49ers Jeff Wilson Jr. Gives Props To Joc Pederson After RB Sparked Fantasy Football Feud With Tommy Pham

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• 49ers running back Jeff Wilson Jr. gave Joc Pederson a shout-out after finding himself at the center of a baffling fantasy football feud
• The San Francisco RB was the player who sparked the controversy that led to Tommy Pham slapping Pederson after taking issue with how he handled an IR move in their league
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If you take laughable overreactions to violations of baseball’s irrationally venerated unwritten rules out of the equation, the MLB doesn’t tend to spawn the kind of drama that NFL and NBA fans are treated to on an extremely regular basis.

However, we were recently treated to a very notable exception courtesy of two players at the center of one of the dumbest (and most fascinating) feuds any sport has been able to produce in recent memory.

It all started last week courtesy of a viral story that screamed Fake News at first glance, which concerned a confrontation that occured during batting practice ahead of Friday’s game between the Reds and the Giants where Cincinnati’s Tommy Pham slapped San Francisco’s Joc Pederson during a heated confrontation.

Here is the original, no watermark if it matters. pic.twitter.com/jNuHxWxrVX

— Taylor Mannix (@taylormannix103) May 28, 2022

We were quickly treated to a report claiming the altercation was the result of a fantasy football feud that had been simmering since last year. Pham’s beef apparently stemmed from Pederson’s handling of a player on injured reserve, which didn’t sit well with the Cincinnati outfielder who accused him of cheating and “messing with my money” in what was apparently a fairly high-stakes league (it would appear an innocuous GIF Pederson shared in the league’s group chat may have also played a role).

The injured player who inadvertently sparked this wild saga was 49ers running back Jeff Wilson Jr., who qualified for the IR tag after he was briefly sidelined by a knee injury toward the end of last season.

On Tuesday, the RB offered his thoughts on the situation for the first time. During a session with members of the media, Wilson said he was about as incredulous as everyone else after hearing the news and gave Pederson a shout-out for not only having him on his roster in the first place but for “taking one for the team” by being on the receiving end of the slap.

Pham—who was suspended for three games thanks to his lack of restraint—is still seemingly intent on dying on one of the stupidest hills imaginable; on Tuesday, he accused Mike Trout of being “the worst commissioner in fantasy sports” over his internal handling of the situation.

I can only hope Pham continues to refuse to stop fighting this truly useless fight, as I can’t think of the last time I’ve been so entertained.