I have a c.1920 Afshar with the same main border (alternating zigzag and eight-point motives in squares), also with the same kind of light blue and green (the green with yellow streaks), mine has red-green barber-pole selvages - your selvages don't look original, maybe you had red-green barber-poles originally, that would fit the end bits of the rug.)

Strange you have no yellow, given the yellow in the green.

Are the blue wefts wool or cotton?

And does the bottom field have a row of alternating red and orange chickens (or some kind of animals) or is this just my imagination running wild?

My Afshar has a traditional, vase design on ivory ground (quite colourful), with nice all natural colours except for a very dull madder red, and that together with the fact that the "kilim ends" are represented in pile gives away that it's not antique, but probably 1920-1930. It is almost square, like many Afshar, and small (see attached pic).

Yours seems to be more oblong than the "standard" antique Afshar, and the boteh are unusually stylized and geometric. What's your guess of its age?

And what makes you think it's Neriz (Neyriz, Niriz, Nayriz)? I don't think I've ever knowingly seen a Neriz (other than on photos, I mean).