Jabaal Sheard and the Cleveland Browns are busy making long-term plans.
The productive outside linebacker told reporters Tuesday that his camp has spoken with the team about a contract extension.
"Hopefully it works out,"Â Sheard said, per the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. "Love it here. (I) want to be here when (the) city erupts."
The 2011 second-round pick quietly has served as one of Cleveland's most consistent defenders, chalking up 21 sacks over 45 starts and showing well against the run. Playing under his third coordinator in as many seasons, Sheard's scheme versatility is unusual.
He thrived at defensive end in Dick Jauron's four-man front before producing as a 3-4 outside 'backer under Ray Horton last autumn.
Set to unleash Sheard from multiple positions on the field, coach Mike Pettine told The Plain Dealer that he has "big plans" for the 6-foot-2, 255-pound veteran.
In Nicholas Dawidoff's "Collision Low Crossers" -- chronicling the 2011 Jets -- Pettine is painted as a coach always on the hunt for "bitch-kitty pass rushers."
"By this he meant," per Dawidoff, "a defensive end or, in a 3-4 alignment, an outside linebacker who would smell a warm quarterback and become an insatiable, unblockable, pocket-infiltrating force of war-daddy bedlam."
With Sheard paired alongside Barkevious Mingo and Paul Kruger, Pettine has inherited a swarm of young defensive talent primed to make the Browns an interesting watch in 2014.
The end to the latest "Around The League Podcast" is full of shock and awe.
