K.J. Wright, Former NFL Linebacker

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 2, The Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. So my biggest fear is there's going to be snakes in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10-minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from. A rat climbed into my toilet.

And learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Matt Kelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio in for Maggie and Perloff. Let's head out to the guest line right now. Welcome in a Super Bowl champion, a Pro Bowl linebacker, played for the Seahawks and the Raiders. And that, of course, is KJ Wright, kind enough to spend a few minutes with us right now on CBS Sports Radio. KJ, appreciate the time as always. How you been?

No doubt, no doubt. Been good, man. How you guys doing?

I'm doing fantastic. So you were in that Raiders locker room last year. When you see the news the other day that they're benching Derek Carr and we all know it's inevitable that this offseason they're going to split.

Just how did you process that yesterday? I was heartbroken for him. Just in the year that we spent together, I've grown to love the man, built a relationship with him.

Awesome teammate, awesome family man. As we all know though, this is a multi-billion dollar business. It's all about results, all about winning. And Derek, you just look at his whole career. He hasn't quite done nearly enough to what a lot of people expected of him being that Raiders quarterback.

So I definitely feel for him, man. But they had to make that decision, man. The offseason they put together, bringing in Devontae Adams, bringing in Josh McDaniels, just building this franchise to get to the playoffs and actually make some noise. The results that we've seen from Derek Carr is nearly, you know, it's not close to what they expect to come into this season. I get why they're going to move on, but I just don't know what they're going to do next.

And with what we've seen from McDaniels this year, it's kind of tough for me to trust that they're going to be able to bring in the next guy and get it right this time around. Yeah, because you look at like, what are they? Do they trade them? Do they cut them? You got a draft that's coming up with some phenomenal quarterback.

What do you do? And so I'm not sure what his trade value is going to be, but I know that with Josh McDaniels, he's clearly not the guy, you know, Derek Carr, the relationship is over with. So I'm looking over there in San Francisco by a guy by the name of Jimmy Garoppolo who could potentially come in and make a trade for him. He comes in, you're familiar with the style of offense, still in his prime. He potentially paired him with Josh McDaniels.

They really make some noise. So where Derek Carr ends up, I don't know, but I do believe they're going to have to wait till after the draft with all these quarterbacks come up the board. Yeah, it could definitely, it would not be surprising to me if they go out there and they get Jimmy G, especially with the relationship he has with Josh McDaniels. I'm just wondering, since you were in that locker room last year, and we know things that you couldn't even imagine did go on, unfortunately, with the Raiders franchise, but you guys found the way to get to the playoffs, like how stunning is it that a year later, this team is in as bad as the spot that they're in right now? I mean, it only makes sense because I was there last year, and we made the playoffs, and they're right all of a sudden leave, and it's another disaster.

So that's a big part of it. Honestly, I look at Mark Davis, and I look at what was he thinking when he did not hire Rich Pasaccio. He was the guy that all the players loved.

He was the guy that had all the drama. We got 10 wins made the playoffs, and we looked really dang good. And so I'm looking at him and like, man, what are you going to do going forward with this team? Because you did phenomenal when I was there last year. You got 10 wins, and you have a decent roster.

You have guys in that building that can win ballgames. If you did not bring the right quarterback in, if you did not draft properly, it can continue being a mess over there in Vegas. If Rich Pasaccio was still there, what do you think this team would have done this year? They would have been phenomenal.

They would have been really good. They bought into his style. He held guys accountable. When Derek Carr played bad, he put it on the board like, hey, this is what you're doing.

I need you to do way better in this aspect. He came into the offensive mean rooms. He's in the special teams mean rooms.

That team would have still been great, but we can't cry over spilled milk. Josh McDaniels is there, and it's been a complete disaster so far. I do believe that McDaniels is going to be there next year. He just got to get his guy in at quarterback to make this thing look good.

I'm sure you still know some guys in that locker room that you probably still talk to. Just what has been their view on this entire season and how Josh McDaniels has done? Because I was talking to the guys during training camp, and you know how it is with a Patriots way during training camp. They were tackling full speed practices where all day, two days, it felt like it.

So it was definitely a culture shock when he came in there. So I'm just talking to the guys over the years. It's been frustrating. It's just to see what they put together, the expectations that they had, and the results that they're giving.

It's heartbreaking to see what they put together. So I'm real close with Josh Jacobs and seeing how he's had a phenomenal year, but the results haven't shown. So we'll see if he's there next year as well. It's a lot of holes to fill in that Raiders team.

AJ Wright here with us. It's kind of crazy how that division played out. Kansas City, people thought they were going to fall off a little bit. They've been as dominant as they've been.

The Chargers now going into the postseason. The Raiders we're talking about has been a disaster, but we all know you know Russell Wilson pretty well for your time in Seattle. What has been your view on this season for the Broncos as your number one for Russ out there in Denver has just been a disaster?

I know man and just looking at it throughout the season. I was looking at Russell play. I'm like, oh Nathaniel Hackett has no idea what he's doing with Russ.

He's the reason why he's got to go. But as I watch Russ throughout the year, I'm like, it's Russ that's just playing bad. It's Russ not going through his progressions. It's Russ not able to complete a ball 40 yards downfield.

It's Russ's energy and I played with a guideline. I witnessed the Hall of Fame quarterback. I saw his passion jump off the off the tape every time we stepped into play. Russell Wilson was ready to go. I just simply didn't recognize this guy this year. And so I do believe that he has to look himself in the mirror and he has to get back to the drawing board.

And so it was a complete disaster. I'm interested to see who they bring in as a head coach because he has got to find a way to get Russell Wilson back on track. Is the ego though of Russell Wilson now too big for him to honestly look himself in the mirror and realize what he needs to change? Russell needs a really good friend right now. Russell needs his agent to be honest with him. Russ needs a head coach to put that ego to the side. Hey Russ, we know what you're good at.

You know what you're good at. If your ego is I want to drop back and throw the ball 50 times a game from the pocket, it will be another disastrous season. So he needs to remove his ego.

Ego is the enemy. And so he needs people in his camp to be honest with him. To be brutally honest with him to say hey, let's get a really great head coach or a really good play caller to do what you do best.

It also is pretty damaging when you look back at the entire thing and pretty telling now. Where Russ wanted to leave Seattle and it's not like Pete who was his most loyal supporter for years really put up that much of a fight. It's like Pete almost saw some signs that Russ was about to decline. Yep, and I believe Coach Carroll also saw that Russ wanted to have his own philosophy.

Russ wanted to have things his way and Coach Carroll was like no, no, no. We're going to do it this way. We always ran the ball here in Seattle. We always use a play action game.

That's what you were great at. Hey Russ, we're not going to run this hurry up offense that you are presenting to the team. We're not going to go shotgun 70% of the time.

We're going to do things this way. Coach Carroll had to get his team back. Coach Carroll had to get control of that locker room. I do believe that he saw through our practices, especially with his injury that he had last year, maybe it is time for us to separate and rebuild this team. To get two first round draft picks, two second round draft picks and potentially draft your quarterback of the future is one of the biggest steals in NFL history that we're seeing right now. Also, you played on those defenses and we've talked about the dynamics in those locker rooms before, especially with Russ when he was with the Seahawks. It seems like the former Legion of Boom and some of those guys at the defensive side of the ball are a little extra happy to see the way that this year played out.

Is that fair to say? I wouldn't say happy. I think we would say that I think it just gave us further confirmation like, hey, we were the reason why all this success was happening in Seattle and it's just so unfortunate that we let that divide our team. Especially, the biggest thing was the NFC Championship game. When Russ threw all those interceptions and the defense, we held it down and we found a way to win and then Russ threw the game with a touchdown. A lot of people were just upset over who got the credit.

I was like, who the hell cares? We're going back to the Super Bowl. It was just little stuff that divided our team. Media attention, favoritism from Coach Carroll, just all this unnecessary drama that surfaced throughout this time. No one's happy that he's struggling, but it did give some guys confirmation like we are the reason why that era was so special. You guys had such a great team.

We've talked about this before. Once the interception happened at the goal line and Marshawn didn't get the ball, that was it for the Seattle Seahawks as we knew it. Maybe it's more than that, but why weren't you guys all able to get on the same page after how that Super Bowl and how that final year, really where the Seahawks that we knew them were at?

Get back to that form, just wondering. Yeah, we essentially couldn't trust each other anymore. We thought there was some hidden agenda.

If someone wanted Russ to be the MVP, you just shattered our dreams to be called back-to-back Super Bowl champion. This relationship we have, this cool Legion of Boom, Marshawn, all this stuff, this is over. We can't even look at each other the same way. It was just a dark, gray, rainy cloud hovering over that building for several years. They had to essentially wash guys out. There's so much bad energy in this building.

You gotta go, you gotta go, you gotta go to get this thing back to where we wanted to be. There was no overcoming that. We were still talented.

We still had guys in the building, but mentally and emotionally, we were not connected. KJ, right here with us, did you see the gift that the Amazon Prime crew got Richard Sherman, by the way? That was hilarious. Dr. Sherman has that sitting right next to his mantle in his bedroom right now.

That was a good one. I would love to see an honest conversation between Russ and Richard Sherman, because it seems like there's a lot of unfinished business between those two. I see those guys. I saw Sherm when he went to Denver for the Thursday night game. You see them talking, but hey guys. I thought that was a bad look for Richard Sherman.

We know he's not all buddy-buddy and friendly-friendly with Russ anymore. I said the same thing. I'm like, really, Sherm? You ever having a kumbaya conversation?

No, sir. One day, I tell you, one day I'm going to get all the fellas in a room and we are going to lay it out on the line. We're going to tell our own story and we're going to just lay it out all on the table. It's coming.

It's coming soon. Well, would Russ accept that invitation? If anybody can convince him, I think I can get him to sit down with us. It'll be like when we're all retired and done. It'll take some time, but I believe he'll do it.

Wrapping up with KJ. Yeah, go ahead. I'll facilitate it properly to where we're going to be honest, but there ain't going to be no bashing and all this stuff. I'll facilitate it properly to where we're all having a very transparent and honest, hard conversation. Hey, by the way, I was listening to your radio show.

This one, I think, was two weeks ago. What was up with Sherm going after Mike Salk during that interview? I know. I brought Sherm. I said, hey, Sherm, I know you're not cool with a guy, but just do me a solid.

Do this for your guy. Okay? I love you. I can't make any promises, but I'll come on the show. We was moving and grooving. We was talking. Brock here was talking. Myself was talking, but as soon as Mike Salk jumped on, it was all downhill from there. It was good radio, as they said, but it was hard for me to have my guy come on there and end at the end like that. Well, yeah, that was the thing because I know Richard Sherman's a great get by you guys, obviously, but it's Mike's show. What did Richard expect? Not to talk on his own show? And you cannot dismiss a man from his own show. They're going back and forth. I tried to stop and intervene.

It was just a complete disaster. I just know now, do not bring Sherm on your radio show with 710. Or maybe you keep on doing it, but you tell Sherm to actually talk to Mike Salk, maybe.

That would be good radio. Before we let you run, KJ Wright, Jets and the Seahawks, where's the confidence? Because early on in the year, you were telling me Seattle's going to be better than what people thought. Where's your confidence that Seattle's going to get the job done this weekend against the Jets at?

Before the season, I predicted my Seahawks to win nine games. Here we are at seven, and we're facing a Jets team who is all so desperate. They're getting a quarterback, Mike Whiteback. They have a really good defense over there. They have a decent run game.

We haven't been able to stop the run in the month of November or December. I'm a little nervous. I'm a little nervous. It's a team that wants it bad that's coming in. Our offense has been struggling. The writing on the wall is saying it's going to be a really tough matchup.

We'll see. It's going to be a hard-fought game. I know the Jets team is going to want to get back rolling with Mike Whiteback being their quarterback. I know that you want to see the Jets lose this weekend, but that defense with Saus Gardner and Quentin Williams, man, they're fun to watch. I know, and DJ Reed is coming back. My former teammate, he's coming back for a revenge game.

CJ Mosley made the Pro Bowl. They have some guys over there, so it's going to be a hard-fought battle. Geno has a look at how he did early in the season. Made the Pro Bowl, but it's been a struggle lately. It's going to be a battle.

We haven't necessarily played great at home, so we'll see how it all unfolds. If you were the general manager, if you were John Schneider, if you were Pete Carroll, you're the brain trust of the Seattle Seahawks. Are you bringing back Geno Smith next year?

Yes. I'm waiting for the draft. If I can get my quarterback, we'll see if they get their quarterback. If they don't get their quarterback, absolutely. Geno has played well enough to earn himself a contract, but I do believe that they could find their guy. They won't reach in the draft, but they could find their guy in the draft. I do believe that they'll take him, but Geno for sure.

He's put together a solid season enough to come back. Okay, Jay Wright, always do appreciate the time. You and the family be well, and have a good start to your 2023, okay? Yes, sir.

Thank you. 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 2, The Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 2, The Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 2, The Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.