The NFL trade deadline is at 4 p.m. today and there has been some speculation about a couple of players on the New York Jets that might be gone. Those players are Brandon Marshall and Sheldon Richardson, but it’s mostly media-generated speculation. Teams have contacted the Jets about a possible trade for Richardson, according to the NFL network, but these are the teams that smell a potential fire sale, meaning that they aren’t expecting to give up anything big in return. However, the Jets are not holding a fire sale.
They won’t get a fair-market value for Richardson because of his off the field issues. He has been suspended twice in the past two years (both of them were the violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy and one misdemeanour). I would have thought that maybe the Jets and Browns would’ve worked out a deal by swapping players, Jets would get corner Joe Haden and Browns get Richardson since Haden has been out on the trade block. That would’ve made the most sense to me because both teams are struggling and need a boost. The Jets could use a corner since they are really struggling in that area, since father time has been catching up to him and Skrine is more or less a slot corner and Williams hasn’t lived up to expectations. The problem with the trade would be the Jets taking a huge contract from Haden and that he hasn’t been healthy. When he plays, he can contribute but needs to stay on the field.
The Jets are concerned about signing Richardson long term, so look for them to explore trades in the offseason and maybe get some draft picks or some players who may be impactful. A league source believes that he is worth a second round pick at most. The Jets won’t trade Marshall, although he is an attractive receiver needy contender, he is 32 years old and still has $5 million remaining of his 2016 salary. He’s signed for next year at a 7.5 million but none is guaranteed. Marshall doesn’t think he is going anywhere and he doesn’t want to either.
The Jets will keep both players, so I don’t expect them to make a move before the deadline, however look for the Jets to possibly trade Richardson during the offseason to get some draft picks and some impactful players.