Sheldon Richardson Trade Saves Jets $5.8 Million Against Salary Cap in 2017

Today’s trade between the Jets and the Seahawks has created $5.8 million in salary cap space for the Jets.

Richardson had a salary of a tad over $8 million. The Jets are not charged any dead money for trading Richardson due to the structure of his contract. He was on the fifth year option of his rookie deal, meaning the Jets do not retain any of the cap hit on his deal.

The Jets did absorb the contract of Jermaine Kearse, however. Kearse’s 2017 cap hit for the Jets is around $2.2 million. Subtract the two numbers, and you get the cap savings.

The finances likely explain why Kearse was part of this deal. Richardson had spoken a few weeks ago about potential trades and noted teams did not want to take on his full $8 million cap hit. Kearse probably isn’t a player with a ton of value to the Jets long-term, but Seattle dropping his cap hit helps reduce the net cap hit they take in this deal.