Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
I have some terrific news everyone: As of today, we are now exactly just two weeks away from the 2022 NFL Draft.
Since two weeks is such a long time to wait, we're going to help you pass the time by unveiling our first seven-round mock draft of the year. If you only read one round per day in this mock draft and you read the entire thing twice, then BOOM, it will get you all the way to the start of the draft.
Besides our seven-round mock, we also have a draft nugget from Sean Payton, who claims he tried to convince the Giants to draft Tom Brady in 2000. That actually would have worked out well for Brady because then he wouldn't have lost to them twice in the Super Bowl.
As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. All you have to do is click here and then share the link. Alright, let's get to the rundown.
1. Today's show: Breaking down Derek Carr's contract
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr landed a monstrous contract on Wednesday when the Raiders signed him to a three-year, $121.5 million extension. On paper, that makes Carr just the seventh QB ever to join the exclusive club of players who have signed a deal that's worth $40 million or more per year.
Although Carr is now a very rich man, he definitely wasn't the winner on Wednesday and that's because his contract isn't all it's cracked up to be. Basically, Carr agreed to sign a deal that involves almost no risk for the Raiders. If Carr struggles under Josh McDaniels in 2022, then the Raiders can pull the plug on the contract after just one year for the low price of $24.9 million.
The guys over at Pro Football Talk got the full details on the deal and here's a look at how the contract breaks down by year (Carr was already under contract for 2022, so the three-year extension takes his deal through 2025):
Signing bonus: $7.4 million.
2022: Carr will make a base salary of $17.4 million that's fully guaranteed
2023: Carr's base salary shoots up to $32.4 million, but it's only guaranteed for injury. The rest of the salary becomes fully guaranteed on third day of the 2023 waiver period.
2024: Carr's base salary jumped up to $41.2 million, but none of it is guaranteed at signing. Carr will have $7.5 guaranteed for injury and the rest of the salary becomes fully guaranteed on third day of the 2023 waiver period.
2025: Carr gets a base salary of $41.2 million, but none of it is guaranteed.
Basically, Carr gets $24.9 million for 2022 (salary plus signing bonus) and then the Raiders can dump him if the struggles with McDaniels. On the other hand, if Carr and McDaniels thrive together in 2022, then Carr will likely earn every dollar in the deal. Also, this is definitely a team-friendly contract that will allow the Raiders to build around Carr going forward.
For today's episode of the Pick Six Podcast, Will Brinson and Tyler Sullivan broke down the deal and why Carr could end up being the perfect fit for McDaniels.
If you want to listen to today's episode, be sure to click here. You can also watch today's episode on YouTube by clicking here.
2. CBSSports.com's first seven-round mock draft is here
The start of the 2022 NFL Draft is exactly two weeks away and we're celebrating that fact today by unveiling our first SEVEN-ROUND mock draft. There are 263 picks in this year's draft and CBSSports.com draft analyst Josh Edwards handed them all out in a mock draft that I'm guessing took him roughly 91 hours to write.
Whenever we go over a mock draft here, I usually give you the top-10 picks for that mock, but this time, we're going to look at the final 10 picks in the draft, because I feel like that's the only way we can fully appreciate the monstrous job that Josh did here.
- 254. Rams: Noah Elliss, DT, Idaho
- 255. Chargers: Delarrin Turner-Yell, DB, Oklahoma
- 256. Chargers: Zakoby McClain, LB, Auburn
- 257. Cardinals: Kevin Harris, RB, South Carolina
- 258. Cardinals: Jeremiah Moon, LB/EDGE, Florida
- 259. Packers: Za'Quandre White, RB, South Carolina
- 260. Chiefs: Jalen Wydermyer, TE, Texas A&M
- 261. Chargers: Josh Rivas, OT, Kansas State
- 262. Buccaneers: D'Vonte Price, RB, Florida International
- 263. 49ers: Ja'Quan McMillian, CB, East Carolina
Here are a few other key notes about the mock draft:
- Edwards has Aidan Hutchinson going first overall to the Jaguars.
- The first QB taken is Kenny Pickett, who goes to Carolina with the sixth overall pick.
- With the 20th overall pick, the Steelers go with a QB (Malik Willis)
- After losing Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill, the Packers and Chiefs both use one of their two first-round picks on a receiver.
If you want to see how Edwards has all 263 picks in the draft shaking out, then be sure to click here.
3. Baker Mayfield goes off on everyone: QB says the Browns disrespected him
It's been nearly a month since the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson, and since that trade, there's been one notable person who we haven't really heard from and that person is Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield finally broke his silence this week during a chat on the YNK podcast and the best part is that Mayfield gave a completely unfiltered interview. The QB didn't hold back anything during the talk and here are a few nuggets from the conversation.
- Mayfield says the Browns disrespected him. So how did Baker feel after the Watson trade? "I feel disrespected," he said. "A hundred percent. Because I was told one thing, and they completely did another. That's what I'm in the middle of right now. ... I'm just looking for stabilization right now." Mayfield is still under contract for the Browns so it's definitely interesting to hear him come out and say this now.
- Mayfield has no idea where he'll end up, but his guess is Seattle. At some point this offseason, Mayfield is going to be traded and although he's not sure where he'll end up, he does have one guess. "Oh man, if this would've been about a week and a half ago, I would've said Indianapolis. Um ... Seattle," Mayfield said. "I mean it'd probably be the most likely option. But even then, I have no idea."
- Mayfield's shoulder injury really bothered him. The quarterback went into a lot of detail about his shoulder injury. For one, he says he "tore his labrum completely" in Week 2. Although he tried to play through that, things got worse in Week 6 when he dislocated his shoulder AND fractured his humerus. Mayfield tried to keep playing, but as the season wore on, he started to lose confidence in himself. "When I wasn't performing on the field, that's when it really started to go downhill," Mayfield said, via ESPN.com. "When it started hindering my play, that's when I started losing my own self-confidence and losing myself. It was rough."
My main takeaway from this is that Mayfield is not a big fan of the Browns' organization anymore. I'm guessing he would prefer a trade to a team that plays the Browns this year just so he can try to beat them.
4. Giants could have had Tom Brady if they had listened to Sean Payton
The best thing about Sean Payton being in retirement is that he's now sharing all his juicy stories and one of those juicy stories is that he tried to get the Giants to draft Tom Brady in 2000.
At the time, Payton had just taken the job as the Giants offensive coordinator and the team was coming off a 1999 season where quarterbacks Kerry Collins and Kent Graham combined to go 7-9.
Here's how it all went down:
- How Brady got on Payton's radar: Payton's agent called him with a hot tip. "So I'm in New York and my agent is Don Yee, and Don also represents Tom Brady," Payton said, via Yahoo! Sports. "Don would periodically call me with a client that he just signed, and he said, 'Hey will you call up Tom Brady? He's at Michigan and I've got him, and just help him out with things that would be important for him at the combine.' Basically, I remember it being a half-an-hour phone call on what's important. Make a good impression, be prepared to answer some football questions. The interviews were much more informal at that time."
- Brady has a bad combine, but Lloyd Carr still vouches for him. "We were (scouting) Brady, now this is going around the room and everyone's seen Tom run the 40 at the combine. Everyone's seen, you know, you get the body, weight in pictures, all of that," Payton said. "So, you have a guy who is not fully developed yet who was pretty much a one-year starter. You could tell that he needs the weight room. But Lloyd Carr (Michigan head coach) said this, I'll never forget it, he said he's the toughest player that he's ever coached. That meant something."
- Payton's grade on Brady. After watching film on Brady, Payton viewed him as a third- or fourth-round pick. One Giants scout, Raymond Walsh, actually agreed with that assessment. However, no one else in the organization did, which is why the Giants ended up passing on Brady. That being said, the Giants didn't select any quarterbacks in the 2000 draft, so that might be part of the reason why the front office couldn't be talked into taking Brady.
The Giants passed on Brady multiple times before he was finally selected by the Patriots with the 199th overall pick. Of course, you could argue that the Giants turned out just fine. In 2000, Kerry Collins led them to the Super Bowl. Not to mention, in the 12 years after Brady was drafted, the Giants would win two Super Bowls and the twist is that they both game against Brady.
5. USFL Power Rankings: Yup, we're ranking every team in the league
With the USFL season kicking off on Saturday, we thought we'd celebrate here by bringing you our first-ever USFL Power Rankings. If the USFL ends up performing like every other spring football league before it, it will likely be out of business before it hits Week 6, but we're going to celebrate the league anyway.
The new league will be kicking off this weekend with one game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC/Fox/Peacock). That game will feature the New Jersey Generals against the Birmingham Stallions. The game will be played in Birmingham, which isn't all that surprising since EVERY game will be played there this year. To cut down on travel costs, the USFL is playing every regular-season game in the same city.
Here's a look at our power rankings, which were put together by Tyler Sullivan:
1. Tampa Bay Bandits
2. Michigan Panthers
3. New Orleans Breakers
4. Philadelphia Stars
5. Pittsburgh Maulers
6. Birmingham Stallions
7. Houston Gamblers
8. New Jersey Generals
The two teams at the top both have one big thing in common: Their head coach is a former NFL head coach. The Bandits have Todd Haley while the Panthers have Jeff Fisher.
If you want to know why each team is ranked where it is, then be sure to click here so you can check out Tyler's Power Rankings.
6. Rapid-fire roundup: Jerry Jones interested in trading up
It's been a wild 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Cowboys looking to trade up in draft. The Cowboys have the 24th overall pick in the draft this year, but they might not stay there. Jerry Jones sounds very interested in moving up, "I would trade up this draft -- and just going in as much as you can say about it, until you see what's there and who's on the other end of the line," Jones said this week.
- Stephon Gilmore visits Colts. Gilmore is arguably the top free agent left on the market and it looks like he might be getting closer to making a decision. The cornerback took a visit with the Colts this week and if he signs there, Indy would likely become the favorite to win the AFC South.
- Browns add another quarterback. The Browns have already added two quarterbacks this offseason (Deshaun Watson and Jacoby Brissett) and they added a third one on Thursday when they officially signed Joshua Dobbs, who spent the past two seasons with the Steelers.
- Former Ravens safety signs with Lions. After four injury-filled seasons with the Ravens, DeShon Elliott is finally leaving Baltimore. The safety has agreed to a one-year deal in Detroit that's worth up to $3.65 million. Due to injury, Elliott only played in 28 of a possible 65 regular-season games during his regular-season career with the Ravens.
- Steelers interested in Tyrann Mathieu. According to the team's official website, the Steelers are interested in signing Mathieu, but only if they can get him at the right price.
