After an offseason in which the New York Jets purged their roster of several veteran players making a lot of money, the team is widely expected to tank in 2017 in order to land a top quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft.

However, that memo apparently hasn’t been received by former Mizzou DL Sheldon Richardson, who very vocally insisted to NJ.com that the Jets wouldn’t be tanking on his watch, saying he and the other players work too hard to simply give up on a season:

“Whatever,” Richardson said. “I mean, I don’t tank nothing. So that’s all opinions outside of this organization. We don’t come here — and we’re not going to go through training camp, and have 14-hour days — to go tank a season. I’ll be damned.”

He doubled down on those statements, adding that everyone still on the Jets’ roster will be playing to prove they belong in the NFL:

“Everybody here feels like they’ve got something to prove,” he said. “Everybody. We’re not selling ourselves short. We’re not trying to tank a season or nothing like that.”

However, unless Richardson learns to play quarterback and linebacker in addition to his defensive line position, it’s unlikely the Jets will be very good this fall.

If New York lands the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, it’s possible USC QB Sam Darnold could be heading to the Big Apple next year. Then, the Jets could start to build around their young franchise quarterback.