If Jets Trade DE Sheldon Richardson, “Odds Are” It’ll Happen During Draft

Connor Hughes of NJ.com writes that if the Jets attempt to trade DE Sheldon Richardson again this year, “odd are” that it will be during the upcoming draft.

This makes plenty of sense, seeing as the Jets wound want to obtain some more draft picks to continue their rebuild. Waiting until after the draft would only delay the process, so if they’re going to move him, you can expect trade talks to pick up over the next few weeks.

Richardson has reportedly been on the trading block dating back to last season and Hughes believes it’s likely he’s still available right now. However, there hasn’t been a lot of reported interest in him since the offseason got underway last month.

Hughes takes a look at a number of teams that could be potential trade partners for Richardson with the Cowboys, Broncos, and Chiefs being the three that make the most sense.

• Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News mentioned it would be difficult for the Jets to trade Richardson for a second-round pick right now, but not impossible.
• Mehta believes the Jets shouldn’t consider trading Richardson for any less than second-rounder. Although, he could see them including Richardson in a package to move up in either the first or second round of this year’s draft.
• Another option for New York could be to hold onto Richardson this year as insurance in case Muhammad Wilkerson struggles again. From there, they could designate Wilkerson as a post-June 1 cut and then sign Richardson to an extension.
• Before that, Rich Cimini of ESPN wrote that if the Jets are still hoping to trade Richardson, they may have to lower their asking price following the recent Timmy Jernigan trade.
• The Ravens sent Jernigan and the No. 99 overall pick to the Eagles in return for the No. 74 overall selection (NFLTR), which is just an improvement of 21 spots.
• Cimini notes that Jernigan’s value in this trade was equivalent to the No. 96 overall pick.

Last year, the Jets were reportedly looking for a first-round pick in return for Richardson, but it’s now highly unlikely that they’ll get anything close to that in return for Richardson.

The Jets could hold on to Richardson for one more year and possibly recoup a 2019 third-round compensatory pick, depending on the contract he signs as a free agent next year.

Richardson comes with other concerns including two suspensions.

The Jets reportedly spoke with the Cowboys last year, so it’s possible that they could resume trade talks at some point.

Richardson, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2013. He played out his the final year of his four-year, $10.054 million rookie contract but the Jets elected to pick up his fifth-year option last year, which means he’s under team control through the 2017 season and will make a bases salary of $8.069 million.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Richardson would free up $8,069,000 of available cap space while creating no dead money.

In 2016, In 2016, Richardson appeared in 15 games for the Jets and recorded 62 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, two recoveries and two pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 31 edge defender out of 109 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding a potential Richardson trade as the news is available.