Ari Meirov, Pro Football Focus

Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Obviously, this time of the year, talking a lot of NFLs. We inch closer and closer to the postseason to see which two teams will be battling in Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl 57.

Let's go out to the guest line right now. I'm welcoming a man that has one of the more popular NFL accounts on Twitter. That is at mysportsupdate. He also does a great job covering the league for Pro Football Focus. That's Ari Mirov, kind enough to join us. Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Ari, appreciate the time as always. How you been? I'm doing well, Zach.

Thanks for having me on. It's crazy that we're in week 17 already, I'll be honest with you. Yeah, it is. The season each and every year we say how quickly it is and how crazy it is how quickly it does fly by. But some big news today. Derek Carr is going to be parked on the bench and the Raiders are inevitably going to split in this offseason.

Just how did you react to it when you heard the news earlier this morning? Yeah, I don't think it was the most shocking news because really the extension that he signed in the offseason was a very odd one. Essentially all he ended up doing was getting a $5 million raise for this season and then it's a wait and see for the years after that. And the Raiders always had the option that if we don't like him under this new regime with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler that three days after the Super Bowl that Monday we could get out of it. And they realized right now that we're not in a good situation.

We're not going to make the postseason and let's just end this right over here. And obviously the season will end and we've seen trade happen in the past like a Matthew Stafford, like an Alex Smith. Where the team is a green principal and then the deal will officially be processed on the new league year in March. So I think this is possibly where this is likely heading towards to and Josh McDaniels will have the chance to pick his own quarterback for next year with this offense. So when we get to the potential next destination for Derek Carr, let me start you off with this because I did read that he has a no trade clause in that contract. What do you think a team is going to have to give up if they were going to find a way to trade for Derek Carr this offseason? Well you'll probably look at some previous trades to get a bit of an idea. Whether it is the Alex Smith trade or it was probably more recently the Carson Wentz trade last year between the commanders and the Colts where there were second round picks and third round picks with conditions going back and forth. I think that is definitely what it would likely take to get a quarterback who has been there, done that, has been above average in the NFL.

No one is calling you a superstar but someone who has the potential to get you places if you have a good team around them. The bigger question is that no trade clause like you mentioned and as of right now we have to figure out exactly where Derek Carr's mind is at because if he doesn't want to get traded then the Raiders could ultimately just release him and he picks his own destination. There is a clip which I have been looking for today which I haven't posted yet but a couple of years ago he did mention I will never play anywhere else besides for the Raiders. I would rather retire than play somewhere else. So I think that is definitely something we should keep in mind as well. What if Derek Carr just says you know what I made a lot of money in my career, he has, and I'm moving on.

I don't want to play with anybody else. He has a family, he has 3, 4, 5 kids I believe and he decides to call it a career. So I think that is also a possibility here. So we will see how these next two games go and then from there I'm sure they will all have a meeting and figure this out. But I think going back to the original point, the extension that he signed last offseason, he was kind of betting on himself and it clearly has not worked out for him. Yeah, I'd be shocked, Ari Mirov, if he does retire and I do remember that clip.

I'm pretty sure I saw it on your site as well, on your popular Twitter account. But the first team that I just thought of for Derek Carr next year was the Commanders. Is there any other teams that come to mind who could be in play for Derek Carr this upcoming season? Well I think we're looking at a situation right now where there are going to be a multitude of teams that are probably going to be looking for quarterbacks once again this offseason.

You mentioned the Commanders, you could look at the Jets, you could look at the Colts, you could look at the Texans, you could look at the Panthers. There are a bunch of teams that need quarterbacks out there around the NFL. So I think there are going to be a multitude of options there if the Raiders ultimately decide to trade them and if Derek Carr decides to waive that no trade clause. So Washington is an interesting destination but again, going back to the no trade clause, would Derek Carr want to go to an organization like that which has had so much going on? And I guess Derek Carr is sort of used to a lot going on. I mean he had a last year off the Raiders where they had so much going on from Jon Gruden to Henry Ruggs and all that.

But don't you want to do that again? So I think the no trade clause definitely benefits him here. And if there are multiple teams going after him, at least they'll have some options there to pick from. When you get into the conversation of who's the next Raiders quarterback, I don't think Rogers is getting traded this offseason. I know people are going to say Brady because of Josh McDaniels. Do you have a name or two that you think you can see joining Josh in Las Vegas and being the quarterback there? Yeah I think the two things that quickly jump out at you is Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo who both will be free this offseason no matter what. Their contracts are structured in a way where they cannot be franchise tagged, they cannot be transition tagged.

They are 100% going to end up making it to the open market. So those two obviously have familiarity there with Josh McDaniels. There's also the option of do we look at the draft? Right now the Raiders are at number nine. Their last two games are against the 49ers and the Chiefs I believe. I think we could probably assume they'll most likely lose both those games.

They possibly move into the top five. There are some quarterbacks available in this draft. Maybe that also buys some more time for this new regime but they're going to have options here this offseason at the quarterback position. The only thing I would probably say is that their owner Mark Davis at one point this year when the Raiders were losing all those games, he kind of said Josh is doing a fabulous job. I think they've had a chance to turn it around. They've had a couple more heartbreaking losses. I think if they do change quarterbacks this offseason, this is it.

Whoever they picked, they're going with him. If they have another poor year to start next year, think about all the big money extensions that they gave out this offseason from Devonta Adams, Chandler Jones to Max Crosby, Hunter Renfrow. They gave some more money to Derek Carr and on and on. You guys paid a lot of money.

You guys went all in. Your next quarterback you picked, this is it. If it doesn't work next year, I could see him pulling the plug on them.

They have a massive decision here. I think it definitely starts with Brady and Garoppolo simply because of the familiarity with the offense. Do you think Devonta Adams is going to try to force his way out of Las Vegas this year because him and Derek Carr are really close? It's a fascinating question because I think when Devonta decided to force his way out of Green Bay, his whole idea was I want to be somewhere where I know there's a stable quarterback situation. We all knew that Aaron Rodgers was maybe I'm retiring, maybe I'm staying, maybe I'll leave. It looks like there's a pretty good shot that Aaron ends up outlasting Derek Carr, which I don't think anybody would have guessed that a year ago. So Devonta is an injured situation, but the problem is that he signed that long-term extension, which if the Raiders were to move on, I think there would be a pretty hefty dead money charge on the cap. I would have to double check that, but usually the first two years are usually guaranteed in order to move on from it.

It's fairly difficult unless it gets restructured. So I think he definitely is another player that I think we should be keeping an eye on, especially when you look at the wide receiver free agents this offseason. It is arguably the most weakest free agent wide receiver market we've had in a long time.

I think the biggest names out there are Jacoby Myers and Gary Slade and those type of players. So if Devonta does try to make some noise and say, you know what, I came here for Derek Carr, Derek Carr is no longer here, maybe he decides to make noise once again. If that does happen, I think many teams will be lining up to try to get him simply because there aren't that many options this offseason. I actually think a guy that's going to get traded this offseason is going to be DeAndre Hopkins. He has two years left on the contract. The next year is kind of a dead year anyway for the Cardinals because you don't know when Kyler Murray is going to come back, Ari.

That is the one thing that I've kind of been circling around here when I've been already doing some of my free agency outlooks that I've, you know, keeping to my own over here. DeAndre Hopkins is a very interesting situation. He is no longer there as of right now. He's away, but a lot of people believe he won't be back. The coach is most likely on the hot seat as of right now. The quarterback just towards ACL and most likely won't be ready for the start of next year. The Cardinals sort of do need a bit of a reset there and trading away DeAndre Hopkins in a situation where, again, the wide receiver marker at this offseason is not that great. It's not that crazy. So you mentioned the contract.

It is movable. I think he's definitely a name that will be brought up. He doesn't have an agent. He's doing everything on his own. If he decides to walk into Michael Bidwell's office and say, you know what?

You guys are, you know, trending the wrong way right now. We had a couple of good years here. I enjoyed playing a few guys, but I kind of need a fresh start. I think Arizona could probably get some valuable assets for him and try to jumpstart this bit of a rebuild and try to get some more capital. And eventually when Kyle Murray does come back, he'll be able to put a better team around him because that team has a lot of missing parts right now.

All right, Mirov, here with us for a few more moments on CBS Sports Radio. My prediction for Brady next year, and I say this ever since the McCaffrey trade, is he's going to find the way in San Francisco. Where do you think Brady's playing football next year? Well, Brady first has to decide that he wants to play next year.

That's probably the first big domino. But I guess just looking back at San Francisco, they had the chance to pursue him in 2020, and they basically opted out of it. And they stuck with Garoppolo, and they traded for Trey Lance, and now they also have Brock Purdy there. I don't know if Kyle Shannon would want to go there. I mean, Kyle Shannon ultimately has the voice over there in San Francisco's structure, the way they have it there.

It's more Shannon than Lynch. What do you want to take Tom Brady and then leave Purdy on the bench and leave Lance on the bench or try to trade Lance just to have one more year of Tom Brady maybe? And Tom Brady hasn't been anything fascinating this year, to be fair. So would he do that? You could probably make a good argument that Brock Purdy hasn't been playing better than Tom Brady as of late.

In fact, Brock Purdy and his team beat Tom Brady a couple weeks ago in an embarrassing fashion. So, you know, I could see where you're coming from, but I just don't know why Kyle Shannon would want to do that. When we get to Sean Payton, if you had to take a guess right now, because this has been the tough one. I don't think he's going to Denver. The Chargers job doesn't look like it's going to open up. McVay's not going to retire.

I saw Florio throughout the other day. Maybe Brady and Sean team up together in New Orleans if Brady plays next year. What are you hearing on the Sean Payton front as those sweepstakes are about to get underway? So it kind of ties into Tom Brady a little bit because we all know that Miami tried to pull this together last year where they bring in Sean, they bring in Tom. And it just didn't happen because of a few things, including the Brian Flores element. But there's the point to keep in mind, and I don't know how many people know this, Tom Brady and Sean Payton actually share an agent. It's Donnie. So he could be working some things behind the scenes and maybe trying to get them both together somewhere.

Maybe it is New Orleans. I think a lot of it is more talk right now. I would imagine probably Sean Payton, if he wants to get back into coaching, would probably want a team that already has a quarterback in place. And he probably wants to have more control than the front. He would want to be the guy with control of the roster and everything. So if you look at a Denver press conference the other day, it sounds like the structure will be, you know, coach has more say than the GM. And if that's the case, maybe Denver makes more sense, but he would have to inherit Russell Wilson. The thing is that, you know, that ownership group has a lot of money. They could pay him whatever he wants.

So does money matter to him? So that's part of this. But, you know, the element that is important to keep in mind, and you kind of mentioned before, is that Brady and Sean wanted to do this last year with Miami and it blew up. They have the same agent. Are they trying to do it again? I don't think they'll be in Miami, obviously, but is there a different destination?

Would New Orleans make some sense? Again, the Saints also have his right, so anything trying to get him would have to trade. Probably a first-round pick to get him. So there's a lot of moving parts with him, but I think you do make a good point about the Tom Brady, Sean Payton element of all of it.

Just because they share an agent and they've tried to lose in the past. Before we let you run Ari Mirov, Lamar Jackson, what does your gut tell you happens this offseason? You know they're going to eventually franchise tag him, but do they get a deal done or could he maybe be in line to get traded this offseason? You know, I've been kind of trying to figure out exactly what's going on with this knee injury because he hasn't practiced now in three plus weeks and he hasn't been out there at all. And you know, Lamar doesn't have an agent, as I think most people know, and it's like, you know what, he has to protect himself over here. Obviously, we're in a playoff mode where we've clinched a playoff spot and all of that, but he has to get paid as well.

He got picked number 32nd overall. He hasn't made great money so far in his career. So, you know, whatever happens there, I want to first see when he comes back, if at all, this season. Because he has to serve not just as the player right now, but also as a businessman. So, so far he didn't practice again today.

John Harvard was asked about it, basically didn't say anything. So, I think there's something sketchy going on over there with all of this, with his knee injury and how he hasn't practiced in multiple weeks when it was characterized as a one to three week injury. So, that's part one. Once the off season gets here, obviously, we all expect the franchise tag. At the same time, Lamar wants to get paid.

You know what I mean? And Baltimore has been very hesitant about going into the fully guaranteed structure that Deshaun Watson got. And obviously, their owner, Stephen Bishotti, was the one owner back last year who criticized that Deshaun Watson contract.

In that world, another year in, he had an okay year, I wouldn't call it MVP Lamar type of year, but he had a year where you could see the difference between having Lamar and having Tyler Hundley, for example. He's going to put the pressure on them, I believe. And he knows that if he plays under the franchise tag this year, the Ravens basically have no leverage anymore if he does play one more year. So, the leverage is definitely starting to swing towards him. The thing that I'm keeping an eye on is if Lamar starts putting pressure on them and saying, you know what, if you're not going to do this, move on from me. And he hasn't given us that indication yet, but the fact that we've gotten to this point up until now, the fact that there's this injury once again this year for the second straight year, he knows he needs to get paid. And I don't think he should be stepping foot on the field next season without a deal because two straight years of an injury, it's already getting a bit too risky for him.

And any other agent, if they would have had him, would have told him to do a deal and he hasn't done so yet. Last thing I'll ask you, Armirov, you did a great job, my sports update, also pro football focus. With what you've seen so far and how you think this is going to play out the next few weeks, who's going to be playing in Super Bowl 57 in your opinion? Oh wow, you're putting me on the spot up here. I'm not a big prediction person. Anyone who kind of sees me on Twitter knows I'm not big into that.

I mean, it's so hard. The AFC is just so stacked, anything could happen on that end. I really want to see this Buffalo, Cincinnati game on Monday night. I want to see how all that goes, but if I was to pick right now, I'm just throwing it out there, I would go Kansas City and Philadelphia. That would be where I'm at, but let's support it this way. It's going to be an amazing postseason, but if you're putting me right now on the spot, those are the two teams that I would pick.

Let's just end it over there. He's one of my favorite accounts to follow on Twitter when it comes to the NFL. Make sure you follow him, at my sports update.

Does tremendous work for also pro football focus as well as Armirov. Ari, happy holiday season to your family and a good 2023 to you guys. Great talking to you Zach, same to you. Is there something really absurd that skeeves you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid down my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. And add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season two, the Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Drop everything and hurry to the Xfinity Hello 2023 sale. New Xfinity customers can get 400 megabit internet for $30 a month for two years with no annual contract when they add Xfinity Mobile. Plus, for a limited time, get $500 back when you add a second mobile line. Drop everything and get to the Xfinity Hello 2023 sale now through January 10th.

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