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NFL

Sources: Browns trading for Dolphins' Landry

The Cleveland Browns are trading two draft picks to the Miami Dolphins for wide receiver Jarvis Landry, sources tell ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Browns are also working on a new contract for Landry, and a deal is expected to get done, according to a source. Exact terms of the draft picks the Browns will give up are not yet known, but a league source said one is in 2018 and one in 2019, and none are higher than the third round.

The trade can become official on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Jarvis Landry is a sure-handed receiver who led the league in catches in 2017 with 112. Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports

On a busy day for the Browns, they have also agreed to trade a third-round draft pick to the Buffalo Bills for quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a source tells Schefter.

The Browns are badly in need of a receiver. As a group, the team’s wide receivers had seven touchdowns in 2017; Landry had nine. Kenny Britt, who was released in December, tied for the team lead in touchdowns for wide receivers with two (with Rashard Higgins and Corey Coleman). Higgins and Ricardo Louis led the Browns’ wide receivers with 27 catches.

Landry is a sure-handed receiver who led the league in catches in 2017 with 112; all Browns receivers had 134. ESPN Stats & Information reports the Browns have never had a 100-catch receiver. Landry missed 1,000 yards by 13, but had 1,136 and 1,157 yards the previous two seasons. In four seasons, Landry has 22 receiving touchdowns. The Browns as a team had 15 receiving touchdowns last season.

Only Antonio Brown (471) and Julio Jones (411) have more receptions than Landry’s 400 since he debuted in the NFL in 2014. Last season, Browns receivers caught 57 percent of the passes thrown to them; Landry has caught 71 percent in his career. He has been to the Pro Bowl three times.

The Dolphins placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Landry on Feb. 20, the first day teams could issue the designation to pending free agents. After meeting with Landry’s agent at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, the Dolphins gave the wide receiver permission to seek a trade. At least five teams expressed interest in Landry, including the Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

He was ejected in the Dolphins’ season finale against the Buffalo Bills after he was an instigator in a fourth-quarter brawl. Coach Adam Gase called the incident “embarrassing.”

On a busy day for the Browns, they have also agreed to trade a third-round draft pick to the Bills for quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a source tells Schefter.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Damarious Randall has also been informed he is being traded to Cleveland, per source.

Soccer

Dani Alves denies wiping nose on Ronaldo's shirt

Paris Saint-Germain full-back Dani Alves has rejected accusations that he wiped mucus on the back of Cristiano Ronaldo’s shirt in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Video footage appears to show Alves rubbing his nose before touching Ronaldo’s sleeve, but Alves is adamant that it’s misleading.

PSG ended up crashing out of Europe after losing 5-2 on aggregate.

“In my job, it’s not painful to be eliminated because that’s part of day-to-day life, but to have to see and read stupid things like this,” Alves wrote on Twitter, as translated by Spanish newspaper AS. “I will continue competing like I have done and leave the nonsense to stupid people.”

Ronaldo battled with Alves throughout the Champions League tie, at one point aiming a kick that just missed the Brazilian.

Their rivalry goes back to their El Clasico days, with Alves spending eight seasons at Barcelona.

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.

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Soccer