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The New England Patriots have officially signed OLB Jabaal Sheard, per multiple reports:
The #Patriots signed former #Browns DE Jabaal Sheard to a 2-year deal worth $11M. $5.5M guaranteed. They liked him in the draft.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2015
Sheard made the transition to a 3-4 outside linebacker two seasons ago, but spent the first two years of his career as a 4-3 defensive end, a role he seemed more suited for. Now that he has shown his overall versatility, I imagine he's likely to return to being a defensive end with the Patriots, in which case this is a nice find for them.
I was fine with the Browns letting Sheard go, as I just didn't think he was the best fit for our defense any more. However, I also expected Cleveland to find a replacement for him, but that hasn't been the case. If nobody else is added, Paul Kruger and Barkevious Mingo would still be the outside linebackers, but there wouldn't be a proven third wheel to form a complete rotation. When we conducted a poll earlier this month, 58% of fans thought the team should have tried to re-sign Sheard.