NFL Notes: Sheldon Richardson, John Ross, Malik McDowell, Lions

Sheldon Richardson

• Rich Cimini thinks some people in the Jets’ organization might be second-guessing their decision to not trade DE Sheldon Richardson to the Cowboys before last year’s trade deadline.
• At the time, the Jets were looking for a first-round pick in return for Richardson and he assumes that a deal may have had a chance to completed if New York had dropped their asking price down to a second-round selection.
• Cimini says that he would now be surprised if the Jets were even able to get a second-rounder for Richardson after he finished the year with just 1.5 sacks.
• Cimini still expects the Jets to field trade offers for Richardson next year, considering that they have a surplus of defensive linemen. However, sources around the league have told Cimini that the Jets are unlikely to get any more than a third-round pick for Richardson in a trade.
• While you could make the case that keeping Richardson for the 2017 season and then recoup a compensatory pick after he departs in free agency the following year would be best for the Jets, Cimini would still trade him if a team offered a third-round pick, considering that they could use the draft pick and cap space to rebuild their roster in the coming months.

John Ross

• Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com reports that Washington WR John Ross will undergo surgery to repair an injured labrum in his shoulder soon after the combine.
• According to Pauline, the plan is to have Ross participate in all of the drills at the Combine except for the bench press.
• Ross is still expected to be ready in time for the start of training camp this summer.

Malik McDowell

• According to Eric Galko of the Sporting News, there are “serious character concerns” regarding Michigan State DT Malik McDowell.
• A person close to the MSU program tells Galko that McDowell has been a “substantial motivational and attitude problem for his coaching staff since his freshman year.”
• According to Galko, McDowell, cussed out both coaches and teammates, left the team prematurely with an injury and went against the team’s defensive game plan.
• Interesting enough, a GM told Galko’s source that his team would pay McDowell’s signing bonus if a team in his division drafted him in the first round.

Lions

• Sources tell Eric Galko of the Sporting News that the Lions are expected to be focused on the 2017 tight end class, even though they used a top-10 pick on Eric Ebron a few years ago.
• Galko says that Alabama’s O.J. Howard is unlikely to be available to the Lions at No. 21 overall but Miami’s David Njoku could be someone worth keeping an eye on for Detroit.