The Cleveland Browns did the unthinkable this week: Trade the face of the franchise when they shipped off pass rusher Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. The deal included three draft picks plus DE Jared Verse.
Verse is a good player. He isn’t Garrett, but he is three years younger and has accolades of his own.
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RELATED: GET TO KNOW JARED VERSE
Now that he is settling into the Northeastern Ohio area, he has had his first press conference as a Cleveland Brown. He said he had a sister who lives in Dayton, where he attended elementary school before growing up in Pennsylvania. Despite being a three-time all-conference player in high school, he had only one college offer. He admitted that he never even watched football on TV until he was a college football athlete.
So, was he a Browns fan growing up after spending some of his childhood in Ohio? He admits he has never had a favorite NFL team.
With Verse now on the Browns, being the 2024 “NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year” recipient, this means Cleveland now has the last two players to win this distinction on their current roster, as linebacker Carson Schwesinger won it for 2025.
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Verse has been in the NFL for two seasons and was voted to the Pro Bowl both years. In each season, the Rams went to the playoffs.
In 2024, LA beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-9 and then lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 28-22. Last year, the Rams defeated the Carolina Panthers 34-31 in a tough battle, beat the Chicago Bears 20-17 in overtime, and then succumbed to the Seattle Seahawks 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game. So, Verse has extensive playoff experience.
And something that hasn’t been mentioned much except for in the profile at the link above. Verse participated in three sports in high school. In track, his events were the 100-meter, 200-meter, the 4×100 relays, and the 4×400 relays, in which his school won the state championship.
At the time, Verse was 6’-4”, 254 pounds, and played tight end on offense and defensive end on defense. He was a big dude, but his track events weren’t the shot put or discus like most big guys who participate in track. His events were all for sprinters. Marinate on that a bit.
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Here are seven takes from Verse’s first presser
His opinion of going from a 3-4 defense to Cleveland’s 4-3
“This is an attacking front. That’s kind of my style. I want to get to it, and I want to have a defined situation and not have time to think too much, or without having to slow down and read keys. I like it a lot.”
His reaction to being traded from the Rams to the Browns
“Yeah, it caught me by surprise. I loved LA. I loved the coaches, the organization, my teammates, the staff, the fans, and the whole vibe of LA. It was upsetting. I was upset for a good little bit of time. But when you are an athlete, you understand the nature of business. People do what they think is best for their business. That’s the situation that I’m in. I’m happy to be part of the Browns and that they believed in me. I truly do believe in everybody in the locker room. I had two choices: work or give up. I ain’t never been a quitter.”
Being paired with LB Carson Schwesinger
“That boy can fly. He can work. I like that a lot. I like knowing that’s behind me and don’t have to worry about if something is going on, and play freely. If someone gets by me, he’s going to be able to handle it and clean everything up. That’s the exciting factor of it. Watching him and other guys in the weight room, how they are on the field, he is not messing around. You can tell how a team is by how they practice. It translates. This is not a losing team out there.”
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Him being the guy that the Browns traded Myles Garrett for
“I’m not here to fill anyone’s shoes. Myles is a Nike size 13, I’m a size 13 ½ or 14 Jordans. Everybody’s different. I’m here to bring my own. I’m here to work and here to be the best version of me, which will be the best defensive player in the league and play for the best defense in the league. Hard work never fails you. It’s good to know that this trade wouldn’t go through unless I were a part of it. That brought some sunshine to this whole situation. I saw that and said, ‘They want me.’ It was cool to know that.”
How he describes his game
“It’s violent. It’s very mean. It’s very ‘why are you in my way’? I play angry because why do you think you can block me? And if they gameplan for me, I’ve got something else for you. It’s a very violent game against me. I’m about a lot of things. I am a big family person. I care about the people who are close to me. The one thing I hold above all is God, then work. I care about lifting, running, and how I can get faster.”
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The fact that he is leaving a veteran-established roster for a younger Browns squad
“I feel great about it. When you go into a younger team and a younger situation, a lot of people have their heads all over the place. Some people are talking too much and think we don’t take this seriously. That’s not the problem here. Here, they want to work too much, be focused, and driven. That is a testament to the coaching staff and the new foundation that everyone’s about to lay down. We may be a year apart, two years apart, but all we care about is how we can be the best version of ourselves on that field. When you know someone, you play harder for them.”
What he brings to the Browns with his playoff experience
“During the regular season, every game matters. Before the regular season, you have the preseason. Before preseason, you have camp. Before camp, you have today. The first thing before worrying about the playoffs is making the playoffs. Once you get there, the margin for error is so small. You can’t mess up. If you take one step too wide, and boom! The “B” gap’s wide open, and they’re running the ball for 60 yards downfield. You take one step too small; the edge is wide open.”
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