What Will Jabaal Sheard's Impact Be on New England Patriots Defense?

Jabaal Sheard fielded questions from reporters roughly 30 feet away from New England Patriots Hall of Fame outside linebacker Willie McGinest. He could do nothing but smile as he glanced in McGinest's direction.

"That's a guy that I watch film on still to this day, how he used to rush and how he used to attack and how he was relentless," Sheard said. "Watching a great is something you always want to do, how they rush. The game doesn't change. His relentless effort is what got him there."

There's no pressure on Sheard to be the second coming of McGinest thanks to a pair of talented starting edge defenders who are already in the fold. What Sheard will do is fill a similar role, and a valuable role at that—even if that role is notably smaller than McGinest's.

The two are nearly the same dimensions: Sheard is 6'3" and 264 pounds, while McGinest is 6'5" and 270. But where McGinest was one of the rare "big men" with the athleticism to drop into coverage and be successful at it, Sheard is still honing his craft in that respect.

The question with Sheard is whether he will be a situational pass-rusher or if he will be a three-down player to truly "spell" starting edge defenders Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich. At this point, Sheard's best fit may be in the former role.

"He's a good player. He's long, has good playing strength, pretty instinctive," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Saturday. "He's played on the end of the line for his whole career going back to Pitt and in the NFL and now with us. That's pretty much where he's going to play for us."

Jones and Ninkovich have each played on nearly every defensive snap on the end of the line when they have been healthy enough to do so. Jones missed six games in 2014, and the Patriots scaled back his snaps a little when he returned to the fold. 

Sheard may not be an exact fit in McGinest's role, but thanks to the presence of Jones and Ninkovich, he doesn't have to be. 

Sheard notched 23 sacks in four years with the Cleveland Browns, but he may have been even more productive if the Browns hadn't changed defensive schemes so much over the course of his career. He had three different defensive coordinators in his four years with the Browns: Dick Jauron (2011-2012), Ray Horton (2013) and Jim O'Neil (2014, though head coach Mike Pettine could be characterized as the "true" coordinator for the Browns).

Sheard was a force in Jauron's 4-3 front, and he notched 15.5 sacks in his first two years in the NFL. When Horton and Pettine came along and brought the 3-4 scheme with them, Sheard's production dipped to just 7.5 sacks in the past two years. 

The Browns never figured out how he would fit into their scheme. The Patriots handed over $11 million and $5 million guaranteed on a two-year contract, which indicates that they know exactly how they will use him.

And why wouldn't they? Sheard told media in May that the team hosted him for a predraft visit back in 2011.

"I actually did visit here coming out of the draft," Sheard said. "I thought I was going to end up here at first. I think I came and visited a week before the draft. [I met] Coach Belichick and met with a couple of the coaches and here I am."

The Patriots thought he was a fit for their scheme way back then; why wouldn't he be a fit now? 

And thus far, it seems that he's been fitting right in. Belichick says the fifth-year veteran has done well in adjusting to the fundamentals of the Patriots defense.

"

I don't think there's been a huge amount of surprises with him. He's been in the league for four years. Mike [Lombardi] was in Cleveland with him, so we have a pretty good insight here. I would just say the system he played in there—he actually played in a couple of different systems there, and our system is a little bit different, so there's been an adjustment for him there with some of our techniques or assignments.

Overall, a lot of things that we do, he's done, so there's been a little bit of an adjustment, but he's done well with that.

"

Sheard is in an enviable position in New England. He has the chance to be a savior of sorts, but he probably won't be the victim of the scrutiny of the Patriots defense if it falls short of expectations. 

That's because he won't be starting, although he'll be a key in the rotation. 

In time, Sheard could be a key to the Patriots defense. That time probably is not now. Not with two talented pass-rushers ahead of him on the depth chart. 

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand or via team news release.