Countdown to 2020: Best Cleveland Browns player to wear No. 97

The Cleveland Browns have a rich and illustrious history. With only 97 days until the Browns season opener, we look at the best Browns player to ever wear number 97.

The countdown to the 2020 NFL season is upon us. With 97 days remaining until the Browns season opener, we continue the countdown by celebrating the best Cleveland Browns player to ever wear number 97 — Jabaal Sheard.

Jabaal Sheard was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round, 37th overall, in the 2011 NFL draft out of the University of Pittsburgh. Sheard was considered a borderline first-round pick, and the Browns getting him in the second round was considered a solid draft choice at the time.

The Browns’ first-round pick in 2011 was also a defensive lineman, Phil Taylor, so it appeared they had solidified what had been a struggling positional group in previous seasons.

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Sheard was an immediate day one starter for the Browns at left defensive end. He displayed the high motor that made him the 37th overall pick in the draft the first day he stepped foot on the practice field. The 6-foot-3, 268-pound rookie played like his hair was on fire his first year with the Browns.

As a rookie, Sheard led the team in sacks with 8.5 with five forced fumbles. He also added 55 combined tackles with 40 of those being of the solo variety. Sheard’s nine tackles for loss and additional quarterback hits were both good enough to finish second on the team.

Sheard’s rookie sack total led all NFL rookies in 2011, including J.J. Watt. His play earned him a spot on the Pro Football Writers Association All-Rookie team.

Sheard followed up his stellar rookie reason with another solid effort in his sophomore campaign. He registered seven sacks with an identical 55 combined tackles and nine tackles for loss in his second season with Cleveland. It appeared that Sheard was well on his way to becoming a key building block on the Browns defense.

However, after the 2012 season there was a full-scale coaching change and Ray Horton was brought in to be the defensive coordinator. Horton moved Sheard to right outside linebacker. The positional move proved costly to Sheard’s effectiveness as a disrupter. The third-year player saw a significant dip in all his key statistical categories.

2014 brought much of the same, even with yet another defensive coordinator, and at season’s end the Browns chose not to resign Sheard. He was immediately signed by the Patriots, where he was placed back at defensive end and put up very similar numbers to what he racked up his first two years in Cleveland.

Sheard is currently a free agent who is looking for a home to harass quarterbacks.