Combine Madness: Where Dreams Run 40 Yards

Welcome to another episode of the Pine Pony Podcast! Join us as we discuss the recent NHL All-Star game, its intense atmosphere, and political implications. We also break down the Packers' motion to ban the Tush Push and Matt Stafford's potential trade. Plus, we cover major NFL news, including the extension of Shakir by the Bills and Shaq Thompson's free agency status. Finally, we dive into the upcoming NFL Combine, focusing on key players and future prospects. Tune in for insights, analysis, and some fun facts along the way!

Chapters

• 0:51 NHL Face Off: A Game with Real Meaning
• 2:11 Global Sports and Political Tensions
• 8:51 MLB and ESPN: A Breakup
• 14:00 Automated Ball Strike Challenge in MLB
• 23:12 NFL News: The Tush Push Ban
• 26:42 Wide Receiver Market Insights
• 27:11 Matthew Stafford Trade Speculations
• 28:44 Aaron Rodgers and Rams Rumors
• 34:02 NFL Combine Preview
• 53:46 NFL Draft Site Renderings at Lambeau

Transcript

Jason: 0:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Pony Podcast. Hell yeah. It's, yeah, it's me, the OG, and what's happening Persia?

Pershin: 0:10

Howdy, howdy. Glad to be back for another installment of Talkin Ball. Gonna do a quick look ahead for the Combine. Maybe a couple new items, news items, or fun facts thrown in. But I expect this one to be, you know, A little bit shorter, but very high on quality

Jason: 0:30

or so you think

Pershin: 0:32

yeah, right

Jason: 0:33

famous last Well with that being said in the interest of time let's get on with the show

0:45

The Pied Pony Podcast.

Jason: 0:51

So I happen to check out the NHL face off And let me tell you the final game Was everything that you could have hoped it could be. The intensity coming through the TV screen It was just, it was beating me down. It was, it had my heart pumping. Although I was rooting for Canada The, the national anthems for both teams got booed by the other team. This game was in Boston The previous one was in Canada. So, but apparently the Canadians saying louder as the Americans booed. So TBD on who's the TBD on who won that fight.

Pershin: 1:39

Man, I'll tell you

Jason: 1:41

this, man. It for an all star game, you didn't think you didn't know. If you didn't know it was supposed to be an all star game, you would, you wouldn't have thought it. You would have thought this was like a legit like Olympic game or something like with real meaning. Like these guys were getting after it and I mean it

Pershin: 2:03

was like it did have real meaning I would say but

Jason: 2:06

it did it's

Pershin: 2:07

it's like well Symbolically though, you know what I mean? It's like, you actually had people all around the world who were interested in this game as a sort of, like, symbol of liberal democracy versus the

Jason: 2:24

Right. I'll say this. Yes, to your point, and I was going to get to that. Like, to your point, it did mean something in that sense. But, like, let's If that political, like if Donald Trump wasn't president and, and it was, you know, Kamala Harris or just anyone else, really, would there have even been that, you know, divisive Canada versus U. S. So it's like, that's my point is if they do this again, like, will there be that politically charged with, because with that being said, Yeah. It drew 9. 3 million viewers, which the, the highest Stanley cup viewing was 8. 9 million viewers. So their all star game got more viewers than the like game seven Stanley cup.

Pershin: 3:21

Yeah, there I, I was, I was not shocked to see the politicization of the event because it is what it is. It's the whole reason why. It has the extra meaning in the first place that Trump's rise to power and his provocations directly toward Canada and the demeaning remarks he made about their various politicians and leaders, yada yada, we all get that, right? The part that I was more shocked about was like, how many people were interested in the rest of the world? My guy David Pakman actually put together a really good compilation of Tons and tons of tweets Instagram posts and stuff from people all over the world that had shit to say about it It was actually paying attention to it in some way And so I just feel like it was it was kind of cool because never Has an NHL all star sort of event mattered the way that this one mattered and had some real passion behind it These players felt like they were representing their countries clearly But it I think it just goes to show kind of how much of the world still looks to the United States as a superpower and is both happy about things that happened in the United States and in recent, you know, turn of events, kind of just terrified about what's happening with the United States.

Jason: 4:57

I mean, I look at what you just said, you know, and I agree to a certain extent about the. You know, super power. Nonetheless, I do think because hockey is a more, is more of a global sport when you talk about the four, you know, you know, that's NFL, like no one cares about the all star game because it's not like, like globally, no one's going to care. Tons of hockey players from Europe that if, if the NBA did their all star game where maybe they did a nation's tournament or. Even like North American all stars versus global all stars or something of that nature. Maybe other places in the world. I mean, they could

Pershin: 5:39

literally have like a California versus New York city, like sort of NBA sort of thing. Well, they used to

Jason: 5:45

do the East West thing, but you know, nonetheless. So I just think as much as I love the NHL face off and I thought it was a great idea. I don't know if it has staying power. For it to be a, as this successful as it was without that political charge.

Pershin: 6:09

Well, I, I think that you're definitely right. It would have to have the political charge with it, but I do think not to turn us into a politics pod, but I do think that it's entirely likely that the tension instead of diminishing will actually grow between the current administration of the United States versus. the politicians and the leaders in Canada. So it's, it's TBD, but I, I don't see it going away as far as the tension between the two countries.

Jason: 6:41

Yeah, I just I just more meant you're looking in the now I'm looking in the like ten years from now

Pershin: 6:48

Oh, yeah, like they're

Jason: 6:49

gonna have to like it's not going to be like they're not always gonna get this this convene That's what I'm saying is like it's not gonna be yeah permanent. Like they're gonna have to change it up I

Pershin: 6:59

mean this just fell right into the NHL's lap,

Jason: 7:02

right? That's what that's what I'm more getting at. Is it they Kind of had an opportunity that just happened to be there at the same time like perfect place perfect time

Pershin: 7:12

Yeah,

Jason: 7:13

cuz I mean and also how many players are gonna be like this get this was this was bigger than a game 7 playoff game An exhibition game was bigger than a game 7 like maybe that one But not all of them, bro. Come on

Pershin: 7:29

Yeah, I I do Some of the players seem to wear it on their sleeves a little too much where it was like, okay you know that you're not actually resisting Donald Trump by winning a hockey game. You know that that doesn't actually do anything, right?

Jason: 7:45

Yeah. I mean, the only thing that was great about Canada, I mean, other than like the overtime, it went into overtime, Canada wins, and it was pretty awesome just because like, you know, if the United States had won the next day, like we're going to hear Trump go and this is why we're going to take over Canada. And they're going to be the 51st state because we whooped them in hockey and that's, and that's exactly what we're going to do to that. Their leaders are

Pershin: 8:14

just as soft as their hockey players.

Jason: 8:17

Right? Yeah. Like some dumb shit like that. I was actually,

Pershin: 8:21

I was actually surprised that Trudeau. Did do like the poor sport, like I'm a, I'm a meme tweet. I'm a like troll Trump after the thing or whatever. I thought he would just do the, like, gonna just take the high road and let our citizens cheer about the victory where I was like, Oh damn. All right.

Jason: 8:44

Nah, man. Fight fire with fire. Yeah. So on one of the other global sports, if you will. The MLB and ESPN are breaking up. They decided to mutually part ways after this season because they don't like the contract and the way, MLB doesn't like the way they're being portrayed on ESPN, ESPN doesn't like the viewers that they're gaining from the MLB and it's like, well, if you're not putting any emphasis into the MLB, who's going to watch it if you, it's just like. If you just throw it on ESPN who's going to watch it?

Pershin: 9:21

Well, here's the sort of thing that I think the ESPN is like kind of ducking around though. I think that there's an elephant in the room and that year over year, ESPN keeps losing viewership. And obviously that has eventually cost them actual revenue. And they really don't have the same amount of money to go around as they used to. And that's part of this equation. And I think that they're, they're trying to frame this up as, Oh, this is. you know, what we want from the MLB versus what the MLB wants from us. But I think a huge part of this is like, all right, we need to cut some shit out of the budget and the MLB MLB is just not bringing us enough money back to what it costs. It's one of the things that has to go, you know, that's, that's what I think that the, the bigger issue here is how ESPN continues to lose a market share.

Jason: 10:19

Well, yeah, I mean, if you want to go down that road, the bigger issue is that ESPN is putting too much money into sports drama. They're trying to create storylines to create drama. They're trying to be WWE and create these storylines. A lot of the speculative

Pershin: 10:45

sort of like insider shit too.

Jason: 10:49

If they spent less money and time on all that, And actually reported the sports like they have TV rights to the hockey to NHL, but do you ever hear about hockey on ESPN ever? Like they used to bring Barry Melrose on every sports center. Never. Not anymore. Did he retire?

Pershin: 11:10

Is he even around?

Jason: 11:11

Yeah, he retired. But the point, but, but like, they just kind of stopped bringing them on is like, if you get in the bad, you know, if you're in bad with ESPN. They just don't talk about that sport anymore. And it's like, well, but every sports fan wants to hear a little bit about every sport. Like that was the greatest thing about ESPN back in the day was that you just got a little taste of everything. You're like, Oh, that was cool. Let me check that out. Or, you know, find something where it talks about that more in depth. Now it's just like, what's the drama with Aaron Rogers every day for the next 12 weeks? You know, it's like,

Pershin: 11:49

yeah.

Jason: 11:50

Okay.

Pershin: 11:51

I feel like they've actually gotten more. And to be fair, I don't. Actually watch them the way that I used to growing up. No, I don't either. All that. So take it with salt. Don't have cable so

Jason: 12:01

I don't watch'em at all. But

Pershin: 12:02

when I do, I feel like their reporting and so much of their focus is on the sort of rumor mill speculation with the insiders. Guys like chefy are just such a huge part of what they're doing and, and I'll admit it's interesting stuff. A lot of times you really do get to see the picture. Of what's happening behind the scenes before the official announcements are happening. So I get that, but it's almost like that sort of speculative rumor mill stuff has, has really taken center stage versus the actual That you

Jason: 12:37

could have just one show about that. It used to just be The Insiders.

Pershin: 12:43

Oh, that's right. I remember there was, I didn't watch a lot of it, but I remember that, yeah.

Jason: 12:47

Like, I don't need every, like you're saying, we don't need every episode, every show to be Adam Schefter dropping us a fucking nugget.

Pershin: 12:55

Yeah, or Rapaport or, you know, any of them that have something that they feel like they've figured out. They used to just

Jason: 13:02

tell us about injuries.

Pershin: 13:03

Yeah, anyway, I just feel like it's it has been a weird direction that they've gone over God I don't know maybe multiple decades now But yet this still kind of feels surprising just because they have had such a long Good close relationship with MLB. I mean that in a lot of ways They've been like the home of the MLB's insofar as there has been a home and well all their talent with the MLB Network Yeah, I guess MLB Network is probably the biggest wrench in sort of the the previous setup But either way either way It's a hell of a sea change when you think about how we grew up the 90s early 2000s versus where we're at now with ESPN It's just unrecognizable, man.

Jason: 13:58

Yeah, absolutely. One cool thing I think is cool that's coming to MLB possibly. They're going to test out in spring training the At Bat Ball Strike Challenge, or Automated Ball Strike Challenge. Have you heard of this version?

Pershin: 14:17

Yes. Years ago, I heard of this concept. I haven't seen the specifics of what they're talking about, but I'm assuming it's going to be like a a bot that, that gives some sort of warning to the ref say, Hey, this one might've been outside the strike zone. You might want to take a second look. Is that, is that what you're talking about?

Jason: 14:36

You got close. You got close. You got close on the bot part. So what it is. So in 2021, they were doing it in the minor leagues. They've been using it in the minor leagues this year they're bringing it to spring training and what it is, is it is a bot that is looking at the pitch and whatever the ump calls. If the batter would like, if the batter thinks the call is wrong, they can challenge it. And then the bot will go ball or strike.

Pershin: 15:07

See this is great. This is great. I hope that it's very accurate and that they're going to just use it. Because what this could mean is that the umpire won't have to call balls and strikes anymore. A more accurate bot will give you the right Well,

Jason: 15:25

they still have to call the balls and strikes. You can't have a challenge every ball. No, no,

Pershin: 15:31

no, no, no, no, no, no. What I'm saying is that if the bot proves to be reliable, you won't even have to call balls and strikes. It'll just tell you automatically what it was.

Jason: 15:43

Yeah, but I think baseball is going to have, baseball purists are going to fight, fight that as hard as they can.

Pershin: 15:49

Oh yeah, oh

Jason: 15:50

yeah. And this is like the middle ground that they're just going to go, If this works, then I think it'll work for everyone and we'll just leave it that way.

Pershin: 15:59

Oh yeah, I think the baseball fans are even worse than the football fans as far as like wanting change. I don't think they want change. Oh

Jason: 16:06

yeah, man.

Pershin: 16:07

They want the same thing that their father told them about it, like.

Jason: 16:12

They want all the same thing. Yeah. The one thing they do want changed. They're still mad that

Pershin: 16:18

there's black people playing.

Jason: 16:20

Oh God. Oh God. Bad joke, sorry. Bad joke, bad joke. The one thing they do want changed is the spending issues in MLB. So, every year the Dodgers spend over the limit and they pay the luxury tax. Right. And every year people complain about it and Rob Manford comes out and he goes, what do you want me to do? They're playing by the rules. I'm collecting this luxury tag. You want

Pershin: 16:54

me to deny this money? So he's

Jason: 16:57

like, if y'all want to, you know. If you can do the same thing, there's nothing stopping you. And so, Chris Canty said on, on Sportswood, like, that he proposes that he's Rob Manfred's right, and that if these other teams want to play ball, they need to get in bed with, like, you know, those large firms and all that stuff and get some money, get some juice. And I was like, I mean, I agree. Like you gotta spend money. You can't be a billionaire, own a baseball team and then not, and then expect to win without spending money. But as we said with Jerry Jones, a lot of these owners view these as, as long as I'm making money, I don't care about winning championships. Like they look at, you know what I'm saying? Like Jerry Jones makes money hand over fist every single year. Why does he need to win a title? He doesn't care.

Pershin: 17:57

The most important part to him is that he perpetuates this idea that they are America's team.

Jason: 18:02

Right, exactly. And so kind of the same thing. But what I propose and I'm wondering, and some other people have talked about this is a spending minimum. So not a salary cap where you can have the salary cap and still have the luxury tax, but you also. In order to have a team you have to spend this amount of money every year in the salary cap in the salary What are your thoughts on the spending minimum?

Pershin: 18:33

Yeah I prefer a cap, but I understand that a cap well the

Jason: 18:38

cap is there

Pershin: 18:40

No, no, no, I mean like a hard cap. I prefer like a an actual hard cap without the luxury tags But that being said, I understand that that's just not likely to happen anytime soon. That, so being that that is the case, I think a minimum would be in order. I do think that that does make sense and it's unfortunate because some of the owners, really don't have as deep of pockets and they don't, their team is not generating the same kind of revenue as some of the other other organizations. So it is unfortunate. But if that means that some people have to sell their team or figure out some other way to make it happen, then they should, they should because I don't think it's fair to all the fan bases. To just know that you're playing with one arm behind your back every single season because your pockets are not as deep as the Dodgers, you know, the Yankees, the Sox, whatever, you know?

Jason: 19:42

Well, I agree with that and I think you made a good point there, like, if you have to sell your team, and I think that should be the goal of, you know, yes, it is to make money, but at the same time, as the, you know, the president of the league or the commissioner, you want to have a competitive league. And you know, like Oakland for, for that matter, like Oakland's fans prove that they would show up if you put a competitive team on the field, they stopped putting competitive team on the field. The fans stopped showing up. So why, you know, Oh, well now we got to move the team to Las Vegas and it's like, well, you didn't have to, you could have just put money into the team, but you didn't want to. So now they move the Las Vegas. Now it's like. It's just a cash grab over and over and over again. And I will say the one thing that the, I think the NFL gets so much more right than the NBA or the NFL or the MLB is where that salary cap, it just, there is not that luxury tax, like you're saying, you know, it's kind of like it forces everyone to be on the same playing field. And I mean, I could, you know, if baseball. Is going to do, I prefer the salary cap, hard cap, no luxury tax, because the Lakers are the same way for a while in the NBA. They would just pay the luxury tax.

Pershin: 21:05

Right. Right.

Jason: 21:07

Like I'm winning championships, making money, hand over fist, who cares? I'll pay that 75, you know, whatever.

Pershin: 21:13

Right.

Jason: 21:14

So, yeah, I would prefer, like you say, the hard cap, but yeah. I see your point.

Pershin: 21:20

Yeah. One thing that I, I would definitely stay away from though, is like the idea of centralizing too many of these organizations within certain like investment groups or families or anything like that. I think like if you're part of a group that already owns one team in the league, you can't be involved in another team in a league that I would have that. As a, a hard rule, they may, I'm, I'm not sure different sports have different rules with somebody. I would

Jason: 21:52

imagine you can't own two teams in the same. But

Pershin: 21:55

if you were to have. A minimum somebody would, if you were have a minimum cap, you definitely run into the risk of like one group of investors or one super rich family, like the Waltons or somebody just deciding that they're going to buy out all these teams that can't afford to compete. You know what I mean? And like,

Jason: 22:15

Oh, well that, yeah, no, that, that, that would, that would be horrible. Well, that wouldn't happen. The commissioner wouldn't. I don't think, I don't think you would even be allowed to buy a second team.

Pershin: 22:24

Yeah, I, that

Jason: 22:25

would be, my

Pershin: 22:26

guess would be that most of these major sports already have clauses like that.

Jason: 22:30

And I would doubt the, I would imagine the owners would also have to vote on who the, the person buying the team would be. And that's usually the case in most of these leagues. Like the owners have to also approve the sale.

Pershin: 22:47

Yeah, but I don't think that's a good enough sort of check on that. I think it would have to be written at like, but what owner would want

Jason: 22:53

them to go, Hey, oh, now you can own three teams.

Pershin: 22:57

Well, I mean, if they were in on it, if they were part of the big organizations that are right, but they

Jason: 23:03

all agree that's the, all those owners are all greedy for themselves. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. Moving on to the NFL, latest news, Packers put a motion to ban the Tush Push. Yes. It's a little disappointing that the Packers did that.

Pershin: 23:25

How do you feel about the Packers official stance on this?

Jason: 23:30

Hey man, you know what, as someone who is a victim of the Tush Push. I'm okay with it, but I also, I don't like banning. Is that like a, is

Pershin: 23:40

that like a prison joke? Have you been in prison recently?

Jason: 23:45

Yeah. I mean, I don't like the idea of banning plays because one team does it and no one can stop it, but you know, I mean, if, if we're going to ban it, I mean, I could, whatever. I'm not going to be mad about it.

Pershin: 24:02

Yeah, I don't like it. I don't think they should ban it. And not only that, but not only is like the principle of the matter, but also we have seen teams successfully stop it. More and more each season we're seeing teams that are successfully stopping it. So it's like, okay, people are figuring out even if it's hard and you've got to have the right kind of players to actually

Jason: 24:25

do it. I mean, Jalen Hurts isn't going to be able to do it forever. Yeah,

Pershin: 24:29

I know,

Jason: 24:30

right? Eventually, he's gonna retire. Yeah, eventually he's gonna I mean currently he's the only one who can do it. So it's just like it's just kind of a Mute point for me like eventually he's not gonna have the legs Eventually, they're not gonna have the offensive line that can handle it. Like I mean, it's just like It could be, it could suck next year. It could not work at all next season, you know, it's just kind of stupid. Yeah,

Pershin: 24:54

I mean he could get

Jason: 24:55

it. Shame on you Packers.

Pershin: 24:56

He could get an injury that causes him to rehab for a long period of time and he's not gonna have the same strength anyway. You know what I mean?

Jason: 25:03

Yeah, shame. Yeah, shame on you. I say shame on you Packers.

Pershin: 25:09

I saw Nick Sirianni basically play victim and say this is unfair to the Eagles that you guys are coming after us.

Jason: 25:16

He's such, I

Pershin: 25:17

hate him. Shut up Sirianni. I feel like, I feel like he's got really good offensive and defensive coordinators and an even better GM. And I feel like he's the head coach, but yet he's basically been along for the ride. You know, it's like, I don't think anyone actually thinks he's the mastermind behind their success. You know,

Jason: 25:37

he, he definitely voted a certain way. Bills, bills decide to extend. Shakir for four years, 60 million. I saw that 32 million signing bonus, 18 million guaranteed in the first season in the first 12 months of his contract.

Pershin: 26:00

Yeah,

Jason: 26:00

no, not too bad. Not too bad.

Pershin: 26:02

I think this is a really good deal for them. He played really well in his role last year. I mean, he's always going to be kind of an underneath guy, maybe a Debo Samuel esque sort of player, where you get the ball in his hands, and he can break tackles. Like, he can legitimately make plays. And, you know, he had the highest catch percentage of the entire league last year. And even though a lot of his stuff is shorter routes and not a ton of, of deep passes, it's still just super consistent, reliable ball skills and able to make plays after the catch. I think that they got a steal of a deal here. I mean, just last season, we saw guys like Gabe Davis. And I'm forgetting someone else who's not that great of a wide receiver get 13 or 14 million a year. And for him to get 15 a year as a guy who's proven himself to be extremely useful in the role that they have him in. I mean, I think this is a no brainer for them, I think.

Jason: 27:10

Agreed. So some wild news came across Matt Stafford out there looking for a trade He was he was he's allowed to look for a trade. I did not I

Pershin: 27:22

saw that coming

Jason: 27:24

and now I believe He's the first quarterback that needs to sign somewhere before Anyone else is gonna sign.

Pershin: 27:34

Well, maybe see I I think that he might end up staying He's the best one out there.

Jason: 27:40

So that's what I'm saying either. He's got a sign with the Rams Or he's going to be traded and I think that's the first domino that happens either. He re signs or he's traded.

Pershin: 27:50

Yeah, so it's up to him meaning like they gave his agent permission to gauge interest around the league And that's exactly what his agent said is that they're basically trying to see which teams would be interested And I think what's going on there is that Stafford is open to changing teams But he probably would only want to go to like The Steelers. Like a team that he thought could actually compete. Well, yeah. So, most of the teams that need quarterbacks are not in that conversation. I mean, is there really another team that we could conceivably think that could be a contender that, that doesn't already have their answer at QB, you know?

Jason: 28:31

Right, but it's not about the other teams that need a contender. I'm, I'm, because, you know, let's, if he gets traded to the Steelers, the Steelers have a quarterback. Therefore, the Rams are in need of a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers has just come out and said that he wants to be a Ram with Devontae Adams. So then the Rams would need to consider. Oh, I missed that. The Rams would need to, yeah, the Rams would need to consider whether they want to take Aaron Rodgers and then, you know, what's that mean for Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings? Like that's what I'm saying is like, I think, I think Stafford being the best one possibly on the board out of what's there. I, I, that's why I think that.

Pershin: 29:16

Yeah, I, I, the more that I think about it, I think it's basically Pittsburgh or bust. I think that If they are interested in trading for him, Minnesota, Stafford, Stafford would be, oh man, That would be wild. What, what, what if Minnesota went after Stafford and actually traded? They like, they like tagged Arnold, trade him and then traded JJ McCarthy also, like that, that would be like a power fucking move right there. Like, like

Jason: 29:47

so saying, man,

Pershin: 29:48

KKOC basically said. I don't give any fucks brah I play because if

Jason: 29:54

stafford goes to Steelers will then you know, russell wilson is available, even though I think we already think russell wilson's going to be available anyway But then that'll be for sure him available because they're not going to resign russ to to be a backup

Pershin: 30:09

No, I think it I think that it's hot. It's very likely that russ ends up a raider Because he's got history with Pete Carroll. To

Jason: 30:18

die.

Pershin: 30:19

He's got history with Pete Carroll and Pete Carroll has already said publicly. That he would be comfortable with Russ being his starting quarterback, that he thinks he could win with Russ even though Russ is not in the prime of his career anymore. So, that just makes all the sense in the world to me, that I don't see, I don't see how they don't, you know, rejoin forces there. And actually speaking of the rumor mill, just earlier today, the Jeremy Fowler, one of ESPN's you know, insider guys, he's saying that internally the Pittsburgh Steelers are planning, they're wanting to re sign Justin Fields and they're hoping to re sign him more like on a backup deal. And so if they could re sign him on the cheap and then bring in another guy, Like Stafford or something that would be the optimal play for them. And they already did that last year basically is what they did. And now they have a little bit more money, not a ton of cap space, but they could probably finagle, you know, they could rework contracts and get enough money to pay Stafford and. It's the only team I could, I could really see him. That's why I say it's likely that he actually stays because I think if there's not a contending sort of team that, that that is interested in him, then he probably is down to just stay.

Jason: 31:41

I don't know why he would leave the Rams anyway. Like they've got wide receivers. They got a squad. So I don't know. I don't know what probably won't but anyway

Pershin: 31:52

I think he was a little bit upset with the fact that they they in his opinion. They they kind of betrayed Cooper cups trust and they kind of did him dirty with and Instead of humoring the idea of resigning. Oh They like

Jason: 32:08

I said, they they did him dirty, huh?

Pershin: 32:11

I think that's how Snapper

Jason: 32:12

feels.

Pershin: 32:14

He felt like that was a good friend of his and instead of them sort of like respecting the work that he's put in for them and being a team player with all the sort of blocking that he does and all the dirty work that he's willing to do. They basically said, Oh, you know, you're past your prime. Yeah, I know. That's what I

Jason: 32:35

said. I've been saying that. I've been saying that the NFL treats players like crap. Well, the player wants the money, but when the player wants to get the money and do the, do what they do, everybody wants to act like they're the bad guy.

Pershin: 32:48

Well,

Jason: 32:48

staffers on your side,

Pershin: 32:49

man,

Jason: 32:50

he wants to stand

Pershin: 32:51

up for his boy.

Jason: 32:53

As he should. Cooper cup deserved another contract did not deserve to get cut by them, man. Another player that probably didn't deserve to get cut or is now a free agent is Shaq Thompson from the Panthers. Just saying, I don't know if he's

Pershin: 33:12

a big needle mover anymore, but

Jason: 33:14

just kidding.

Pershin: 33:16

It's the thing that happened.

Jason: 33:18

In other news, Fresno state was caught gambling. Players, players were caught. Acute accusations of players were caught or gambling on games. They played in on the under and points under and rebounds.

Pershin: 33:39

Wow, that's really fucking bad. Damn. Damn. I thought you about that they got caught gambling in general. These motherfuckers are for real rigging the game. Goddamn.

Jason: 33:53

Yes, they are Pete Rosing it.

Pershin: 33:55

All right, well fucking make an example out of them. Put their heads on pikes, Jesus.

Jason: 34:02

And let's get to the combine. So that officially was today, tomorrow, Wednesday, officially kicks off tomorrow. That's right. If we got, we got kickers punters tomorrow. That's right. And then Thursday we got defensive line and linebackers Friday, defensive backs and tight ends, Saturday, QBs wide receivers and running backs. And Sunday is the offensive line day. I am most interested in. I guess Thursday and Friday, Thursday and Friday, mostly because this is supposed to be one of the better tight end classes we've had and Packers need help on defense. So we'll be looking at those, those defensive players.

Pershin: 34:55

Nice, nice. Yeah. I I think. I think it'd be interesting to see who kind of pops out of nowhere because I feel like every year at the combine, there's someone who comes out of the woodworks and is now a hot name because their measure, their, you know, weight adjusted speed score or their metrics are just, you know, other worldly. So I'll, I'll be interested in that. I did want to go ahead and mention a few names. that I think is both has a chance to really move up based on what they do at the combine and a few names of people who have the chance to hurt themselves if they either don't do anything or if they don't do well. And so I want to start by the guys that I think really have a chance to rise in this. And the first guy, maybe the prime sort of guy we're looking at here is Jackson Dart. Week after week, he gets more and more buzz as an actual first round sort of caliber draft guy. I think This has something to do with the fact that it's just not a good class for quarterbacks and teams, there's, there's more teams that are looking to draft a quarterback than there are Quarterbacks to go around on that in this draft. That's just a fact And so I think a lot of guys are trying to push up who who is going to be that third guy that we might Be able to take a look at and Jackson Dart is really that guy that's emerging as the third guy and What's interesting about Jackson Dart is that he's a really big guy has a strong arm. That's apparent, you know He's very big strong guy and there's been times where he's used his legs and his athleticism But he hasn't done that consistently. So there's a lot of people who think that he might have some for real Athletic chops here and he could be closer to like a Josh Allen type than we realized And we just haven't seen him use it. And so this will be his chance, you know, if he does well and the acceleration drills, obviously the 40 times, stuff like that could really skyrocket him up. Another guy, we already touched on him a couple of times in this pod, but Cam Scadaboo, this is a guy that's expected to be slow. He's not known for being much of an athlete. He said. This is a couple of months ago at this point, but he said that he was planning on measuring every possible thing he could. He wasn't afraid of any of his. Measurements or his times or anything like that. If he is actually decent athlete and not a below average athlete, then I think he's gonna go shooting up boards because he's already the type of player that coaches love and he's hard to bring down. He, he can break tackles just from physicality alone. Last guy I wanted to mention Emeka Ibuka, Ohio State slot specialist. This guy's really good as a technician. People feel like he's basically already an NFL caliber as far as his skillset goes. But again, he's the sort of guy that is seen as too slow for his size. He's a smaller guy. He's definitely going to be like a slot only type in the league, but if he proves that he actually has more burst. especially straight line speed that we expect, then he's going to go, he's going to jump up boards. I could see him being a first round type, you know, early first round type guy, if he surprises now on the other end of the spectrum, just quickly some guys that are expected to be elite athletes, all of these guys, Trey Harris. Jalen Milrow, Isaiah Bond, Travion Henderson, Ollie Gordon. If any of these guys disappoint or if they sit out, I think that's going to look bad and they're going to end up slipping. These are guys that are expected to be elite athletes. They're going to need to come out and show that everyone else is basically. If they're, if they have results that are surprising one way or the other, otherwise it probably won't matter too much.

Jason: 39:06

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, speaking of players, not. Doing like Shador will be there, but not throwing

Pershin: 39:14

right

Jason: 39:14

cam ward will be there We don't know if he's gonna do any of the skills yet.

Pershin: 39:19

Yeah, he hasn't said

Jason: 39:21

It's just kind of like Here's my thing. Why show up and take a slot from someone who could be there putting on the skills If you're, if you're not going to at least do the skills, if you're like, there should like the NFL and just needs, I think the NFL needs to rework this a little bit better in the sense of like, Hey, all right, maybe you have people who might not need to put on their skills and they just need to do, like you said, the interviews. All right, well, maybe come be part of the, you know, the, the shebang and be there, but you don't have to do the skills competition. Right. Or any of that. You know, or things like that, there's just other ways around it. It's like, instead of like, you're saying it's a negative look on players. If they don't do one of the skills, like give them the option to, Hey, we're just not going to do any skills. We didn't like the NFL didn't feel the need to, you know, we don't need to do the skills or whatever, because we're projected to go, you know, whatever top. 30, you know, first round. I think whatever, like don't, they set the players up to be negative.

Pershin: 40:33

I think that they could actually do something like democratic with the teams that could then be just basically enforced at the combine. Like they, they could literally tell each team, okay, you get to assign certain amount of players, whatever that about makes sense for the league. You could have X amount of players that you request to work out at the combine as officially a part of the combine and any, any prospects that gets. Votes basically is then has to, they, they can't opt out. This is just part of being in the NFL. It's just like every prospect when they declare for the draft, there's a whole, there's a whole bunch of rights that they give up in order to play in the NFL. You know what I mean? You get drafted. Yeah,

Jason: 41:20

no, that's a good idea. I wonder how they get selected. I'll have to look that up.

Pershin: 41:24

I think that the NFL could have like a formal voting system like that where they say, Hey, look, if, if a clear majority of teams want to see you working out that, sorry, you don't get to opt out, you know?

Jason: 41:41

Yeah. Oh, well, I mean, there's also, there's just so many ways like Shiloh Sanders is not, did not get an invite, but he's working with. The same people who do the technology for the combine and they're bringing the combine to his pro day so it's like You could legitimately also Have all right every tight end that's not invited to the combine You do your workout and then they might already do this, but here's the official equipment You do the workout And submit it by, you know, if you're a tight end on Friday, submit it by Friday and then you'll, you, your video will be included in whatever, you know, if, if, you know, in the video package of highlights or whatever or something like that, because there's just so many, I mean, because Shiloh is not getting invited yet. He was one of the key players in the Colorado defense, you know, and everybody's telling him that he should say, fuck the NFL. He shouldn't even go that. He should just come back to Colorado and forgo the NFL this year.

Pershin: 42:53

Yeah, I, I actually think that that makes sense for someone like shallow. I mean, we live in a day and age,

Jason: 43:00

we live

Pershin: 43:00

in a day and age where you can make pretty good money as a college football player. So it's not like. He's losing out on the bag by staying in college And he basically just gets to put more good film on tape and say look, this is what I can do without Shador and Travis Hunter and some of the seniors or Some of the juniors that are just going to the NFL You know, he'll get to shine a little bit more I bet I think going back to school could benefit a guy like him and I'm actually surprised with it, with the NIL as lucrative as it is. I'm surprised that there's not more kids that are staying in school than there are. You know, I, I guess I get it. They're, they're looking at long term goals probably.

Jason: 43:55

But

Pershin: 43:55

yeah, yeah.

Jason: 43:57

Yeah, a player that I'm interested as far as like QBs Kyle McCord out of Syracuse.

Pershin: 44:06

Yeah. He put on a pretty strong, He's underrated. He

Jason: 44:09

put on a pretty strong season last year. He's a round five projection. Again, Green Bay has expressed interest in getting back into drafting quarterbacks pretty regularly every year. So he could potentially either put on a strong showing and move up. Or, you know, might still be around when Green Bay wants to take him, which I would be fine. Even if he doesn't do well at the combine, I would totally be fine drafting him because like again, I don't really care about the combine. I've seen what he can do on tape and he's pretty accurate and he's quick to get the ball out. The, he needs a little help in the accuracy department, like just a tiny bit. But for the most part, I mean, yeah, he can't run or anything like that. He's a he's a pocket He's like a Peyton

Pershin: 45:03

Manning pocket pass. He did he did legit improve this past season though I'm trying to remember which school he transferred from But he was basically left for dead He's basically like what what DJ ukulele was trying to do, you know Trans

Jason: 45:20

Ohio State transfer.

Pershin: 45:21

That's right. Yeah, that's right Will Howard had beat him out and People were like, oh, he got beat out by Will Howard who really just isn't even that good, so therefore he must be trashed. But then he goes to Syracuse and has a he a hell of a season. And then people are like, well, maybe he is good after all. You know, and that this is basically what all of these quarterbacks hope will happen when they transfer. He. Successfully you know, really you know, rewrote sort of the, the narrative around himself. And so I'm kind of rooting for McCord. I think he's a little bit underrated just because he's, he only has the one good season, you know? But I, I agree with the, the other point you were making too More broadly about the combine, which is like the, for the NFL to kind of have a way to either incentivize or force more of these big name prospects to actually do the drills and the workouts at the combine would just really help engagement from the fans. Like the fans would be, be so much more interested if more of the, the big names were part of it. You know, and I understand a lot of these guys are going, I don't think the big names need coaches and stuff, but I just don't think they need

Jason: 46:36

to be there. Like, I just don't think Cam board needs to even be there.

Pershin: 46:42

Also, you mentioned the Packers. I agree with this philosophy basically like trying to hit on a cheap backup instead of paying 10 million for a good backup. Just keep drafting every single year, like a day three sort of guy that might be able to develop into something. They've, they've actually been walking that walk too. I mean, I, I forgot the guy's name a couple of years ago, but then last year they got Hartman and neither one of these guys have panned out the way they wanted, but the point is, I think that's a good strategy because if you could get these guys on the cheap, man, that frees up a bunch of extra cab space that you could put towards free agency.

Jason: 47:23

Well, that was their, like, that was their long standing thing with, you know, all the old regime, like Ted Thompson and stuff like that. And I mean, but that, you know, there's clearly some method to the madness because, you know, when you talk about quarterbacks that have played there, you got Favre, Rodgers, you know, well, jury's still out on love, but with all intents and purposes made the playoffs twice. Like he's not, every

Pershin: 47:51

indication is pretty good. Yeah.

Jason: 47:54

Right. And so, you know, to want to get back to that as a great idea. And also, you know, with. With that being said, like a lot of these teams, and I don't know each individual team, but they all have And we've talked about this with quarterbacks. They all have their type of players They love like for an example, you know, the Greenbackers love at quarterback They love a 5'11 guy 190 pounds to 200 pounds. That's that is their ideal fit For how they want to play at quarterback for edge, it's been six, five, two 70. That has been like Preston Smith, Zedaria Smith, all the anybody,

Pershin: 48:37

powerful type of Luke Van Ness

Jason: 48:39

six, six, five, like that is who they want to draft at that position. And so, you know, it is interesting, you know, while you're watching the combine is. You know, with that knowledge of just the Green Bay Packers, I might watch it more. And that's why I'm interested in those two days because I might see where some of these players did at the combine and then where they, if the Packers take them and where they, you know, value them in relation to, you know, size, weight in how they did. Like, you know, cause if there's one guy that they took and he's clearly, you know, head and shoulders above the rest, you're like, Oh, well this is, you know, with, with darting the knowledge of knowing what size weight and you know, all of that, that they like, okay, well they also like this and that at that position. Yeah, so it's kind of getting in the weeds, a little nerdy stuff. If you really have time to sit down and watch that stuff, I don't. So

Pershin: 49:39

it's fun though. If you do have the time to sit and nerd out on these various scenarios and stuff, sometimes it's pretty interesting. I will say that like

Jason: 49:48

low key,

Pershin: 49:49

the thing I'm looking forward to the most is when cam ward has like his presser and. You know, people get to ask him questions. I know somebody is going to ask him the question, Why did you only play one half of the bowl game? Like, why did you do that? And it's just something that's hard for me to wrap my head around. It's such a half decision where it's like, dude, either just decide that you're going to play in the game or that you're not. For him to just play the first half and then, and then sit out was super duper weird. They were definitely still in that game at halftime. I, it was, it was super weird and he has never answered it. Like, he's never, he's never put his thoughts out for that. So I am waiting to see how he responds to that.

Jason: 50:50

Yeah. Yeah. That, that, I guess that will be pretty interesting. I never thought to, to look at those responses, so we'll have to check those out as well. Any lasting thoughts on the combine?

Pershin: 51:00

No, I guess not just looking forward to whatever surprises and turns come our way. One thing I did want to mention real quickly, though, is I saw earlier that the guy that had the director of player personnel for the banger for the bangles. And I don't know how high up the food chain that is, honestly. But he said that they are planning on making Jamar Chase. The highest paid non QB in the league and he mentioned that they're planning on not only doing that but still keeping T Higgins and so it's like ah All right. I I'm starting to wonder if they will

Jason: 51:43

I'm calling smoke. I'm calling smokescreen

Pershin: 51:47

Yeah,

Jason: 51:48

they're just they're trying to I think like because you after you mentioned it last week about how They're just saying like they're franchise tagging him to trade him, right? It was also mentioned on national media this morning again. And so I, I'm agreeing with you that I think. This is all just bull, bull and hard ball and let's just throw, throw stuff out there and get people talking.

Pershin: 52:17

I thought the interesting part of this though is that it's really rare that you'll see teams or representatives from teams come out ahead of the negotiations with one of their players and already say straight up, yeah, we're going to give you what you're looking for. So it makes me What do

Jason: 52:34

you mean, bro? We just, what do you mean? Pete Hegseth just did that with Russia.

Pershin: 52:41

I thought that was the playbook. Yeah, it's the playbook when you're unqualified for your job. Maybe, yeah, I just thought that's how you, I just,

Jason: 52:48

I just thought we were all following the same playbook, that's all.

Pershin: 52:53

That was a good one. That's, that is a really good analogy actually. But basically if, if this is smoke, then it's particularly smoke with the Higgins side of it. I don't think there's any reason why they would come out publicly and tell Jamar Chase that they are going to give him what he's looking for. Is to be the highest paid receiver unless they already were definitely going to do that. You know what I mean? So I think that Jamar Chase is definitely staying there. He's definitely getting the bag. And. All this other talk could be part of the plan where it's, it's almost like, Hey, we're going to be real and upfront about this just so we could sell even harder. The idea that we are bringing Higgins back for potential leverage with anyone who's interested in Higgins, which is a lot of teams, you know what I mean? Absolutely.

Jason: 53:46

Well, the one thing I wanted to hit on before we get up out of here is the NFL draft site renderings were released for Lambeau. So it looks like the draft theater, which is, you know, where the stage and all that will be is going to be in the field, in the stadium. No, that'll be in the, in the parking lot, in the parking lot. I don't know. There's, it's hard to tell. What will be where, but it looks freaking awesome. I'm not sure what will be inside the thing, but they will have a field goal kicking area. And I have been wanting to try to see if I could kick a field goal. So I will probably try that.

Pershin: 54:34

Are they going to have like a placeholder that actually holds it for everyone?

Jason: 54:39

I guess maybe just like a you know the little stand that

Pershin: 54:42

yeah,

Jason: 54:43

you know the kickers use when they're practicing.

Pershin: 54:45

Yeah

Jason: 54:47

let's see They talk about using 800 000 square feet of the stadium's west side parking lots and tidal town development food and bev Play 60 zone kick and field goals 40 yard dash and galleries all kinds of stuff, man So it's looking pretty cool Yeah, it looks like The main thing is going to be in the stadium. I think it might not be though. It's hard. It's hard to tell. I Don't know it doesn't matter. It's looking cool And I can't wait to go. So with that being said as Always you can hit us up at Pond pony podcast com or Hit us up on threads and Instagram at Pine Pony Podcast.

Pershin: 55:34

Yeah, Pine Pony Podcast, Blue Sky. Tell me, tell me what I got wrong. Let's fight.

Jason: 55:42

I hadn't quite got to the blue sky yet. I, I didn't know I didn't make it again. No, I did make a blue sky account. I did. I thought for sure

Pershin: 55:49

we had a blue sky.

Jason: 55:51

I just made it recently. Okay, I have it. I have, well, you need to be the

Pershin: 55:57

first person to fight with me on blue sky. Let's do it

Jason: 56:01

as part of as part of being an old man and not by being old, but having a lot of kids and stuff, it's hard to keep up with social media.

Pershin: 56:11

Yeah, for sure.

Jason: 56:13

For sure. But yeah, we're definitely on blue sky as well. So hit us up and adios.

56:20

Adios.