San Francisco receiver Torrey Smith and Jets defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson were two prominent players shopped at the trade deadline, and both remain candidates to depart in the offseason. It remains to be seen if their respective teams will lower their demands by then.
The 49ers were engaged in trade talks with the Eagles for Smith on several occasions, league sources said, and Philadelphia was willing to deal a fifth-round pick for him but no more, given his recent slowed production and robust $8 million salary. San Francisco demanded a third-round pick and would not budge.
Stuck in an offense without a vertical thrust and limited by poor quarterback play, Smith would very much welcome a departure this winter, sources said.
The Jets began marketing Richardson primarily to NFC teams in the playoff hunt before the deadline, multiple sources said, a group that included the Redskins, Cowboys, Eagles, Seahawks and Cardinals. While talks did not progress much, rival executives said the Jets made it clear in initial overtures that it would require "a very strong" return to land Richardson, which some inferred as requiring at least the relative value of a first-round pick.
Richardson has made no secret inside the Jets building that he wishes to become among the higher-paid defensive players in the NFL, sources said, and next year would be set to make $8 million on a fifth-year option in the final year of his rookie contract. But he also has been suspended and engaged in questionable off-field behavior, which gave pause to several rival execs who said they did have some interest.
With the Jets already paying defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson big money, and former first-round pick Leonard Williams about to start making big money too in a few years, Richardson could be the odd man out and a potentially valuable trade chip at the combine.
