Preseason Gotta love it.....

Welcome to another exciting episode of the Pine Pony Podcast! Join us as The O.G. hosts an in-depth discussion on NFL training camp updates and preseason action with the Fantasy Uncle. Explore key positional battles, rookies to watch, and potential fantasy goldmines for the upcoming season. We also dive into fun extracurricular activities and gaming updates. Don't miss out on the latest buzz and expert takes on your favorite NFL teams!

Chapters

• 2:08 Arena Football Comeback
• 3:41 Derrick Henry's Intense Diet
• 9:06 Preseason Fantasy Football Tips
• 18:06 Top Preseason Battles to Watch
• 27:50 Broncos Wide Receiver Dilemma
• 29:12 New York Giants Tight End Conundrum
• 30:34 Quarterback Controversy in New Orleans
• 32:59 Oakland's Quarterback Battle
• 34:35 Wide Receiver Showdown in LA
• 37:35 Cowboys Running Back Competition
• 48:50 Extracurricular Activities and Upcoming Events

Transcript

Jason: 0:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Pony Podcast. As always, you got me, The O. G. And the fantasy uncle, what's happening Persian.

pershin: 0:15

Yeah. What's happening is I'm muting myself. I'm live now. I'm doing well.

Jason: 0:21

Happy

pershin: 0:23

to be back for another episode of the pod talking training camp. This time, such an exciting. Hope field span of time before the bullets start really flying and all of us Broncos fans are hit with reality.

Jason: 0:41

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's it's the best time of football because everybody has hopes, right?

pershin: 0:47

Oh

Jason: 0:47

yeah. Everyone's

pershin: 0:48

getting to see highlight reels from the plays being made in training camp. They're getting to see their coaches talk up all their favorite players. Everybody's injury is ahead of schedule. Everybody's in the best shape of their lives. And you know, it's all. Sunshine and rainbows. Aaron Rodgers is there. You know, always want to, people always want to flash forward through the preseason training camp and and come on, just give us that real football but hey, listen, when your team's butt like mine tends to be, just let me hang out in the hope section for a minute.

Jason: 1:28

Yeah, right. With that being said, yeah, that's what we're gonna talk about tonight. We're gonna talk about training camp, preseason. The games, cause we are one week away, Hall of Fame game yeah. It's next Thursday.

pershin: 1:44

Is that right? Okay.

Jason: 1:45

I think it's next Thursday.

pershin: 1:46

Right on.

Jason: 1:48

I may or may not.

pershin: 1:50

It's flying by. That's the point. It's flying by folks.

Jason: 1:53

Yeah. Yeah. So it is here before you know it. So with that being said, let's start the show.

2:01

The Pony Pony Podcast.

Jason: 2:06

And so open it up. Let's talk a little bit about the news. Arena football made a comeback this past season. And they had their championship game in a mall. So yeah, Citadel mall, you got something to look forward to. You could, you could host an arena football game. Just think about that. What do you, what's your take on that? That is that this is just a

pershin: 2:34

good thing.

Jason: 2:35

Like

pershin: 2:36

I loved it. I loved it. Absolutely, man. I mean, a lot of these malls. They need to do something with this. The owners of these various properties are desperate to put anything in there, recoup any value if you will. And then you've got the sort of teams or leagues even struggling to pay for, to fund or to, you know, lease out the, the spaces. This is a perfect marriage. Not only that, but most of these malls are built with. Sections where there's levels, meaning you could have fans watching from two, three different levels.

Jason: 3:21

Yeah. This lots of lots of three levels.

pershin: 3:24

Oh yeah. The pictures from this were, were great. I mean, this was kind of like a perfect setup for this sort of thing. I think it's great. I think, Hey, why the hell not?

Jason: 3:35

Well, moving on from arena football to another gladiator. Fantasy Hopefuls, Derek Henry. This guy is an absolute animal. And when I say that, I mean, because he spends 240, 000 on his body maintenance for his personal chef. Where he doesn't even eat anything until 4 p. m. And then he eats what was, what I was told enough for a pride of lions, including chicken breast, rice and broccoli, gluten free pancakes, scrambled eggs and steak.

pershin: 4:21

Yeah.

Jason: 4:21

My man is an animal.

pershin: 4:23

What's crazy is that he has like, a lot of fruit and vegetables Like in his diet And I guess he's one of his nutritionists or somebody he works with was saying that they estimate that In like a three or four hour span He'll eat like 5, 000 to 6, 000 calories. I'm like, what? And that's with a bunch of fruit and vegetables mixed in. That's a ton of fucking food, man. That's crazy.

Jason: 4:56

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's pretty awesome. Another thing that's pretty cool. Ronnie James is already getting banners hung up in LA. He won the NBA call of duty tournament. It. A cool 10, 000, 10, 000. That's pretty neat. Hey, that's cool for him. I support it.

pershin: 5:21

Why

Jason: 5:21

not? That's already a winner. And then in sad news Hulk Hogan is still a piece of shit. But he's also hanging out with the lions. So. As a Green Bay fan, fuck the Lions and fuck them even more because yeah, that's what I said, brother.

pershin: 5:45

Yeah, I, I've never been like a avid wrestling person and I don't really know the various backstories, but I mean, is Hulk Hogan just like a bad guy? Is he just like a schmuck or something?

Jason: 5:56

No, he's everybody's childhood hero. And then he got old and became a just raging Republican and like going to the RNC and making a big speech about Trump and making America great again, brother. And

pershin: 6:16

disgusting,

Jason: 6:18

just

pershin: 6:19

that's gross. Hulk Hogan do better.

Jason: 6:21

Just ill. And yeah, you know what? I will not be taking my vitamins. And saying my prayers. Okay. I'm going to be eating Slim Jim's instead. All right. You got anything else with, with the news that you cared to chit chat about?

pershin: 6:47

An interesting sort of rumor. It's not happened yet, but apparently Broncos and, and Bills are in trade talks that would involve Samajai P. Ryan going to the Bills and then Dawson Knox coming to the Broncos. I think that is an interesting sort of trade there. I guess we'll have to see if it actually, actually comes to fruition. But, It's

Jason: 7:15

interesting that It's interesting that you say that because I had on my list of things to chat about was that Denver is going to be in a running back situation because they're probably going to get rid of one some IJP Ryan or Javante Williams,

pershin: 7:36

right? Right. They, they literally have five guys that they have invested in one way or the other on the roster right now. And so you gotta think. At least one of those guys is going to end up getting cut or traded away. Just, you know, the NFL nowadays teams do not want to be investing that much into RB. So we'll see how that goes, but I do think Samaj AP Ryan is the most likely one to be moved one way or the other.

Jason: 8:07

Yeah, I mean, because you have Jaleel McLaughlin and Audra Guestime. I mean,

pershin: 8:13

yeah, I mean, one of

Jason: 8:14

those cats has got to go.

pershin: 8:16

They picked up Audra Guestime and Blake Watson as rookies this year, and the reports are they're very excited about them. Jaleel McLaughlin. Basically over performed and was really impressive last year while Javante Williams was disappointing, but Javante Williams coming off of that AC the previous off season. So maybe he takes a step forward. He earns that starting role back or whatever. We just don't know how it's going to shake out there. Lots of questions. Yes.

Jason: 8:50

Yes. Lots of questions. All right. Well, let's get into what we're all here for. Cause it's an exciting week. Let's get into the main topic.

9:03

Main topic. Hey, you!

Jason: 9:06

All right. So, you know, this is that time of the year where, where the pre season's getting ramped up and, and you got to start thinking, you know, what subscription service you're going to get. And, you know, who's coming over on Sundays and, What beer you're going to buy and all those things and fantasy drafts are, are a month away, a month away. So you guys started thinking, you know, what sleepers and everybody and all that. So it was time to talk about preseason football and in training camp and what we are looking forward to and who we like to watch and those kinds of things. And what we look at when we're watching. The players, the wide receivers and running backs and such. So Persian with that being said, what tickles your fancy in preseason in training camp?

pershin: 10:05

Yeah, I think that You said it pretty well there. It's a pretty fun time and it's also a pretty useful time when it comes to fantasy football. I think you absolutely should be paying attention to what's going on. But as football fans, particularly fantasy fans, we get peppered with just tons of incoming information and hype and buzz and storylines, yada, yada. I think that The first thing that I would recommend is get some sort of new sources, some information sources that you really trust, that you really like, and I'm a hype too, that I use. I think everyone should be using. Number one, that is, 32 beat writers. You can find them on threads or on X. They have their own website, wherever, wherever you want to find them, you could use them and they do a really good job of collecting tons of stories from the beat writers, what they'd been saying about the various players, and they'll even put it for you as far as like, okay, this is how many stories. The past couple of weeks has been on this player. This is who's catching all the news, right? Right. This is the, you can basically parse out which players are getting buzz from a lot of different sources versus just one reporter or what have you. And then the other one I really like to use is coach speak index. Same, same deal with coach speak index. You can find them on. Twitter, whatever it's called, and threads, all of that thing also has its own website and its own podcast. And it does a really good job of helping you understand which coaches are talking about which things, and more importantly, which coaches, what's their track record when it comes to. Lying to the media versus being honest to the media when it comes to specific things like injuries, usage sort of formation or strategy and stuff like that, a lot of coaches. Are actually pretty trustworthy and pretty reliable with what they're telling the media. A lot of coaches are the polar opposite. So it's important to know the difference in those things. And that that's basically the biggest issue there is that you don't want to just take in all the information and have that information be equal. You want to make sure that you're looking at it.

Jason: 12:36

No, man. I want to be in the Green Bay bubble. All I want to hear is good stuff. Yeah. Hey, me too. What are you talking about?

pershin: 12:46

It's

Jason: 12:46

fun. You don't want to hear it.

pershin: 12:51

But when we're looking at fantasy and trying to get an edge versus our league mates, The, these are the things that, that helps what I'm looking for in the preseason is first and foremost, what's the things that are not subjective, right? And that would be the usage, right? When you've got the reporters saying, okay, this guy's getting, working with the first team, the majority of the time, this guy's getting worked in with the first team, but he's with the second team. Those things are not even opinions. Those things are really important. They help you understand the position battles when it comes to the final couple games of the preseason, especially that final game, those players that get to sit out and don't even suit up. Those are important players for what the Teams planning to do on offense in the upcoming season. That's a huge thing for you. And again, it's not even about people's perceptions or opinions on the thing. I love how

Jason: 13:49

many players you think are going to do that because there's only what, two games, three games now,

pershin: 13:57

right? Right. It, it has changed a little bit over the years, but I think that that final game in particular is really what you want to look at more than anything. Not all the players will get to do that, but If a player does not suit up for that final game, that that's a really good indication. And again, it's not anyone's opinion. They're just sitting out. Obviously, unless they're injured, then you know that they're important to the team. They want to keep them healthy.

Jason: 14:29

You know what I mean? So what you're saying is don't watch Hard Knocks and then just get a hard on for every wide receiver. Yeah.

pershin: 14:37

Don't do that. Definitely. Don't do that.

Jason: 14:39

That has a good game on there.

pershin: 14:40

Hard Knocks is, is an entertaining show, but it has also, well, it

Jason: 14:44

is a hype machine. Yeah. It has led us to stray many. If you watch it, you will, you will come out of there believing. Whoever, it's good that they are the next

pershin: 14:56

who, whoever gets the most airtime on that show, you're like, oh, I, I need draft. I would love to see,

Jason: 15:02

I would love to see whoever gets the most airtime. What is their average, like a DP in a fantasy?

pershin: 15:11

Oh, there's no aesthetic versus there's a bump versus like other

Jason: 15:15

seasons. Yeah.

pershin: 15:19

That would be a pretty interesting study. Maybe someone's already looked at that. I don't know. But then you want to take a look at the, the buzz and the hype and what you want to try to parse out there is like, is. Is this just one report from one day of practice or training camp? Is it just one game or one drive in a preseason game where a player is being talked about? Or is it like a consistent, steady drum beat? That's really what you're looking for when it comes to the sort of opinion aspect and the hype aspect. When you have lots of different reporters, That are looking at a team saying the same thing over a consistent span of time that I, Hey, this was the best receiver. This was the best receiver to past week. This is the best receiver to past couple of weeks. And then you're getting that from lots of different sources, especially when it's coupled with the quarterback is saying this about his teammate, that the. Coaches are saying it when, when everyone is sort of in agreeance, a lot of times, that's a really good sign for you that indeed that player is taking a step forward this upcoming season. At least they're going to get more opportunity if you will. And a lot of really cool videos that you're going to see a lot of really cool quotes from coaches and stuff. Honestly, you could just dismiss it. You could just dismiss it. Like I said,

Jason: 16:44

and also I want to point out like these aren't guys that really are gonna make like a big difference Like they're like some some will but most of these cats are gonna be like wide receiver three You know, it all depends on the teams, which we will get into in a minute.

pershin: 17:04

Yeah, I agree. It's, this is not the sort of thing that's going to make or break your fantasy team. These are just the sort of things that help you get a little edge. It's all about, Oh, for sure. The deeper your league, the more of these things are important, but I, this is all about just, just sort of gaining an edge. You know, last season there was a bunch of hype in the preseason for tank Dell. And then it turns out he, he was huge, you know, Same thing with Bukinukua, he did not have as much hype as Tankdel, but obviously, he was a league winner. Tankdel, really important, especially if you're playing in Dynasty formats, where you get to keep these players forever if you want to, you know what I mean? It does, it does matter. A lot of times, these things are pretty important, and So most of the time it's not going to make or break your season or anything, but it could be a pretty big difference maker if you're paying attention and you, you get to see the force for the trees before other people on your league do.

Jason: 18:02

Right.

pershin: 18:03

Right.

Jason: 18:04

All right. Well let's get into kind of some more specific teams or players that we're looking forward to in matchups. Battles, if you will, from a couple of teams. So I kind of went through a variety of teams wrote some notes down. And I have a few that are in my top four battles that I'm looking at. And then just kind of in general that I will, we'll just kind of talk about it. If you, if we don't hit on, on with your, the ones that you're looking at. So

pershin: 18:39

would you want to just go position by position here?

Jason: 18:44

No, no, no. I'm just going to go in general. I'm not going by position at all. I'm just going in general. Flat out, nothing special, all over the place, Matthew McConaughey style.

pershin: 18:59

Let's do it.

Jason: 19:01

All right. So my number one battle, my number one battle, I'm flipping, I'm flipping right now. My number one battle this season is in Pittsburgh and they have a wide receiver problem. And the fact that they have no true wide receivers, like they have no like true clear cut number one, two, three. Everyone is battling for that position for it to be the guy. I mean, you've got Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin, Van Jefferson, Scottie Miller, Quez Waters. I mean, and then you still got the moves. So, I mean, Moose, probably the, probably the best guy.

pershin: 19:54

Hey,

Jason: 19:55

let

pershin: 19:55

them loose. Let him loose.

Jason: 19:58

Yeah. So, I mean, I'm circling that wide receiver and also for that matter, I'm not taking anybody in the Pittsburgh wide receiver for fantasy at least upfront.

pershin: 20:11

So then if I'm hearing you correctly, like you're not, you're just not that impressed with Pickens. You're not expecting him to be the dude, right?

Jason: 20:19

I mean, he is the number one right now, but I, I think this, this is wide open. I think it's up for anybody because I mean, it's Russell Wilson and Justin Fields tossing the rock. Like, so I think it could be anybody. You know, so I just don't think, I mean, that's like my number one thing that I'm looking at in preseason because I'm interested to see which wide receivers are catching balls and getting targets and stuff like that. And also who, which quarterback is throwing the ball. Like that's going to be the most interesting preseason games is who's throwing the ball and who they're throwing it to. Cause they could be playing on, they could all be starters and then we get to watch it all unfold on hard knocks throughout the season.

pershin: 21:11

But that we do, that we do. I can't wait to see like the behind the scenes of how Justin Fields basically is handling the sort of like, does he get a chance? Does he not? Are the fans clamoring for him? Right.

Jason: 21:26

Right. Right.

pershin: 21:27

Right. I think we all understand a lot of it's just going to come down to are they winning games with Russ or not, but that being said, I think that You can kind of count on Russ, even if it's cheesy and it's, he's just putting on an act, you can count on him to be like really mature and really positive about the situation and say lots of nice things. But I think I could see just, I can see Justin Fields like putting his foot in his mouth and creating some sort of drama there. You know what I mean?

Jason: 21:55

Absolutely. What is your number one battle or something you're looking at?

pershin: 22:02

So the number one thing that I'm looking at, and I'm honestly a little bit surprised that you didn't say it yourself. Cause it's your team is I'm looking at how things are going to shake up with that Packers receiving core. They just have so many dudes in the rotation last year, all of them, basically all of them showed promise. And, like, from where I'm sitting, I think the one that's most likely to be the odd man out is actually the one that got the most usage last year, being Romeo Dobbs. I think that, that Dobbs really got outplayed by Dontavian Wicks in the role that Dobbs typically plays. And so, I think there's a good chance he's going to be the odd man out. I think there's a good chance that Wicks basically plays that sort of X role that Dobbs played more often than anyone else. And, and even Dobbs was rotated around, don't get me wrong. But, I, I think that we could see the sort of the most consistent, like, 3 wide receiver set being Reed Watson with Wicks. And, I think That that's just a guess though, and so I think that with all these guys coming into their second, third, fourth year with you know why am I forgetting, with Love now coming into his, his third season with LeFleur, is that right? At least his second season as a full time starter in the same All

Jason: 23:36

these guys

pershin: 23:36

basically growing together Lafleur being just a really accomplished play caller I think that there is going to be fantasy gold somewhere with this passing game It's just who who who who's it going to be and I think that paying attention to the pre season the training camp And particularly how, how these players are being used, like which roles they are playing when they are on the field. And then of course, who's getting the most work with the first team is going to be really important for cashing in on that. Should we be able to cash in on that?

Jason: 24:13

Yeah, I could, I couldn't agree more. I mean, as much as I love dubs unfortunately I think he is the odd man now, and I think it's. Watson, Reed, Wicks, Musgrave Kraft, and then Dubs, like he moved. I mean, once Musgrave, like we, we saw what he could do and then Kraft came out and then out performed Musgrave. It's like, dude, everybody else, like Jade reads a multi use like you're so yeah, I agree. Yeah. All right, my number two thing battle that I'm excited to look at is out in Denver And you, we already previously talked about it, but it's the, the running back battle who, who's going to come out of that and who's going to be the starter come week one, or maybe not because of injuries or whatever, but who is going to come out of that battle as the full time starter. Yeah. You got to think object estimates got like, is gonna get a pretty solid chance at it.

pershin: 25:24

Well, I see the crazy thing is, is like. They've all gotten hype from various sources. Like Audra guesstimate, Blake Watson Jalil McLaughlin. I think if anyone's gotten the most hype from beat reporters, it's probably actually Jalil who did basically outperformed Javante in the same system last season, already, you've got the new guys coming in. It seems like the guy that I'm forgetting everyone's name. Now, it seems like the guy that our coach wants to hype up the most himself is actually Blake Watson, who was, you know, an undrafted free agent this year. But the crazy thing is, is that as we start training camp, the guy who's getting. The first team reps is still Javante Williams. I think they're going to give him every possible opportunity to prove that he's still that dude, but it's wide open. Like you said, it is so much IP. Ryan obviously is still great as a patch caster. If they keep him, he could have a role there for sure. But the more important part is who's going to be that early down back. Who's going to be that guy to get 50 to 60 percent of the work. He's going to have,

Jason: 26:44

who's going to be able to catch the ball the most. Cause you know how Sean Payton loves to use that guy. So that's a good receipt. Whoever comes out of that, whoever owns that person and takes that gamble of picking that person up before they become that, the number one.

pershin: 27:02

Yeah. And, and all of these guys are, you know, pretty cheap if you try to trade for them. Or get them in your various leagues as we stand. I actually got Javante Williams in both of my dynasty leagues, this This passed off season because so many question marks with him. Now I'm starting to think I overpaid for him just because there's even more question marks now than there's ever been. And he seems to be the only one that's not getting any sort of hype from any sources right now. I still think at the end of the day, he's probably the most likely to land that, that top job. But we just, like you said, it's going to be really important to see how this shakes out.

Jason: 27:45

You know what else real quick in Denver is going to be quite the battle. Your wide receivers, everybody. I think Tim Patrick is going to end up being saying, see you later.

pershin: 27:58

Yeah, I was, I was going to bring them up to when, when I talked into specific, I was going to go through a sort of specific for each position after we talked about our top ones, but yeah, I was going to bring up the Broncos too. Cortland Sutton, I think is a lock behind that. Everything is a question mark. You've got last year's rookie that they traded up for in Mims. You've got this year's rookie and Troy Franklin reuniting with his college quarterback. You've got Tim Patrick coming back from the dead three years later and he's getting a lot of hype, and so it's like they, they. They paid for Josh Reynolds in the off season who they expect to be a Swiss Army knife. He could play any position on the field, but is he going to be a starter or is he going to be a rotational guy? It's all up in the air, you know, and aside from the tight end thing. It looks like they're in the market to bring in a tight end. Lucas Kroll did decently for them last year. You've got Dolce coming back and he's already got some injury issues this off season. Huge question marks. All right. Well, what is your number two? My number two spot is actually going to be the New York Giants tight end spot. He's A lot of people don't realize that the New York Giants threw to their tight ends at the third highest rate last season. And now Darren Waller just retired. Who is even on the team? Most people don't even recognize these names. It's gonna be Daniel Bellinger, who was a rookie last year. Or it's going to be Theo Johnson, who's a rookie this year. And so, I have no idea. Who it's going to be, who's going to be the starter. My inclination is that it's going to be Ballinger because he looked decent when Waller had to miss time last year. And, you know, he's the incumbent who already knows the system, but you know, who, whoever it is, is actually going to be the sort of guy who's going to be worth having as the, your second string tight end or whoever guy to pick up for free off the waiver wire, whatever sort of guy who's, you know, could step in and be useful. Bye weeks or injuries, even in the flex position, maybe stuff like that. I think that that is. Perhaps the most wide open job in the league right now.

Jason: 30:30

All right. Yeah. Couldn't agree more. My number three positions that I'm looking at quarterback in new Orleans, the Spencer rattler, whoop in and take it from Derek Carr, because listen, new Orleans has a really solid team. Derek Carr is the worst player on that team right now. If Spindler Rattler has a good pre season, if he has a good pre season, because he's going to get all the reps, he's going to get all the reps in pre season. If he has a good pre season and Derek Carr comes out just fucking hot dogging it, when does New Orleans fans start screaming for replacement? Because that dude has been trash there. If he's 2023 fucking car, Spencer Rattler, give the job to Spencer Rattler.

pershin: 31:35

Wow, man, throwing haymakers out there. He's the worst person on that team. I, I don't know if I agree with that. I think Derek Carr is actually pretty locked in there. I would be surprised. I think it's a hot take. I would be surprised if, if Jake Hainer or Spencer Rattler was able to beat him out. I do think it'd be interesting to see who secures the backup job though. Because, you know, if it's Rattler or if it's Hayner, one or the other might get their chance to showcase what they could do in the back half of the season. I think if the, if the Saints are doing poorly later in the season, they might go ahead and sit Derek Carr so that they could see if one of these guys is going to be worth keeping around. Basically, if they could expect them to be the future guy, or if they need to drop the QB next season. draft or whatever. I do think it's likely that this is Derek Carr's last season with the Saints. So, you know, I do think it matters who's the backup, but man, I would be surprised if he wasn't the starter. The week one,

Jason: 32:48

I think, Oh, he'll be the starter in week one. I'm just saying, how far does he make it as the starter?

pershin: 32:57

Yeah.

Jason: 32:57

So what's your number? Well, my,

pershin: 32:59

my number three is also the quarterback battle. Everyone loves QBs. And I think there's a very open competition in Oakland right now. I think that I believe my personal opinion is that Minshew is decent and that he's better than Aiden O'Connell. But the thing is that. All the reports are, it's like a wide open competition. They're just splitting first team reps. And, you know, Antonio Pierce has come out and said that AOC is actually going to get first crack, meaning. Gardner Minshew is going to have to

Jason: 33:41

show. Politician out of this, keep the politician out of this. Okay.

pershin: 33:46

I, I think that Minshew is going to have to like show pretty definitively, like in a meaningful way that he's better than AOC. Otherwise, I think they are going to give AOC the first crack at being the starter week one. I still think eventually Minshew is the better guy and that he, he will win that job. But this is probably the closest thing we get to a truly wide open QB battle right now, you know, to see, to see who's going to start week one.

Jason: 34:20

Yeah. I like, I like that battle. It'll be interesting because of, you know, who's Pierce going to go with, that's kind of his true first decision being made as, as the head coach, you know. All right. And then for the final battle that I could kind of come up with. As I looked at some of these teams for tonight is I'm really looking at the Harbaugh situation over in L. A. and who out of these wide receivers is gonna, I mean, I'm really thinking Ladd McConkie could potentially come out as, A-P-P-A-P-P-R Monster out there. So,

pershin: 35:04

yeah.

Jason: 35:05

What do you think? Did I read your mind? Yeah, I

pershin: 35:08

think yeah, I was definitely gonna bring that up at some point. It's, if you look at like what happened with Adam Thilan last year, where it was like. There's just nobody else on the team that the QB feels like he can rely on. And so he just wants to throw it to him over and over. That could end up being McConkie, especially if they play him out of the slot full time. He's probably going to get open a lot. And Herbert could just lean on him. Just totally. Say fuck it. I'll give you 10, 11 targets a game. Even if you're averaging 6, 7 yards per catch or whatever, you're gonna end up with a handful of touchdowns and you're going to, you know, you're gonna get a bunch of extra points in full PPR leagues. Even half PPR leagues, you know, might be a difference maker. But yeah, I'd, I don't think it's crazy to think that Ladin McConkie could end up with more targets than Marvin Harrison or Malik Neighbors. I think that he's, he could just be the only dude ends up being reliable on his team. And I think that it's, it's great point you make is it going to be DJ chark alongside of him in two ride receiver sets? Is it going to be Joshua Palmer? I would put my money on Palmer, but you know, he certainly doesn't have anything in the way of hyper buzz in the off season so far. It looks like Quentin Johnston is still seen as a developmental guy, not turning head so far this off season. They're really hoping he's going to come around, but he looked so bad last year that I don't have a lot of faith in that. What's going to happen at Tide In? They brought in Colby Parkinson, Will Disley. They kept Parham who was always backup. Who knows who's going to end up getting the most snaps or who's, who, or if any of those guys are actually going to be reliable as separators or pass catchers. It, there's going to be, you know, there's going to be production for somebody. Somebody is going to get targets from Justin Herbert, who's a good quarterback. So it's, it's going to be worth your while to pay attention and see how things shake out there.

Jason: 37:28

All right. And finally, what's your number four situation?

pershin: 37:35

Cowboys running back. I think that

Jason: 37:39

more,

pershin: 37:41

they, a lot of people. You know, may not have noticed, but they actually led the league and goal line carries for their running backs. Last year, Tony Pollard was not that efficient. He's not great at that. He's a smaller guy, but now they've got basically Zeke. Who's an old man shell of his former self versus Rico Dowdle, who's. Was expected to be a career backup, but now has a chance they've got Deuce Vaughn in the mix, probably just a receiving sort of third down specialist kind of guy. And so I think it's, it's probably going to come to come down to Rico Dowdell versus Zeke Elliott, who's going to be that early down guy, at least who's going to be the first team sort of guy, and I think whoever it is, is going to have value because they're going to get a bunch of touchdowns. They're going to get a bunch of attempts from the two yard line, three yard line, shit like that. Just like. Tony Pollard did last year. And so it's worth paying attention to. And these guys are going to be cheap and your drafts, they're going to be cheap if you want to trade for them or whatever. And there'll be a useful piece to have, you know, on your bench as a backup. It, you know, your, your running backs are always getting injured and fantasy. We all understand that. So you like to have these guys that you could throw in there that are at least getting, you know, they're at least starting for their teams. And so you're going to get. A decent amount of touchdowns out of whoever wins this battle. That's what I think.

Jason: 39:19

Yeah. Couldn't agree more. I wrote that down as one of the things that I was looking forward to in preseason and how Kevante Turpin would be used as well. All right. Is there any other teams or any other positions that you, you wanted to speak on as far as what you're looking out for a preseason to put a bow on this?

pershin: 39:45

Yeah. Yeah. Real quickly. I just wanted to go through position by position, a few things that I think it's going to be really interesting and basically just worthwhile to keep an eye on Starting with QB, you already mentioned it, Pittsburgh. If they're going to humor at all, the idea of Justin Fields competing, you know, they've been saying that it's basically rust that they expect or whatever, but. When it comes to preseason training camp, if Fields is working with the first team at all, if they're giving him a crack at that at all, that's very interesting because we've seen Fields does not have to even be good as a passer to put up really good fantasy weeks for you. I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens with The Vikings and with the Patriots, how long into the season do we have to wait to see those rookie quarterbacks? I think we expect week one is going to be the veterans, Sam Darnold, Jacoby percent. Eventually they're going to give a shot. So I'm really interested to see how long that's going to take. Moving on,

Jason: 40:44

Minnesota real quick. Yeah. Aaron Jones has only ever played one full season. He had a second season where he played 16 games, assuming he sat out the 17th cause they were already in playoffs. So two full seasons. So Ty Chandler is currently the running back. Number two could be a nice cuffing season situation.

pershin: 41:11

Oh, absolutely. I think that it's, it's pretty clear that if it's not going to be Jones, it's going to be Chandler. There's, there's not much competition aside from those two guys. I think that's absolutely correct. And also a great segue, cause I was about to talk about running back battles real quick. I think that your team, the Green Bay Packers, I think it's going to be important to see who wins that backup position because, you know, they drafted Marshawn Lloyd, he's got a pretty good buzz to him, but they also brought back. God, why am I forgetting his name? Who did they bring back?

Jason: 41:48

AJ Dillon.

pershin: 41:50

AJ Dillon, yes. He's already been a guy that's proven useful in their system. They're going to use the rotation to some degree. And, of course, it's Position that's often injured. So it's going to be important to see who actually wins that backup job. He's going to have value. I think the Tennessee Titans are sneaky, wide open thing. They brought in Tony Pollard. They paid him. I want to say 5 million a year. It's not that much money. It could be that they actually expect Tajay Spears to be the guy. I think it's probably just an open battle. And so we'll see how that shakes out. It's a similar Where do you trust the most? Who do I expect to win? I think it's going to be Pollard.

Jason: 42:36

But who do you trust the most like out of that, out of that, like, like, cause even if he wins the starting job, it's still going to be a split.

pershin: 42:45

Oh yeah. Yeah. It's going to be a split. I think, I think the one that's more interesting is actually the Chargers. I think We just learned that Gus Edwards had off season knee surgery and he's already got a foot issue. He's not able to practice in that and now they're saying that J. K. Dobbins is ahead of schedule and they expect him to be a full go for the, for training camp. I think that that's important to look at because if it's true that J. K. Dobbins is just practicing fully, And Gus Edwards is not practicing at all. Then, then all of a sudden J K Dobbins could be starting the year as their guy. And Harbaugh has been very clear. Plus his track record. He's a run first guy. He wants to run the fuck out of the ball. He, he spent, he spent a What was it? The fourth or fifth overall pick on Joe Alt. And when he was asked why the hell he did that, when he needs receivers, he said, I, I consider a tackle to be an offensive weapon, so, you know, that's the kind of attitude you're getting. That's the kind of attitude you're getting with hardball. You do want. Smith likes you want his number one running back. So if Dobbins is, is actually healthy, you know, it's worth knowing, but Dobbins lies his ass off and says he's healthy when he's not. So I don't believe it yet. We'll see. Another one that's sneaky up in the air though, is in Seattle, you know, they, they've got Ken Walker, but they've also got Charbonnet. Also a second round pick last year. He wasn't used as often as Ken Walker, but he did actually have better metrics than Ken Walker. Ken Walker has these more explosive long plays, but he also has way more negative plays than people realize. A lot of coaches don't love that. They got an entirely new coaching staff. They may flip that around and have a bigger share. Go to Sharba now would not be surprised. And then the last one real quickly is. Miami. My favorite running back ended up getting drafted by the dolphins and they've got a really old most dirt. Who's, you know, was the primary goal line back last year. I think there's a chance that Jalen right ends up beating him out and that the committee is going to be Devon a chain and Jalen, right? I think that both backs would have value in that. Scenario. So I think that's worth looking at too. And then when it comes to wide receivers, I wanted to talk quickly about the guys that we expect to be moved at some point. I still think there's a really good chance that I or Debo Samuel gets moved. So that third guy, whoever wins out, it could be Ricky Pearsall, but it also could be Juwan Jennings. I think, I think it's going to be important because that person is going to have value. And then in Cincinnati, There's a chance that at some point in the season, they move T Higgins. And so is it going to be Andre Ushivish? Is it going to be Charlie Jones or is it going to be Jermaine Burton? I like Burton. I hope that he gets a crack at it. We'll see what happens there. You already touched on the Broncos. I was going to touch on and then the bills. I think the bills, we really don't know which roles those wide receivers are even going to play yet. And that's going to be a team that's going to throw the ball a lot. Josh Allen loves to put the ball up there and be aggressive down the field. And, you know, they drafted Keon Coleman Just after the first round, I think it was like the 32nd, 33rd pick something like that. They drafted him pretty high, but the report so far is that he, he hasn't been picking things up quickly enough in that Matt Collins and MVS has actually been playing ahead of him. So we really don't know how that's going to shake out. It could end up being that Curtis Samuel is like the number one receiver there. I think the most likely thing is that Dalton Kincaid actually leads the team and targets. But again, you really want to pay attention to what happens there. And then the same thing with the Patriots. I don't expect as much fantasy gold out of this team, but we have no idea who's going to be the best. Their top guy, maybe it's going to be the Mario Douglas. Maybe it's going to be one of the rookies, Jalen Polk, Javon Baker. I'm a Baker fan. I would love to see him get that opportunity, but who knows. And then for tight ends, I think it's, I think it's Chicago. Everyone was expecting to be Colt combat, but so far. Wait in OTAs and mini camp, they actually shared. First team reps, meaning Gerald Everett and Cole commit, I think it would be important to see who ends up winning that job, who gets in there the majority of the time, and then same thing with green Bay. We already touched on it, but when Tucker craft is healthy again, I think right now he's still not able to practice, but when he's healthy again, whenever that is, it's important to see what is his usage. And, you know, is he going to be in a timeshare? What's that timeshare looking like? I, my personal opinion was that he actually did look a bit better than Musgraves. Both of them look pretty good though. I, I just think it's worth monitoring as

Jason: 48:02

Tucker Craft was the better.

pershin: 48:06

Yeah. Yeah. I think that he has a way of. Catching like transitioning, I guess is the word he, he has the way he has a really nice way of going from receiver to a carrier receiver to runner basically very quickly and seamlessly where he just looks pretty smooth a lot of times in his moves and his shiftiness. He could be a great sort of fantasy guy. If he gets enough opportunity.

Jason: 48:38

Absolutely. All right, well, there you have it. So next thing I kind of want to end on is just a little bit of extracurricular activities. And so like everybody else in the world,

pershin: 48:54

fresh new segment, let's go.

Jason: 48:57

That's right. That's right. So like everybody else in the world or 2. 8 million people and rising, I have been playing college football 24 and it has been glorious. A I have completed my first season with dynasty. With Smith, friend of the show, Smith, he took UTEP to it's a conference USA. I forget what conference they're in. Anyway, he took them to their championship game. And then he also went to, I can't remember which bowl game he went to, but he went to a bowl game. He got to keep his job. I was the head coach of the coastal Carolina shot the clears. I ended the season with eight wins, five losses. I took them to the Sunbelt championship game and lost to Texas state. That was a brutal game. They really like to run hurry up offense, every single play, every single play. If I wanted my defense to change defense, I had to take a timeout. And then other thing that I wanted to talk about with this is the playoffs. So the playoffs was a 12 team playoffs. So this was the first season of the playoffs. So we had matchups of ACC balled out. We had matchups of Georgia Tech vs. Miami. USC vs. UCF. Notre Dame vs. Michigan. Clemson vs. Kentucky. Clemson lost to Kentucky. And Kentucky ended up having to play Oklahoma, Michigan beat Notre Dame and played NC state Wolfpack Miami beat Georgia tech to play Ohio state and UCF beat USC to play Miami of Ohio university. That's right. Miami of Ohio university made the playoffs. And out of that, I believe the winner ended up being. Oklahoma versus Miami in Oklahoma. One that won the whole shebang. I had no players get drafted cause my best guy, he was a junior and he decided to come back for a senior season cause he loved me so much. I did have a five players leave. If they hit the transfer portal. And then Smith had one player that came back. He did get a player drafted in the fifth round. And so we are starting a second season tonight. What do you think? What do you think? This game is crazy, man. Like, I played all that earlier, and the screen was just shaking. I got the spaghetti plays, everything was shaking. I couldn't, I couldn't, my kicker was frazzled.

pershin: 51:58

Lots of good basically reports coming out. A ton of football fans playing it, and enjoying it, which I love. I'm just so glad that a college game is back. I personally haven't even bought it yet. Not only have I been super busy but then one thing I have been actually doing just because I don't even have to pay for it, it's just free, or at least it's free for me, is the, the Hearthstone the new Hearthstone expansion came out. It's fun, but the power creep is ridiculous as ever. You just basically cannot compete without making a deck that includes the new expansion which I think is, is silly, but pretty fun with that. As far as things I've been doing, actually, curricular wise is actually got a request from a friend of mine to make some playlist of specific years. So I've actually gone back and I've been making playlists for My favorite songs every single year from 1990 up till now. Wow. I've actually been, I've actually been spending a good amount of time on that. And as far as things I'm actually doing, looking forward to, I'm going to go see the new Pornographers in Charleston. And then the very next day I'm going to Greenville to see the Blink 182.

Jason: 53:10

You can't go see Pornographers.

pershin: 53:14

No, it has nothing to do with the Sexoprons. It's just a Canadian indie rock collective. That's gonna be in my town. And then i'm gonna go to

Jason: 53:25

this dead

pershin: 53:25

ass town. Gonna go to Greenville. And see Blink 182, haven't seen those guys in years. And and then the following week, going to see Thursday here in Charleston as well. So looking forward to those shows, lots of shows coming up. That's kind of my big extracurricular thing is lots, lots of rock and roll. So. That

Jason: 53:50

sounds like a lot of fun. Well, there you have it.

Microphone Array (Realtek(R) Audio): 53:54

And as always, you can hit us up at. Pine pony podcast, twenty2@gmail.com. Or on threads and Instagram, it. Palm pony podcasts.

Jason: 54:05

See you next week where we will start the gear up series. We've got a couple of hosts lined up friends of the pod for conversations about each division of the NFL. As, as we go through the preseason and leading up to week one. Of the year. I think, I think we have one more week before that, which we'll probably talk a lot of fantasy, but we'll see. So yeah, there you have it until next week. Adios. Adios populace.