Problem No. 1 for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns is the same Problem No. 1 they faced in Week 7 last year against the Los Angeles Rams: Defensive end Jared Verse.
After 12 sacks and 124 tackles in two years for the Rams, Verse was traded to the Browns with first-, second- and third-round draft picks for Myles Garrett, the NFL’s current best defensive player.
Verse debuts for Cleveland against the Jaguars on Sept. 13.
“He’s got a relentless motor,” Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “He’s wiry in his physicality. He’s strong and rocked up and all that, but he’s rangy and slippery in ways.”
Verse, 25, was a dominant pass rusher in the Rams’ 35-7 win over the Jaguars last October in London.
The Times-Union charted
53 defensive snaps for Verse. He lined up 48 times against the offensive tackle (mostly then-left tackle Walker Little), twice between the offensive tackle and guard, once over the guard and, on two third downs, off the ball across from center Robert Hainsey.
Verse was credited with eight “factor” snaps, plays in which he made the tackle or was involved in setting up the stop. On the first play, he had a clean-up sack and later had three solo pressures working against Little. Verse used a bull rush against then-right tackle/now-left tackle Anton Harrison for a pressure; Harrison lost his footing on the Wembley Stadium turf. All told, Verse had five pressures, one knockdown and one sack.
The Jaguars tried to be creative in how they blocked Verse. They used nine double teams (Little and left guard Ezra Cleveland) and more than 10 chip blocks by tight end Hunter Long and running backs LeQuint Allen Jr. and Travis Etienne.
The Jaguars’ offensive line will have a new left tackle (Harrison after his move from right tackle), left guard (rookie Emmanuel Pregnon), right guard (Cleveland after his move from left guard) and right tackle (Little, unless Cole Van Lanen is active and starts after not taking any team practice snaps in training camp).
How Verse will be deployed by new Cleveland defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg is unknown. Verse played only three preseason snaps (all against Chicago), all at right defensive end. But on third down, he could line up at several different spots, probing the best match-up for him to win a 1-on-1.
Verse started his career at FCS Albany (N.Y.) before transferring to Florida State for his final two years … and what a two years it was for him. He posted 18 sacks and 89 tackles in 25 games and was drafted No. 19 overall by the Rams.
“You can tell he understands the game of football,” Coen said. “He definitely makes a lot of things challenging, whether it’s in pass protection or in the run game that you have to have a plan for. He’s taken on a mindset to let it up and be a guy up front that leads the way.”
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays (4-7 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jared Verse is on new team, but presents same headache for Jaguars
