Sheldon Richardson, defensive tackle, New York Jets
This is an interesting one. Richardson appeared to be the next big deal in the Big Apple his first couple of seasons. He looked every bit as impressive as you’d expect from a No. 13 overall pick.
Then he was suspended before the 2015 season and hasn’t been the same dominating force since then. After making 143 tackles and 13 sacks in his first two seasons, Richardson tallied just 97 tackles and six sacks the past couple of years.
Now, Richardson is doing some stuff right. He was very solid against the run last year but really didn’t get much going in terms of pressuring opposing quarterbacks.
As a defensive end, that’s not good.
Richardson has a lot of work ahead of him to prove he’s still capable of owning the line of scrimmage. He is also playing out the fifth-year option of his rookie deal. He’ll be a free agent next year, which means this really is a humongous season for the young man.
If Richardson can get back to the dominant form we saw early in his career, he’ll be in line for a big payday. If not? Well, you don’t have to be a salary cap expert to know the answer to that question.