Packers Sam Shields almost a Cleveland Brown?

The Cleveland Browns wanted Sam Shields on a plane for a visit the minute free agency opened. Drew Rosenhaus, Shields’ agent had it organized, according to ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky. Rosenhaus had been in talks with three teams on Shields’ behalf. Lucky for Shields and the Packers, they came to a $39 million deal before any teams could touch the star cornerback.

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“Most of the time I was scared because, like I said, I wanted to be a Packer,” Shields said, via NFL Nation. “You know how that business goes. It’s kind of scary at first, but they came with it. I’m happy to be back.”

The Packers got their No. 1 cornerback back and Shields got to stay in Green Bay. The market showed how important the position is to NFL teams, as Joe Haden, Richard Sherman, Aqib Talib and Darrelle Revis received big deals.

Without Shields, the Packers would have certainly faced depth-issues at corner and may have had to target a player in the draft, as free agency quickly dried up with quality corners.

His loss could have had brought down the Packers defense a rung in a hurry. And it seems like they got a good value on a cornerback that’s on the rise.

“I’m really happy because Sam’s best football is still in front of him,” Packers cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt said, via ESPN.com.

“I honestly believe he has two more years of ascending and then he’s going to play at that level for another four years. That’s six years of just really good football ahead of him and by then he’s 32. He might have more, I don’t know what he’s going to have after that, but I see two more years of getting better and four more of holding that type of high-quality play.”