The Jets have been searching for a pass-rushing outside linebacker for a decade now. Since the team traded John Abraham, the role has gone unfilled despite the team throwing money and draft picks at it.

Now that search has gone north of the border. This offseason, the Jets signed Freddie Bishop III, who had 11 sacks for the Calgary Stampeders last season in the Canadian Football League. As the Jets open spring practices this week, Bishop is one of the most intriguing players on the roster.

“I don’t know that you compare the number, but 11 sacks is 11 sacks,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “I was in Miami when Cameron Wake got there, and we took him from Canada. Sometimes it takes guys time to develop, and you can develop over there and come back over here and be good players or can develop over there and have a career over there. We saw some things in Freddie, not just the sacks, but as far as him playing the position and knowing how to play the position that made him appealing to us and made us want to sign him.”

Last spring as he got settled into the job, Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan told his scouting department he wanted them to take a hard look at Canada. When Maccagnan was a young scout with the Redskins, he used to mine the CFL for overlooked talent. Pro personnel director Matt Bazirgan assigned scouts to every team in the CFL. When the Canadian season ended in November, the Jets had a list of players they wanted to work out. Bishop was on the list.

The Jets were not alone in their interest in Bishop. He worked out for seven teams before signing with the Jets. Bishop impressed the Jets with his power-rush moves. Bishop went undrafted out of Western Michigan in 2013, spent a brief time with the Lions that spring, then went to Canada.

At 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, Bishop looks the part of an outside linebacker.

“The biggest thing to me that stood out about him from Day 1 was just that this was clearly an athletic guy — one of those guys that you see in the uniform and he immediately passes that eyeball test,” said Duane Ford, a CFL analyst for TSN.

The Stampeders had some good pass rushers when Bishop got there, so he spent most of his first two years in the CFL watching and learning. He became a starter last year, and his impact was felt.

“He had to wait his turn, and then when he got his chance, he exploded,” said Glen Suitor, another TSN analyst.

He played opposite Stampeders star Charleston Hughes, a player most teams in the CFL game plan against, according to the analysts. That helped Bishop get more opportunities, but he took advantage of them.

“He’s a jack of all trades,” Stampeders defensive coordinator DeVone Claybrooks said. “He can play in coverage. We asked him to do a lot of things. We asked him to play inside at the three-technique where he was powerful enough to do that, but he’s also athletic enough to drop into coverage on zone blitzes, plus he is a very powerful and skilled pass rusher.”

Claybrooks played for the Cowboys in 2004 when Bowles and Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers were both position coaches there. Claybrooks told Bishop the Jets would be a great fit for him.

The Jets have a room of unproven outside linebackers. They have moved on from longtime starters Quinton Coples and Calvin Pace and now have a bunch of young players trying to win the job.

The 26-year-old faces a major adjustment coming back to the United States version of football. In Canada, defensive linemen line up 1 yard off the ball, so they have a running start at the offensive line. Bishop saw it as an advantage for the offense, but others disagree.

Bishop inevitably will be compared to Wake, who has become a star for the Dolphins after a CFL career, but that probably is unfair.

“He’s definitely not Cam Wake,” Forde said. “Cam is unique in any league he plays in. Cameron Wake up here was a guy who sort of dominated everybody he played against. Freddie, to me, in this league was a good player, but I wouldn’t describe him as a dominant Canadian Football League player.”

Even if he is not Wake, he has a shot at making the Jets if he can play special teams and show some ability off the edge. The Jets sold Bishop on getting a chance to compete.

“They told me the chances were good,” Bishop said. “They told me it was going to be an opportunity.”

The Jets waived TE Jerome Cunningham and signed rookie RB Romar Morris. The Jets claimed Cunningham two weeks ago off waivers from the Giants.