Jets DL Sheldon Richardson mentioned during an interview with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that the Seahawks and Redskins both wanted him to take a pay cut as part of a trade.
“It’s a business, bro,” Richardson said. “There was one team that asked me to take a pay cut … and it was Seattle. And Washington too. There were a lot of offers. A lot of good offers. You’d be surprised.”
Richardson has been on the trading block for over a year now, but it appears as though he’ll play out his contract in New York before testing the open market in 2018, barring a trade before this year’s deadline.
A few months ago, Rich Cimini reported that the Jets had contacted a few teams about a potential Richardson trade including the Buccaneers, Colts, and Seahawks. However, Cimini says that New York didn’t find any takers for him.
One of the issues that prevented Richardson from being moved was his $8 million salary. Had Richardson been willing to take a pay cut, it’s possible a trade could have been completed, but he’s resisted doing so up to this point.
If the Jets don’t trade Richardson, they could hold on to him 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, 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.
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