FILE - This is a 2016 file photo showing Barkevious Mingo of the Cleveland Browns NFL football team. A person familiar with the deal says the Browns are trading disappointing linebacker Barkevious Mingo to the New England Patriots. The sides agreed to the deal on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade has not been finalized. ESPN.com first reported the deal. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - This is a 2016 file photo showing Barkevious Mingo of the Cleveland Browns NFL football team. A person familiar with the deal says the Browns are trading disappointing linebacker Barkevious Mingo to the New England Patriots. The sides agreed to the deal on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade has not been finalized. ESPN.com first reported the deal. (AP Photo/File)

Cleveland — The Cleveland Browns traded disappointing linebacker Barkevious Mingo to the New England Patriots in exchange for a 2017 fifth-round pick.

The teams announced the deal on Thursday.

The Browns selected Mingo with the No. 6 pick in 2013. The former LSU standout has recorded just seven sacks in three seasons and spent much of last season on special teams.

Mingo’s size — 6-foot-4, 240 pounds — and speed have made him intriguing, but none of Cleveland’s coaching staff has found the best way to utilize him. The Browns moved the 25-year-old Mingo from outside linebacker to inside earlier this summer.

“(He’s) working hard, and he’s showing up on (special) teams. We’d like to see him show up more in the defense,” Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said on Thursday, before the deal was announced. “Very positive attitude. Barkevious plays his tail off.

“If I could take his energy and effort and pour it into every player, we would have a great thing. He’s a guy who sets a tone in terms of the effort he lays out there every day, and we appreciate that. Both the staff and Barkevious have to find a way to find some productivity for him.”

Now the Patriots will be tasked with trying to maximize Mingo’s abilities. He has been a colossal disappointment thus far, but Patriots coach Bill Belichick is known for developing players and getting the most out of them.

Mingo has played 46 games with 16 starts, compiling 99 tackles, an interception, 16 passes defensed and a fumble recovery. Former Browns CEO Joe Banner and ex-general manager Mike Lombardi drafted him an edge rusher, but he has tallied just seven career sacks — five as a rookie in 2013, two in 2014 and none in 2015.

The Browns now own Philadelphia’s 2017 first-round pick, Tennessee’s 2017 second-round pick, New England’s 2017 fifth-round pick, Indianapolis’ 2017 seventh-round pick and Philadelphia’s 2018 second-round pick.

Cleveland has conditionally surrendered its 2017 fourth-round pick to Philadelphia and its 2017 sixth- or seventh-round pick to San Francisco.

It is the second move New England has made this week after dealing center Bryan Stork to Washington.

The Patriots don’t have a great deal of depth behind veteran linebackers Dont’a Hightower, Jaime Collins and Jonathan Freeny, so Mingo could possibly make an impact there.

There’s also an opportunity for him on the outside, with two of the Patriots’ pass rushers that were projected to have key roles this season — Rob Ninkovich and Jabaal Sheard — working their way back from recent injuries.