Jabaal Sheard eats for charity

Walking into a Smokey Bones restaurant, you expect to see certain things, including: sports on the televisions, karaoke, trivia nights. What you don’t expect to see is a 6’3 265lb mountain of a man chowing down on a 2+lb ribeye steak for charity. That is exactly what I walked into the Smokey Bones restaurant in Tyngsboro, MA this past week. New England Patriots defensive end Jabaal Sheard should be preparing for the start of training camp, but instead he is spending some time being charitable. Sitting behind a table with a giant ribeye steak, 2 salads, 2 double sized side dishes and a bag of Smokey Bones’ donuts.

Pairing Sheard and Smokey Bones together for charity, seems to be the perfect mix. Why would a man eat so much food? “ I really love my charities and want to help benefit them any way I can,” Sheard said after he finished taking photos with 40 or 50 fans at the restaurant. The Tamara James Foundation and Hollywood Hills Football Booster Club are two charities that Sheard is a part of, and that both benefited from the partnership with Smokey Bones. Each charity received $2,000 from the restaurant chain, along with another $500 each that was raised at the event itself. The Tamara James Foundation helps out underprivileged youths achieve more in sports by offering scholarships and opportunities that wouldn’t normally be available to them. The Hollywood Hills Football Booster Club is a group that sponsors his alma mater down in the area of Hollywood, FL. “I have done some other events for the Booster Club before. We just did a backpack drive for them. I try and do some camps, when I have the time,” Sheard had to say about how involved he is when it comes to the charities.

With the launching of the 2+ lb bone-in ribeye from Smokey Bones, hopefully we will see some more pairings with NFL stars and donating some more money to charity. There are 65 locations across 16 states, including 3 new locations that opened back in 2015. I love to see events like this where athletes and companies join together for the betterment of a community, and being a New England Patriot fan, and a fan of great food, it was just even more incredible to see. When people in the public eye take time out of their day to help underprivileged individuals achieve their goals, it’s a great cause.

The Patriots have begun training camp, with their first game to be played next week. Jabaal Sheard is the starting defensive end for the New England Patriots. Taking over the left side of the line after the trade of chandler jones to the cardinals in the offseason. He was the 37th pick in the 2011 draft by the Cleveland Browns out of Pitt.