. I won't bore you with the top three. a hundred names here. But what I did want to get into is some of my personal favorites. Guys that I just love watching play and I really hope they end up hitting a really good landing spot. My favorite wide receiver of this draft is Ladna Konke. He's a white dude, so inevitably he gets a whole bunch of white dude comps. To me, he plays More like an Antonio Brown. I've heard a lot of people basically try to compare him to like Cooper cup. I don't love that comparison myself. He is a little bit on the smaller side. He's not super small, like a Zay flowers or tank doll or anything, but he probably will find most of his work out of the slot, but. What I love about Ladd McConkie is that he is a very smart route runner. He has the burst. He has the, the long speed to, you know, challenge any sort of coverage, but what he does super well is he changes up his pacing, his tempo, and the depth that he runs his routes to manipulate. The defenders, the coverage guys are oftentimes just caught off guard because he's changing things up and he's fooling them so well, you know, basically manipulating them. Before he makes his breaks, gets into his stems, however you want to talk about that, he plays, he basically plays like an NFL veteran already the past couple seasons, the way that he understands defenses, particularly zones and exploits that with changing up. The depth of his routes, finding that soft spot and, you know, Daniel Jeremiah, really famous, well respected scout for NFL network. You know, he put out an interesting compilation where he said, of the past three years, he's including this upcoming year, all of the SEC cornerbacks who either went in the past two years in the first two rounds or are expected to go this year in the first two rounds have been toasted at one point or another by Ladd McConkie. And in particularly this past year, there's a play that I love where he absolutely puts Kool Aid in a blender. And I was just talking about earlier, I love Kool Aid. I think he, I think he's probably going to be the best cornerback. Yeah, I think he's probably going to be the best cornerback that ends up coming out this year. And there's basically nobody that he hasn't found a way to clown. And this is against a lot of guys that are in the NFL are going to be in the NFL. You know, he, the past couple of seasons, he, he hasn't had a ton of production cause he's had to miss a lot of time or play through injury. And there is some questions, you know, if you're going to talk about, you know, what, what's he weakened, what are his cons? It is definitely like the physicality sometimes, you know, playing through contact, contact balance. When he gets hit in those contested catch situations, you would love him to be stronger at the catch point to play with a little more physicality. And, you know, that is going to be something that he might end up struggling with at the NFL level. But the way that he can get open, the way that he can. You know, basically fake out and fool defenders absolutely translates to the next level. I just think that this is just a smart guy who has really deceptive burst. He's super fast when he wants to be. I think he plays just like how Antonio Brown plays. Obviously, there's a good chance he's not going to end up hitting that ceiling, but I love him. I'm rooting for him. Another guy that I just love and. I'm not the only one is Malik neighbors. He's part of this elite tier in the top three. The thing, the thing that I think is just crazy about Malik neighbors is that his. suddenness. He can change directions on a dime. He actually reminds me of Zay Flowers. If you've seen some of the Zay Flowers highlights from college or even just this past year, the way that he could just stop on a dime. It's so sudden. His sort of twitchy change of direction is so smooth and so sudden. And the crazy thing about neighbors is that He's got several inches and 30 pounds on Zay Flowers. He's not a small tanked out type of guy, but yet he's shifty and his body control is, I actually think that he, his ceiling is. Even though he's not quite as well rounded as Marvin Harrison, Jr. His ceiling is even higher just because he's such an athletic freak. He, I, I, yeah, I just love him. He's great. Also, a guy that I'm rooting for is McCaffrey's brother Luke McCaffrey. He, he's got an interesting story because he always wanted to be quarterback and apparently. Christian McCaffrey even tried to talk him into being a wide receiver earlier in his career. And he's like, no, no, no. I want to be a quarterback. You know, he goes, I think, to Western Kentucky and he still can't get on the field as a quarterback. He's just not good enough for us. So a year and a half ago, he transitions halfway through the season, decides he wants to do wide receiver. And basically he gets a lot more. You can see that he's still rough around the edges. He still needs to work on, you know, basically setting up his, his routes and he, he, he needs some more development. He he's just rough and the polish of being a wide receiver. But what you do see when you watch him is you do see that athleticism, you know, obviously he comes from a family of really good athletes. You do see that on display and also his toughness. Man, he takes some licks. There was like three different plays. I watched him him where he gets hit over the middle so hard. His helmet flies off. He comes down with that ball. He is a tough, tough cookie. He might be the toughest wide receiver in this draft class. I love his attitude, the way he plays so aggressively. And I think that. You know, a team that already has a good wide receiver, you know, one, two, three on their roster can, can pick him up and, and develop him.
Jason:So, what you're saying is, is these types of guys are kind of like a day three draft pick.
Pershin:Oh yeah. Yeah. I, I think he falls to the day three personally. I don't, I don't think he goes there. Maybe some people have him like a, a third round draft grade, fourth round draft grade. I think he definitely falls to day three just because. Like I said, there's so many dudes in this, in this draft.
Jason:What do you think these guys could do fantasy wise? That could be really beneficial.
Pershin:Yeah. So there, there's a bunch of dudes in the, in this draft that are going to be more complete receivers. The past couple of years, we've been basically inundated with small speedy guys, which is great. I don't have a problem with that. The NFL, you know, is turning more towards speed, but we've got a lot of dudes in this that are going to be great downfield, deep threats, Mike William types players, and especially touchdown red zone guys. A lot of it is just going to come down to. Landing spots, keep your eye on where the opportunity actually is. Like I said, there's a ton of dudes outside of those top three. I don't care where those top three guys go. I'm going to have. Shares of them and I'm going to have faith in them, but for the rest of these dudes, it's really going to come down to, that's why I wanted to talk about landing spots. And I wanted to ask you about this too, and see what your opinion is. I think with the trade today, I think probably the best possible landing spot for any receiver right now is probably Buffalo. I think if, if these dudes make their way to the bills, to the chargers the Cardinals right now have basically just Michael Wilson and then, you know, Trey McBride on their team. I think they're a really good landing spot. And even KC, you know, there's a lot of up in the air about what actually is going to go down with Rasheed Rice. Travis Kelsey is another year older. They did pick up Hollywood Brown, but he's had a problem staying on the field throughout his career. I think KC's a really good landing spot for some of these dudes. I think that, you know, Baltimore still could use another, you know, X type receiver. And I think that Dallas and Pittsburgh are also low key, pretty good landing spots because with Deontay moving out, they needed a second guy alongside George Pickens and then with Dallas, you know, with Michael Gallup gone, they really have nothing outside of CD land besides an aging. You know, cooks who's lost the step. So I don't know. I wanted to ask you about that too. Who do you think are the best landing spots right now?
Jason:Yeah, I mean, I agree totally Kansas city who would want to play with Patrick? My home's a Buffalo, just Josh Allen. I mean, we, we, I think how I want to think about Josh Allen, but the guy can sling the rock. So who wouldn't want to play on that side of the ball? Really anywhere that there's a good QB. In, you know, if you're looking at fantasy wise, A starter. So, you know, Maybe Minnesota is looking for that third. Third starter along to go with the QB. So, you know, who will see.
Pershin:Yeah right. Yeah. Yeah. For a lot of these guys, for sure. And in fact, they're for the ones that do fall, even though there'll be good values, they might not even get the opportunity to get on the field that much just because their team just doesn't value the late that third day sort of draft capital that much. So they might be relying on injuries and to that regard, I did want to talk about a couple of the sleepers, even though, you know, it's a. It's a really deep class. And basically some of the guys are going to fall to day three and be kind of sleepers by default. I do think in particular, Jermaine Burton from Alabama, he's a guy that has a lot of character concerns. A lot of teams just are not going to have him on their board at all. I think there's a good chance that he ends up slipping. He's a guy that has the sort of profile from performance on the field where he should be. In discussion for maybe he's, he's in, he's in the first round. Maybe he, he could be the fourth or the fifth guy after those top three. But he, he's got so much issues, like apparently his teammates don't like him. He's toxic. He's gotten into several fights on the field, a lot of. Attitude, basically anger issues. He needs to work out. But the guy's a really great player, especially as a size speed combination, deep threat sort of guy. If he finds his way to, let's say the Buffalo bills. I think that's a really good match. I think that There's a wide receiver out of Virginia, Malik Washington, who also is going to get lost in the shuffle. He's going to end up being a day three guy. I'm pretty sure. And, you know, I saw an interesting stat from Matt Harmon. He's a guy that. studies wide receivers. He puts out this thing called reception perception. But at any rate, he said that there's only three wide receivers in this entire draft class that had above 75 percent success rate versus man and versus zone defenses. And those three wide receivers are Marvin Harrison Jr. Malik neighbors, and then Malik Washington, total sort of under the radar guy. I don't hear a lot of buzz about him. I think the reason why is because he's probably going to be a slot only guy. He's only five, eight, but he's not like a super thin five, eight. I mean, he's, I want to say he's like 198 pounds or a hundred, basically around 200 pounds at five, eight. And the thing is that he's, he's just really. Good. He's good at almost everything except for being a bigger receiver. And, and I, but you know, it's worth noting that, you know, Virginia plays against pretty tough competition and he still was able to get these sort of success rates, I think he's going to end up being a pretty good slot ride receiver at the next level for whoever ends up getting him, and I think he probably falls to day three as well. So those are kind of my sleepers. I'm on the lookout for Jermaine Burton. You know, he's got to clean up the attitude, obviously, but frankly, we've seen a lot of dudes. I mean, but the thing about the NFL is that man, if you're good. Teams will just overlook it. You know what I mean? I think that he, there's a good chance that he falls and he ends up being a star at the next level, you know, ton of these guys, it's just going to depend on the landing spot. So that's what I wanted to talk about more so than the individual guys, because I could talk for 10 hours about each. These dudes, there's a ton of dudes that have the potential. There's a ton of dudes that have the potential. I think that you should really focus in on where these guys go, you know, so Buffalo chargers, Cardinals, even the Patriots are going to have One of these top three quarterbacks in full gives promise to these guys because they don't have much the wide position wide receiver position as it stands. That's how I'm looking at this from a fantasy perspective.
Jason:How could you look at this from a dynasty fantasy perspective, you know, drafting, maybe rookies only and stuff like that.
Pershin:Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you're talking about Dynasty, and of course you and I are in a league together, as well as friends of the pod Smith and Derek, you know, they're in there as well. So yeah, for me personally, I definitely want, To get in on Neighbors, on Marvin Harrison Jr., on Roma on Roma Dunze and then again, I, I, I really love Vlad Mekonke. I would love to get him for the Dynasty future prospects, no matter where he lands. I'm interested in him and and yeah, and Jermaine Burton. I'm a Jermaine Burton fan as well.
Jason:And then that's all we got for the fantasy talk. But at one last thing I wanted to talk about was what is happening with rushy rice. Man, that guy is really trying to get himself kicked out of the league. Like bro. Why are you driving that car so fast? And how much drugs you got on you. Has he even turned himself in, like what's going on? Has anyone heard anything?
Pershin:So he, he did like, technically he, he got himself a lawyer or like A team of lawyers and they have contacted the police so that's he hasn't technically physically turned himself in like Perhaps the police were asking him to do but but basically there's like an understanding. Okay, we're good Like we're going to proceed with this. Yeah Under the heavy drugs Yeah, I, yeah. On one hand, it's pretty bad because if things are as bad as some people are reporting them to be, there's, there's video of him walking away from the scene willy nilly. yada yada as you said it doesn't appear anyone was severely injured there's no deaths nothing like that i did notice that like a dynasty wise like on keep trade cut for instance his value has absolutely plummeted so he's actually someone that He's actually someone that I'd be interested in trading for. You know, we were just talking about how we're in a Dynasty League. And if, if you out there are in a Dynasty League yourself, if I got Rasheed Rice, I'm not trying to sell him for fucking 30 or 40 cents on the dollar right now. Because I think what's more than likely to happen is that it turns out that it's just, he was racing, he got into an accident, And that's the thing of it. Now, there seems to be reports or rumors that there was drugs found in the car, illegal weapons or whatever. None of that's confirmed right now. And I just think that considering how much a lot of people are panicking about it now is probably just not the time to sell him. I think that if you're in a league and the owner wants to dump him, It might actually be a good idea to, to buy him at a dip, at a, at a good discount. Yeah. I'm interested to see what's the price to get him right now.
Jason:Yeah. I mean, we'll see what happens, see how much he's going for in our own league and let you know. But as of right now, That's all we got for you populous. Have a good week. See you next time.
Pershin:Adios.