Necessary change! Maccagnan made right decision to send Richardson packing

TANK you, Mike Maccagnan. This is what you do when your head coach, off a 5-11 nightmare season, moves to change a toxic culture by instituting a One Team, One Goal — you jettison one player whose one goal has been trashing former teammate Brandon Marshall following a series of off-thefield disturbances.

This is what you do when you have absolutely no intention of signing that player to a big free-agent contract next season.

Sheldon Richardson wore out his welcome and had to go, and what Maccagnan did Friday was help two franchises — and one of them was actually the Jets.

“We think it’s a good trade for both teams,” Maccagnan said.

A good trade for a team that wants to win now (Seahawks) and a good trade for a team that wants to win tomorrow (Jets). And a good trade for a coach who cannot afford to let the inmates run U.S. am- bassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson’s American asylum.

The key for Maccagnan, and maybe for Bowles if he somehow survives the 2017 season, emotionally and otherwise, is not so much getting wide receiver Jermaine Kearse for Richardson as much as it is a second-round draft choice, even if it likely will be towards the end of the round.

Never mind that Kearse, who has deep-threat ability, immediately becomes the Go To Guy for Josh McCown or Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg, or all three amigos in their three-wing circus.

He isn’t going to jeopardize the Jets’ chances of being futile enough for a legitimate chance at drafting Sam Darnold. The Jets still have no present, and ownership and management don’t particularly want one.

But now there is at least a chance, flush with cap money as they will be, that they will have a future.

The new second-rounder also gives Maccagnan capital should he need to move up for his next — and first — franchise quarterback.

For the Seahawks, adding Richardson alongside Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, the future is now. And for a player who desperately needed a change of scenery, Pete Carroll would seem to be the right coach at the right time, and the Seahawks, with their winning culture, may be the right team at the right time for a player who will have a chance to show he has grown up, at least in a contract year.

For those Jets fans who may grumble about The Curse (yes, rhymes with Kearse) Of The Second Round Pick — well, for every Hackenberg and Devin Smith, at least there was a Mark Gastineau and Wesley Walker once, long before Maccagnan drafted Hackenberg and Smith, and rookie Marcus Maye looks like the real deal.

Kearse, 27, averaged 15.7 yards per catch in 2013, but dropped to 12.4 last season. He has never caught more than five touchdowns in a season. He is not Jerry Rice.

He did, however, make one of the greatest Super Bowl catches — just before The Worst Play Call in Super

Bowl history when Marshawn Lynch didn’t get the ball from the 1-yard line and Russell Wilson was intercepted in the end zone by Malcolm Butler — a juggling 33-yarder on his back that was tipped by Butler and bounced off his leg that gave the Seahawks first-and-goal at the New England 5 on the final drive of Super Bowl XLIX. Kearse had caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in overtime of the NFC Championship against the Packers to send the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Oh, and he can block.

“We thought it was a good fit and good value for what we’re trying to accomplish here both short-and longterm,” Maccagnan said.

Maccagnan was dealing from a position of strength on the defensive line. Muhammad Wilkerson secured his big payday and Leonard Williams will be next in line.

From a strict talent standpoint, Maccagnan came out on the short end, but you take what you can get while you can get it. Richardson was Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2013, and Rex Ryan said, “I think he has a great future here.” His future, marred by NFL suspensions and driving his Bentley 143 mph with a 12-year-old child inside, was better only than that of former GM John Idzik, who drafted him with the 13th pick.

From a character standpoint, Maccagnan came out a winner, but the pressure will be on him to make this second second-rounder count.

“We’ve really liked Sheldon,” Maccagnan said.

They like him much better out of sight and out of mind, tank you very much.