Pine Pony Podcast
Friends arguing about sports
Pine Pony Podcast
NFL Pre Draft Playbook: NFC North & South 2025
In this episode of the Pine Pony Podcast, we discuss the upcoming NFL Draft with in-depth analysis of teams like the Bears, Lions, Vikings, Packers, Panthers, Saints, Buccaneers, and Falcons. We also dive into offseason additions and subtractions, major player trades, and team strategies for the draft. Plus, we touch on the recent Masters' Tournament highlights with Rory McElroy's win and Ken Griffey Jr. as a photographer. Tune in for all the latest NFL insights and more!
If you have a topic or want to respond to the pod, you can always reach us at
Email - pineponypodcast22@gmail.com
Threads / Instagram - @pineponypodcast
🚨 LOOKING TO BET ON THE UPCOMING NFL SEASON🚨
Head over to
signupexpert.com/pinepony
to join the top sportsbooks in your area!.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Pony podcast. It's me, the og, hanging out with my friend, the fantasy uncle, what's happening in Persian. Howdy, howdy. Glad to be back after a, a small break. Yeah. Yeah, it is such a great time of the year. The draft is just a few days away. You're actually gonna go there in person this time, which is double exciting for you. But man, the draft is just exciting every year. So many players that you've been looking into, you're hyped about so much promise. You know, all those players that let you down last year doesn't even matter'cause it's a whole brand new crop, whole new year. Yeah. Speaking about the draft. So I, you know, I leave in two days. Right. So that we're recording on Tuesday, so I leave on Thursday. Right, right. And it's supposed to be a high of 55. Oh wow. Geez. And there's a 50% chance of rain. Oh no, man. It's, it's gonna be some cold ass ring. Let's just say I packed my ski gear. I packed, I packed the heavy coat, you know, some, some pants that I could throw on over my pants. Yeah. So keep my, keep my other stuff dry. And you know, some hand warmers, but what I have heard, they did release like the. The list of people that are gonna be there and announcing throughout the, the evening. And it should, it looks pretty cool. It looks pretty fun. Apparently they're, they're gonna introduce people on a red carpet and, and we'll get to go inside the stadium and then they have like a theater that will hold the draft. Yeah. And then so we will shuffle from the stadium to the theater, so, ah, okay. But yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens. Excited to be there. Yeah. Anyway. I think even if it is cold and rainy, once you're like in that crowd, y'all are all getting hyped. You know, you got a couple beers in you, man. I think you'll, you'll, you'll be fine anyways. You, you won't be worried too much about how it feels outside. Yeah, yeah. There's talk that we might even try to go to a Milwaukee Bucks playoff game, so. Wow. I wonder how double, double dip. I wonder how cheaply you could grab some like nosebleeds or something for that. Oh brother. You can get in the lower bowl for$30. Oh really? Dang it. Yeah. Game time. They even have for a playoff game. Gee, that's great. Yeah, they have, mid court was like a hundred bucks when we looked. So, I mean, sh that, that's not just be a whole sports weekend. You never, you know, you never know. Yeah. We'll see what happens. We're supposed to go to a fish fry, you know, do some Wisconsin things. Yeah, man, you gotta eat some of that cheese. Do the fish fry beers. Oh, dogs own a bear. I don't know. Whatever the Packers do bear. And last thing on that real quick. I've seen videos of like,'cause they're setting up for the draft and like, you know, I don't know if you've ever seen Lambo field, like the surrounding area, but it's like people's backyards are like next to the parking lot. Oh wow. So like, like people are like posting pictures of, of them sitting on their backyard watching. It all happened, man. That's a prime real estate. Yeah. And like they charge people for parking. Like you can park in their grass and stuff and they'll, you know, whatever. Anyway, so moving on. Well, let's, let's get into the show. Let's start the show officially. So one of the things that happened since we last spoke, the Tennessee Quarterback Drama, this kid, it came out that he wanted more money. He wanted four,$4 million, 2 million wasn't good enough. So he wanted$4 million. Tennessee essentially told him to kick rocks that you're not worth$4 million. And then more news comes out that he was threatening to miss a playoff game due to not being paid like bro, if this is what you're trying to do in the NIL. That's not, wait, so you, you're not talking about this past season, you're saying if they make the playoffs the coming season, that he would not participate? No, no, no. He, they made the playoffs prior, prior season 2024. Okay. He said I played 12, I was paid for 12 games, but I played a 13th game being the, and he said he needed to be paid more to play the 14th game. Oh, hell no. That is so, that is he, he played it right? He didn't really sit out, did he? Yeah. I think he ended up playing it, but still it's just like this kid is, that's unbelievable, man. When you, when you get paid for the season. They are absolutely expecting that that's going to include a good season. You, you know what I'm saying? Like, so the, I the idea that they didn't pay you, like it wasn't supposed to include the playoffs as bogus because I mean, why would they bother paying you if they didn't think it would work out? You know what I mean? Like I just, I mean, first of all. Like, bro, you're getting paid to in college to play football. Like people didn't get used to that. That didn't used to happen. It's only been a couple years and they're already like, you already like, bro, we gave you, you got the inch, now you trying to take a box. Yeah. And that's the problem. Yeah. So hopefully people learn. Anyway, he ended up hitting the portal and transferring to UCLA, which coincidentally. His brother is transferring there as well. So, so then does that mean UCLA has agreed to pay him 4 million? I guess. I don't know. Oh my goodness. I dunno what they've agreed to. That's, wow. Well, in other NIL news coach Brown from Syracuse was, he sent the player pack in because this player wanted$2 million. To play for his final year, I guess, of eligibility. And Syracuse told him, no, sir. Your career stats at Syracuse are 109 receptions, 1000 yards, 10 touchdowns, and your best season was last year, which he had 84 catches, 940 yards and nine touchdowns. So it's like, dude, you only have one good season. Yeah. I, I don't know. I, I guess I guess we've, we've already entered that era where the, the, the kids are wanting to sit out or threaten XZ, try to use whatever leverage they have. It is, it is unfortunate. It's unfortunate, you know, it's, I certainly don't have an argument that they shouldn't get paid for what they bring in revenue wise or money or whatever. But one of the things that was great about college football is that. It wasn't all of the transactional bullshit that happens in the NFL where it feels like every single thing is transactional. And unfortunately it, we're probably just headed there because people wanna get as much as they could possibly get. That's just how people are. So, I mean, I'm fine with everybody getting what they want to get, but I mean, know your value, like know your value, don't. Yeah, like the, just, you know, don't be stupid. And other NCAA news, a lot of NCAA news this, this past two weeks they implementing, they are implementing a new rule regarding injury timeouts. So if an injury personnel enters the field to evaluate a player once the ball has been spotted. It will result in a timeout. And if you don't have any timeouts, it'll result in a five yard penalty delay a game oh five yard penalty on you. Okay? Yeah. So, you know, no more faking injuries. Ole miss. Looking at you, Ole Miss. Yeah, the I, I don't watch a ton of college throughout the season, but I, I do know that there were some people on the radio basically saying, it's gotten outta control. We gotta do something about it. So it's kind of cool that the N NCAA's like, Hey, we're gonna try to do something about it. I don't know, I, I don't think it's that rampant, but whatever. Here's some news for Colorado. What do you think about this retiring Shadu Sanders and Travis Hunter's numbers? Whew. Some people are really hot and bothered by this, like this, like this is gonna feel kind of weird because this is Prime son. But the thing is like, I, I don't know that sha. Really deserves it. I, I can understand the hunter thing because he, he, he truly did something exceptional in being elite at two different positions, different sides of the ball at the same time, I don't think Ura Sander, he, he was a good quarterback for us. Certainly better than most of the quarterbacks we've had the. I don't know that his performance was really like, oh my God, we gotta immediately retire his jersey now. I think when you look at the guys who have had their jerseys retired in the past, like Cordell Stewart and Rashaan, I think has Cordell had his retired? Oh, I assume so. He had an amazing couple pieces. I don't think he, I don't, I don't think he did. Because that's what I saw a lot of the discourse was like, oh, they retired his but not Cordell. Okay. Well, I agree with them. If, if you are going to first retire Cordell and then consider Shadur, then I'm doubt. But if you're saying that you're going to. Retires jersey without courthouse, Stewart's jersey. I mean, that's ridiculous because his final two seasons with the buffaloes was amazing. I mean, he, he was a nightmare running, you know, using his legs to create first downs everywhere. And, you know, just really good passer. And then also they got a national championship that final year he was there. Of course, they. They had to share it because this was back before they, they actually had the top teams necessarily face off. But it's besides the point, the point is that Sheor didn't lead Colorado. Even with Travis Hunter on his team, he, he didn't lead to anything near a national championship, you know? So I just feel like not only was Cordell Stewart's performance better given. How much rushing and how good he was as a rushing threat. But then also just from a team perspective, the results were better also. So it's safe to say that you're, you're upset. I wouldn't say I'm, I'm huffing and puffing. Okay. I'm not triggered about it or anything, but I, I. I, I think he doesn't deserve, you're mad about it. If Courthouse Stewart doesn't deserve it, then he doesn't deserve it out there. I, I think there's only six. He is one of six that have their numbers retired for Colorado. Wow. That's a very small number actually. Yes. What a trash organization there. Four. There was, there were four before them. So, yeah. What, what a trash team that I've had. Yeah, they're awful. We, we can't even find more than six players in our entire history that are worth. It's bad. It's bad. Anyway that, that's my, that's my opinion of it. Some good news. Some players have taken official roles at this new look. College athletics with GMs and assistant GMs. We got Steph Curry is now the assistant GM of Davidson. We got Trey Young, assistant GM of Oklahoma, Terrence Mann, assistant GM of FSU. Those are probably all basketball related. Max Crosby, assistant GM of Eastern Michigan. Who would've thought Eastern Michigan needed an assistant gm. Wow. Eastern Michigan. That feels random. Yeah. You know, probably Alma mater. Alma mater, you know. And all right, so moving on to the NFL. Got quick news real quick. They, for the first time in 15 years, the NFL has fired. Three referees and demoted, four of them. Oh, I saw that. That the four that were demoted will be allowed to work their way back up. But I could not believe that this story kind of came and went like as quietly as it did. I was like, man. Fucking huge man. The NFL literally decided they were gonna do something because they don't fucking do nothing to these. Yeah. Yeah, the only thing I haven't heard from is whether Kansas City's gonna retire the jerseys or not, of the zebras. I I, if Sanders gets to get a jersey retired, then the, the 12th Man for the Chiefs deserves to man. That's funny. Yeah. I mean that's, I mean, I guess they're hoping they'll work their way back up through the ranks. Yeah, shout, shout out to a friend of the pod, AKA, I don't know if he still listen to this pod anymore, but if, if you're out there, we love you. Can you imagine being at the top of your craft at refereeing? And they're like, bro, you trash, we go demote you, but you can work your way back up. I've already worked my way back up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I think it's great. I think. They literally, they, they don't necessarily have the feeling anymore that, well, it doesn't matter. It doesn't, like, nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna happen to me. It doesn't matter. You know, at least now they understand like something could happen. Like, you know, something could happen. There we go. That's all we're asking for NFL. Alright, well, moving on to the pre-draft, final pre-draft playbook. The NFC North and South. We'll start off with the north and we'll go with the Mighty Bears. Draft position number 10. They got about$2 million in cap space, so not a lot of room. They added quite, quite the group. Jonah Jackson, Grady Jarret, Joe Tooney, Devin Varney, Durham Smith, case Keen, drew Dalman, Nick McCloud and Jordan mcd. They got rid of Jaylen Jones, Jack Sandborn. Larry Borum, Darton Evans, Jake Curran, Byron Cower, Matt Pryor, Deandre Carter, Jacob Martin, Coleman Helton, and Darrell Taylor. Darrell Taylor. Like I said, man, say that they basically just took out the trash is what they did, because all of those guys are booty. Yeah, that's a good, they did the old, that is a really good list of players to lose. Like straight up like, I'm sorry, they, they did the old Dion Sanders and just swapped them out. Yeah, they still got a work. They gonna stick us some work to do. I got'em as needs on the offensive line. Defensive line. I think they need a running back somewhere in this draft. A safety and a tight end. I do think their main focus should be offensive line to help Caleb Williams and Deandre Swift out. But I, I, after Deandre Swift, they have a nobody, so they, I think running back should be some sort of a, maybe not a first round need, but a second, third round need somewhere in there. Yeah. I, what do you think about the bears? I think they're all in on Ashton Genti. I honestly believe there's a good chance that they will try to trade up just to make sure they get Genti. You, you mentioned Deandre Swift, and the thing about Deandre Swift is that they really were disappointed in. How they felt like he was really limited in, in what he was reliable with last year. And well, their offensive line was trash, and that's after paying him a bunch of money. And the thing is that the previous coaching staff was disappointed with him. And now incomes the same guy. I'm blank. I'm, I'm blanking on his name now. From the Lions, ben Ben Johnson. Ben So, so Ben Johnson. So he comes over from the lines, and the thing is that. He was benched by this very same offensive coordinator. There he is the reason why they traded him away to the bears. And so now he's his coach again and he's already given up on the guy. So, you know, straight out, that's not gonna be the answer for them. And so I, they, they have said before, like, basically that they, they would love. If Genti was still available at the 10th spot, I think there's a good chance he will not be available at the 10th spot. So I honestly think that there's a good chance they're gonna try to trade up. Now, of course, they would need a partner, so who knows. But I do think, if not the first round, certainly in the first couple rounds, they are going to address running back. They, they are not big fans on Deandre Swift. So that is just the facts of the matter. And so I, I expect them to do that first couple days. But also I think defensive line is a big. Sort of need for them, you know, a couple months ago I would've said offensive line, but, but they did a pretty good job. They got three different offensive linemen, all three of them meaningful upgrades as part of their free agency. And so I could see them taking like a guard. Or a center maybe as a dev piece. Certainly somebody if you look at a guy like Kelvin Banks, like he could basically play any position along the offensive line. I could see them going after a guy like that just because it adds depth to all of those positions. But basically, I, I think it's a. Defensive line and particularly like an edge rusher offensive line slash offensive line depth and in even more so running back. So that, that is my expectation. My expectation for the first three rounds there. Alright. Yeah. Heavy running back. They can't stand the guy, man. Get him outta here. Loser. What, what? Bad luck that your, the, your new head coach is the guy who gave up on you at your last team. Well, at least you know, at least you know you're gonna get fired. So maybe he should be looking for a new hope. Oh, speaking of the new head coach Ben Johnson, let's go to his old team. The lions draft was this in 28. You know, pretty good spot to be in. It means you did something good last year. Pretty healthy cap space around 30, 35 million. You know, didn't do a lot of additions and subtractions. They added Grant Stewart, Roy Lopez, DJ Reed, Evonte Maddox, Kenny Yaa, Kyle Allen, and my favorite name, rockin. Rocky Sin. Guilty as Rocky Sin Subtractions. Tu Mel Carlton Davis, Kevin, Kevin Zeitler, Kendall Vilder, and Jonah Williams. Really? I mean, for the Lions it was kind of the same, like the Eagles for me here. They don't need to do a lot, but they need to get some depth at a lot of positions. Offensive line, defensive line, safety but specifically if they're gonna focus on one position, I would, I would say edge for me. Outside of that, maybe a, maybe a wide receiver in the back half just to kind of. Get, you know, it's always, I feel like it's always good to draft a wide receiver in almost every draft. You can never have enough depth or just people pushing the needle at wide receiver. So, yeah, man. What, what do you think about the lines. Yeah, I think your analysis was pretty good. I, I actually don't have that much to add to it. I agree with you. We live in a day and age where basically you can never have enough Edge Rogers, you can never have enough Good. Number two, number three, wide receiver options. I think that they, they certainly do need defensive line slash edge rush. The most, I would say that's the biggest sort of need that they have on their team. They've got Aiden Hutchinson, who's really good at creating pressure. I expect him to come back and be a great player once again. But aside from him, they don't have people that they can rely on to consistently get pressure to the quarterback. You know, obviously they're in the back half of the first, but this is a pretty deep. Edge class as far as like, as far as like first and second grade? Like first and second round, graded like prospects, I could, I could see them taking a guy like Nick Gordon or James Pierce I think would be available still. Maybe even a Donovan. E. A, as I like to say, I can't pronounce his full name as Arri or whatever it is. That's, they're, they, I think they'll have seven, several options around that round one, round two turn. And I expect them to just take an edge there just because they, it's such an obvious need and it's obvious. It's an obvious strength of this class too. So. All right. Yeah, couldn't, couldn't agree more. Let's move on to the Vikings draft position number 23 14 million in cap space. They let go of Sam. That was kind of surprising for me. But other additions Jevon, Hargrave, John Allen, Ryan Kelly, Jeff Okad. Ron Dale Moore, tavi. A Thomas, Eric Wilson, Justin School, Isaiah Rogers, Tim Jones, Leroy Watson and Jordan Mason Subtractions. Danielle Jones. Danielle Jones. I don't know why I wrote it like that. Cam Bynum, ed Ingram, Patrick Jones, Jr. Trent Shefield, Johnny Mun, Nick Mullins, Jerry Tillery, cam Robinson. And as we mentioned before, Sam Darn, they don't have a lot of picks in this draft. They only have four in the whole draft. Luckily they're a pretty decent team, so they, they, they don't really need to do a whole lot, I guess. But I mean, they have JJ McCarthy at quarterback to me. I think they need to, to make sure that he will be good. So I would go offensive line for them. Heavy may make sure that that is good, good short up for him so he's got plenty of time in the pocket. And then focus on the cornerback safety secondary. Yeah, that I, I have their like their top need being cornerback defensive, secondary, just just as you alluded to. I, I think they're, they're a, a pretty interesting team to maybe take a sort of developmental quarterback, they've got McCarthy. I'm sure that they have confidence in him, but the thing is like I think that they, they would like to get themselves a cheap QB with some upside as well, because even though they're going to roll with McCarthy, this is a guy that had a really small sample size in college. A lot of people felt like he was a little bit on the unproven side and then immediately got hurt. So we're still kind of dealing with a lot of question marks that, you know, is he going to be the answer going forward or not? I could totally see them taking a shot on whatever sort of quarterback falls to day two I, I would not be surprised to see them go for like a Tyler Shook or like if Jalen Falls. You, you know, any, any of these? Oh yeah. Sort of prospects, basically, whoever might fall, I could totally see them taking it. Obviously they got rid of Sam Donald, they got rid of Danielle Dimes, as you would say, and I don't even know what iceberg name was. Daniel Jones. I don't know. I, I must have had Daniel Jones on the mind when I wrote that. He is, well, yeah, they, they did get rid of Daniel Jones. He, he, he was on their team last year, remember? Right. But I wrote Danielle, I know, as in like, I was thinking of two different team, two different names at the same time. Yeah. Well, he is forever. Danielle Dimes around pine Pony land. Okay. So, but yeah, I think that I could see them, like if Will Johnson or John Bear and falls to them in that 23 spot, I could totally see them snatching up those guys. I, I think that that's probably the most likely sort of thing. I guess maybe like a Malachi Stark at safety also would be helpful to them. I bet that's what they do with the first round, with, with their first round pick is defense there. Okay. Okay. All right. And then the the best team in the, the division, the Green Bay Packers drafting position number 24 cap space, right around 25 million or so. They did the least amount of work, which was very helpful when I was typing things out because they only added Aaron Banks, Nicole Hardman, and Nate Hobbs. I. And they only let go of Eric Stokes, AJ Dillon, Corey Valentine, Josh Myers, Robert Ell, and Derrell Slayton. I think their needs are gonna be cornerback edge, defensive line, maybe some offensive line guys is, everyone says wide receivers. I'm okay with our wide receivers. I mean. We're not gonna take'em in the first round anyway. So anyone who's mocking the factors to take the first round, why receiver? That's what I was about to say. I was like, even if the coaching staff decides they really need wide receivers, they're gonna wait till day two. Like, you know how this works. Yeah. You know how this works. So even if so, we don't know what's gonna happen with JA Jir. So I think even if Jir Alexander stays. We still need to go heavy defense especially at quarterback defensive line. We have like, it seems to be zero depth there. If our first guys go down, it's, it's, it is, it is tough sledding. So I'd like to see them draft a third person at the edge position to go with Van Ness and Kenny Clark. And then secondary wise, I, I think they're depleted without Jair. So. You know, go there and then add the rest of the draft, take the best available for you. What, what, whatever's available. Take the best one and, and fill in pieces that they're gonna draft the quarterback somewhere in there. So, yeah, I, I, I agree with a lot of that, except that I would probably put cornerback, even ahead of like edge rusher, I think it's likely that they will try to target a cornerback in the first round. I, I don't remember exactly which. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. Which spot they have. I think they're, they're like 18th or 19th, is that right? 23rd. 23rd. Oh, okay. Well, yeah, I, I could totally see like a 23rd, like a Will Johnson or a John a Barons still being there, and I, I, I'm sure they would snatch that up. So, okay, good. All right. Moving on down to the NFC South. We'll start with the, the Panthers, huh? Hold on one second. Hmm. All right. Well, I don't know why I didn't write the Panthers down. Maybe I didn't really care about them that much. But anyway, I think they, they added Rico heavy. They added Rico Dole. They added Rico Dole to hang out with Uba hd. They got draft position number eight, cap space, 10 million. As I said, I, for whatever reason, didn't care about their free agency. I'm sure we spoke about it. Draft needs, edge, safety, cornerback, wide receiver defensive line. I mean, I, I would like to give Bryce Young some more weapons but I would rather have defense because I feel like if they get a good defense in Carolina, like Bryce Young and Company can do enough to. To win some games as long as they're in it especially based off what I saw at the end of the, the last year's season. So definitely seems like Bryce Young is gonna be the guy there. I, I mean, Travis Hunter seems like the guy for this spot right here for me. Not only he says he doesn't want to play unless he can play both. They need a cornerback and a wide receiver boom, problem solves. That's funny. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's, I think that would be a great selection. I don't think he makes it that far. They're picking in the eighth spot. Right. I don't think he makes it that far. I think tra that's what I said. Yep. I think Travis Hunter goes in like in the top three. I, I do agree with most of what you said there. I think they really need wide receiver help. Better weapons for Bryce Young would be huge there. Luckily they did a good job of shoring up the offensive line, the previous off season, which is. Hey, it actually worked out. They actually played well last year. So there's that part, right? I think UBA Hover slash Rico Dole is, is they're good enough past catching backs to help out in that regard. I like the promise of like a Jalen Coker, but that's about it. I think they really should focus on wide receiver. I I could totally see them taking a, a Tet McMillan at in that eight spot. That's honestly probably what I would do if I was their gm, but I could also see them going defensive line edge rusher. They definitely need a lot of spots on defense, so. Wouldn't, wouldn't shock me if they did, if they had like an air rusher in that spot. I could see if, like, if Mason Graham is there at eight, they probably wanna jump on that. I doubt he is there though. I think Tet probably still will be there and I, I just think that that's the most likely pick for them. Okay. All righty, going to the Saints draft position number nine cap space, 20 million additions. Villa Jones, Jr. Jonah Williams, Lon Redones, Isaac Lado, Justin Reed, Brandon Cooks, I don't know how to say his name. Is that an I, Laham? Isaac Laham, how do you say his name? I, I, I, I don't think I've ever even heard of the guy. I don't, he must be like some third stringer or something. I don't know. I, I don't know. I, I just like how you said it, it was so obvious that, that you ha do not know how to pronounce it. It reminded me of that. All right. Office space where the guy's like, not. All right, Justin Reid, Brandon Cooks And then Saints also took away, they subtracted people from their team. And that being Peyton Turner, Willie Gay, Jr. Lucas, Patrick, will Harris. Paulson Abo MVS. Sherman, John Charles, like. Oh man. Oh man, these names. Oh, I'm telling you, I feel like NFL players always have the craziest names, man. I feel like these are the names. Reading off the list of a, of a Key and Peel episode, it's always like, like the most obscure, like Hawaiian family names, Samoan family name, French people, south African names. It's like. There's not that many Americans in the NFL, it feels like. No, no. Oh, so well, with the saints, I, I think they, man, they gotta draft a quarterback. They gotta draft a quarterback somewhere somehow. Oh, yeah. We forgot to talk about that on the news. Derek Carr is probably gonna miss the next season. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. He's down and out, down for the count. So, I mean, that's gonna be their first pick. I think the only thing they got on the roster is rattler. Right. Rattle man. Yeah. Well they got, I mean they got Rattler, Jake Haner and Ben. And Ben Ucci. That's right. Jake Haner. Yeah, man. And then, you know, I'm sure there's some, some vet out there floating around needing a job. Carson wins. There you go. Yeah, man, so I, I don't, they need a lot of work. They need, they got so many old players on this team. They need to just cut all the fucking dead, dead weight, kill the fat, get rid of all the old guys, and just go for a full on rebuild instead of this, oh, we don't wanna rebuild yet, we still chasing things when we're not ever gonna come close to winning.'cause our team's too old. They need to just take the pill, man. Bite the bullet. Rip that bandaid off, man. Just take a full season of eating dead money, man. Just, just clear those books, man. Clear'em, clear the books, the, any, any analysis on the Saints for you. Yeah. The best player last year was a 37-year-old TSM Hill. Like, what's going on? Like what? That's my, that is, that is my analysis is what is going on, like you guys are in, why is he still on the team? Because it cost him like 35 million to cut'em. They, they keep kicking the can, restructuring these deals. He's got void years. In like 2028. Like the, I mean, they need to just bite. Like I said, they need to just, just have a year where they tell the fans, sorry, we fucked up. This is a dead year. Okay, we're, we're going to balance these books. You know, I, you could, you can fuck around a lot with the, with the salary cap. Okay. But you can't do what they did. You know what I mean? It's like. People say the salary cap doesn't exist. Well, like the Saints said, hold my beer and let me show you that where the salary cap is. So the salary cap exists in their world. Yeah, yeah. So you know, stop restructuring the deals. Just fucking cut him. Pay the dead money. Cut TSO Hill. Cut Derek car. He's injured. Anyways. Cut all these guys that you've got on these bloated contracts, backended, just, just bite the bullet, man. The good news is you'll be drafting really early next year. You can get yourself a, whoever's the quarterback's coming out next year, that that is honestly their best bet spit. I think absolutely. I think what's more likely to happen than what I just said is that they. They do try to go after a quarterback in that ninth spot, Shado Sanders. Maybe they do, they like Jackson Dart. Maybe. Do they wanna take a shot on a high upside guy like Ro? I mean, they, they probably don't need to take some of those guys at night. They might trade back and then take a quarterback that they're taking a chance on. Obviously they'd prefer K on board, but I don't, there's. They've got no firepower to move up at the draft. So that's it. You know, I, I could see them trading back. I, I really could. But as far as that nine spots going, it's, it probably is a quarterback and they're probably reaching their asses off, you know, so bad, bad, bad strategy to get the saints into this spot. And I'm afraid that they're probably gonna use bad strategy to, to bail themselves out. Nothing but bad strategy, bad strategy, help and badge strategy. Alright, so moving on to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft position number 19 cap space, about$25 million additions. Hassan Reddick, Riley Dixon. Anthony Walker, Jr. Kendall Der and Charlie Heck. Subtractions, KJ Britt, Mike Edwards, Robert Hansey, Justin School, Vera Thomas, and Royce Newman. It's, it sounded like you were getting frustrated over there. You're like, Charlie, heck the heck outta you. Wait, this, this. So anyway, moving on to their needs. I think they need a linebacker, a quarterback or edge. They need to focus on defense, basically. They do need to look at some other positions, like I think wide receivers starting to look a little old. I mean, those guys are still balling out, but they're getting up there in age. I would just think about, you know, replacing them somewhere at some point. And then defensively they need to fill gaps like linebacker Edge and I know they signed his, signed Reddick, but he is also old, so. Still need to draft a position there old and rusty after not playing last season because he was whining. Yeah. So, yeah, man, I mean, the bucks you know, they're gonna be in the same boat as the Saints here in a few years because they're just taking Baker Mayfield for as long as a ride, as he as he can get'em. And it's never gonna be more than just a playoff birth. So, yeah, I think good luck. I, I do think they, they got legitimately good play at a baker last season. But they need more certainly on defense. Along that defensive line, I could see them taking an edge, rusher even an interior guide. It's basically VI passed this prime and then. What, you know, like, I don't even know what else. I don't even know what else they got. Along that, that defensive front. I could see them doing offensive line too. The offensive line is not horrible, but there's a couple spots there that they could probably easily upgrade. So I, I guess I would say trenches is where I would focus. If, if that was them. I think that's the most likely thing that they'll try to address the first couple days of the draft. But like you said, I mean, really, you could see'em taking a lot of spots. They, they, they might be a team that just kind of takes what the draft gives them, whatever, whatever falls to them, they could probably put to use. And I think that's, that's probably the way that I would, I would, I would play it if I was their gm. Yep. Just take what the draft gives you. Sometimes that's just the best thing to do, you know, I. For sure. Going to the best team in the division, the team to beat the Atlanta Falcons draft position, 15 5 million in cap space. Added Leonard Floyd, Morgan Fox, Jordan Fuller, Devon Diablo, Mike Ford, Felipe Franks, and Keith Taylor. They got rid of Avery Williams, Nate Landman. Eddie Goldman, Ron Dale Moore, Contavious Street, Richie Grant, Lorenzo Carter and Grady Jarret. Yeah, what I was just gonna say, you nailed all of those names for the Falcons. That's how smooth that was. Yeah. You, thank you. Appreciate it. You are the Falcon whisperer over here. Yeah, so the Falcons, I mean, in my opinion, they have offensive weapons. They just looked pretty bad with Kirk Cousins coming off of big time injury. So even if he plays, I suspect that they'll do a lot better this season, or if he's just a backup. I still am a big time fan of Mike Lenix Jr. For whatever reason his name was escaping me at the moment, but. Michael Pennix Jr. Got that big pennix energy, so I'm excited to see hopefully him get a full season underneath his belt. So I'm not too worried about the offense. However, though I do think they need somebody on the offensive line. They need some help there, and then they should focus and mainly on the defense. Yeah, I agree. I think head and shoulders above all their, their needs is an edge rush. Yeah, they were, if not dead last, they were very close to dead last. Then pressure rate you know, tied to pressure, all of those sort of metrics for making life harder for the quarterback they were very bad at. So they've got to figure out how to. Get pressure. And again, it's, it's a good matchup for them as far as what this, this draft class is offering because a lot of edge rushers that are gonna be flying off the board in the first round, I think. Yep. I could sort, I could totally see them taking a guy like Jalen Walker, you know, Mike Green maybe even like a Kenneth Grant. Or Walter Nolan if he falls to them. These guys, I think, are all capable of giving them really good defensive lines slash edge play. And so I mean, if I was them, I would probably just first, second and third round just de defensive line, and particularly guys that could get after the quarterback. Yep. Couldn't agree more. All right. Well, I mean that concludes the, the pre-draft playbook. We'll have the mock draft in another smaller episode. But before we leave, I wanted to talk about the Masters real quick and how Rory McElroy finally. Finally got the green jacket. He tried to give it away. He actually bogeyed the final hole to push it into a playoffs, which was just wild. But he has some really spectacular shots coming down the stretch. He had one on 15 where he, he bent the ball around this tree. I mean, put it right next to the whole. So that was super cool to see, but also even cooler was King Griffey Jr. Got some of the best pictures of the weekend. So that's really cool to see him have a second career, if you will, in photography. It was his first time ever being a photographer at the Masters, so pretty prestigious and hard to get that. And a little fun note. He was the highest paid photographer there. He got paid 2.5 million, I believe, from the Cincinnati Reds. Wow. Because they're still paying him. Oh, for his baseball career. Yeah. You got me on that one. I was like, wait, they're paying people 2.5 million to take photos at the Masters? Yeah. Okay. Nope, just, just the baseball team still owing him money. I, I think it might be like 3 million, but it. Nonetheless. He is what a contract. Hey, I'm gonna not play and still get paid'cause I signed that deal. Kudos to him, man. That's amazing. Yeah. He is a really no. The lifelong contract, whatever, whatever it was. Yep. He sure is. Well, with that being said, as always, you can tell us what we did wrong or argue with us. At the email at Pine Pony Podcast twenty2@gmail.com or hit us up on Threads, Instagram or Blue Sky at Pine Pony Podcast. That's all the scoops, so adios, adios.
