Todd Bowles speaks about Sheldon Richardson trade

Head coach Todd Bowles recently spoke his thoughts about the big trade involving the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks involving defensive end Sheldon Richardson.

In a move that needed to happen, the New York Jets traded defensive end Sheldon Richardson to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for wide receiver Jermaine Kearse. By all accounts, it was a win-win situation for both teams involved.

The Seahawks added a top defensive end to their already stout defense and the Jets added some much-needed depth to their wide receiver corps. With a plethora of young players at wide receiver, they all lack experience and well, Kearse brings that and much more to the table.

In the grand scheme of things, it was only a matter of time before the Jets parted ways with Richardson. He’s a solid defensive player but the truth of the matter is, he’s a locker room cancer and constantly brought distractions to a team that didn’t need it. Yeah, the Jets were bad last season but making vulgar Snapchat videos and talking down about a teammate at the time, added more to the dumpster fire.

Richardson has all the talent in the world and hopefully, a change of scenery will get him back into realizing that he can indeed be an impact player. Last season, Richardson took numerous plays off and his stats showed it. Last season, Richardson only totaled 38 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and two passes defended.

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The Jets already have quality depth on their defensive line and to be honest, Richardson became expendable, especially when he continued to talk about a certain former teammate that jumped ship to the New York Giants.

Yes, wide receiver Brandon Marshall is no longer on the Jets but there was no reason for Richardson to continue bringing up the past several times this offseason.

It undoubtedly had to make the leadership regime of the Jets upset that once again, Richardson was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Even head coach Todd Bowles would show displeasure every time reporters asked him why Richardson did this, said that, and everything else in between. Of course, any head coach will always take the high road when talking about players who get traded. Especially players like Richardson who have the talent to be great but let poor decisions off the field define them.

Courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets, here is what Bowles recently said at a press conference regarding trading Richardson:

On trading Sheldon Richardson…

It’s hard when you lose someone like that. Me and Sheldon have a very close relationship off the field. That’ll go way beyond football. We understand it’s a business, both of us, and we’ll go from there but we’ll be talking long after football is over.

On why the team parted ways with Richardson…

It was a good move for both parties. It was a good move for us short-term and long-term. We needed another wideout. We got an extra pick. They got a good player.

On how he’ll replace Richardson’s snaps…

We have depth there. That was our deepest position at the time. Obviously, we have three other guys that can play and we have (Mike) Pennel that can play and we have Claude (Pelon) that can play. You don’t replace a guy like (Richardson). You just do different things.

On if the trade will benefit Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams…

I don’t think it has any bearing on them one way or the other as far as what they’re going to do when they get out on the field.

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Overall, this was a move that needed to happen for the Jets who can once and for all move forward without worrying about Richardson causing more controversy. Now, they can focus on rebuilding the right way without having such a distraction in the locker room ruining their new culture around working hard, execution, and accountability.

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