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NFL

CB Shields returning to NFL with Rams contract

Sam Shields’ NFL comeback will start with the Los Angeles Rams, who announced Thursday that they signed the former Green Bay Packers cornerback.

Shields, 30, didn’t play last season after the Packers released him in February. Before he was released, he had played in just one game in 2016 and missed four games in 2015 because of concussions.

The former Pro Bowl cornerback never returned from the concussion he suffered in the Packers’ 2016 season opener at Jacksonville. It was the fourth concussion of his NFL career and second in nine months.

“Some days it’s tough headaches. Some days it’s mild,” Shields said in January 2017. “It varies. I never know. I’m so used to it that it’s just normal. Like I said, each day it’s getting better. I’ll be back.”

Cornerback Sam Shields is getting a chance to return to the NFL with the Rams. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

When healthy, Shields was one of the top cover cornerbacks in the league. He has 23 interceptions (including the playoffs) since entering the league in 2010. From 2012 to 2016, Peters generated either an interception or a pass defended on 16.2 percent of targets thrown into his coverage, fifth-best among corners during that stretch, according to Pro Football Focus.

Shields, who won a Super Bowl with the 2010 Packers and made the Pro Bowl in 2014, will provide the Rams with some much-needed depth at outside corner.

The Rams recently acquired All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. But their No. 2 corner, Kayvon Webster, is recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in December, and there isn’t much depth behind him.

The Shields signing is yet another indication that the Rams don’t have much confidence in their ability to retain Trumaine Johnson, who spent the past two seasons playing under the franchise tag and is expected to have a robust market in free agency.

Information from ESPN’s Rob Demovsky and Alden Gonzalez was used in this report.

Soccer

Report: PSG prefers Pochettino or Conte to succeed embattled Emery

Paris Saint-Germain is beginning to gather the names of potential replacements for manager Unai Emery, and Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte apparently top the French behemoth’s list.

Another early elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday – this time at the hands of Real Madrid in the round-of-16 stage – ended Emery’s hopes of extending his contract beyond its expiration this summer, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Johnson.

And a change at the helm could be made sooner rather than later after Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar and founder of the consortium that owns Paris Saint-Germain, left the Parc des Princes before the 2-1 second-leg defeat to Los Blancos concluded. The notion of having an interim manager has been mooted, with assistants Maxwell and Zoumana Camara linked to a short-term role.

Pochettino has long been admired by the PSG hierarchy due to his exploits in England in charge of Southampton and, most notably, Tottenham Hotspur. Some sources told Johnson that a move for the Argentinian seems to be inevitable, and a bond already exists between Pochettino and PSG through his work in the club’s defence between 2001 and 2003.

Conte is also on club president and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s radar due to his ability to draw short-term success. The Italian’s relationship with his employers at Chelsea has been under question this season as he oversees a limp Premier League title defence, and has been quoted questioning the club’s ambition and transfer policy.

Outside bets to replace Emery are Andre Villa-Boas and Carlo Ancelotti. Sporting director Antero Henrique is reportedly keen on the former, but his own post at the club could be untenable as the continental failure threatens a shake-up at various levels. If Henrique leaves, that could usher in Ancelotti’s return due to the decorated manager wanting a greater say in transfers than he experienced in his first tenure, which ended in 2013.