The Cleveland Browns are rolling along with training camp, with plenty of new players and coaches from last year’s roster. Most notable of the missing is All-World pass rusher Myles Garrett.
In his stead is the young Jared Verse, who was part of the trade for Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams.
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Verse has come out repeatedly and stated that he is not on the Browns roster to become Myles Garrett 2.0. He realizes that you can’t copy greatness. Instead, he wants
the Cleveland fanbase to understand that he is a player with talent on his own accord. Not a copy of the original, but another original of a different breed.
He has his own credentials and accolades. Verse is five years younger. He has some things that Garrett doesn’t, like the fact that Verse was named to the Pro Bowl in his first two years in the league. Garrett got his first Pro Bowl nod at the conclusion of his second year. Verse was crowned “NFL Rookie Defensive Player of the Year,” whereas Garrett was not. In their first two-year comparisons, Verse had more tackles and more drive-ending tackles.
But again, Verse does not want to be compared to Garrett. Who would?
Verse recently had a long conversation with Yahoo! Sports regarding him relocating from the Rams to the Browns, and talked with Jori Epstein. For starters, the trade rattled him a bit.
“Getting that news, in a way, it kind of broke me and made me really sad. It sucked. It was a terrible feeling. But right after they told me, I locked back in.”
The Rams went all the way to the NFC Championship Game last season, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. Suddenly, he was on a plane to a club that had only won eight games in the past two seasons and had fired its head coach. Trading beaches, year-round sun, and Hollywood for Lake Erie, snow, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
But Verse knew that life goes on, and the NFL is a business.
“There are a few moments in your life that genuinely sculpt you into who you are as a person. And I genuinely don’t want to overemphasize it. I mean, obviously I’m still alive today [and] it’s not the end of the world.”
Verse came from a defensive unit that was ranked #17 overall to a club that has lived with its defensive progress ranked #4. Of course, this was the effort of former DC Jim Schwartz. In his place is Mike Rutenberg, who is not a Schwartz disciple. New head coach Todd Monken stated early that the defense would continue to flow along the Schwartz train, but so far, there have been quite a few changes in personnel. Including the addition of Verse.
He believes he can make a difference in Cleveland while at the same time keeping the continuity of the defense’s ranking.
“My job is to be the best me. I’ve told a thousand people, I’m not here to replace Myles. That’s not my job. It’s not my description. When I signed any contract, that’s not part of anything I signed.”
Several months later, post-trade, OTAs and minicamps aside, Verse has spent quite a bit of time in the weight room and brought back one of his college trademarks: trash talking. As a rookie with the Rams, head coach Sean McVay jumped all over Verse about the habit, so he stopped the practice. But he hasn’t heard a note from Monken or DC Rutenberg or D-Line coach Jacques Cesaire for that matter.
“If I beat you, you’re going to know about it. And then you’re going to receive advice.”
But just because he beats a guy, or shows him up, does not mean he is doing his own salsa dance after getting to the quarterback in a black jersey. Recently, he beat rookie OT Spencer Fano and basically embarrassed the newbie. However, Verse remained after practice and summoned Fano. The two worked together so that Verse could explain what happened and guided the young tackle on how to use more inside leverage and athleticism against speedy rushers.
The NFL is another level with much faster outside pass rushers. Including Verse. He not only used the time to show Fano several flaws in his pass protection, but he also gave him some advice and words of confidence.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, man, you’re a very athletic tackle. When you go up against regular ends, you can do that move. But you got to face Trey Hendrickson this year. You got to face T.J. Watt and Josh Hines-Allen in your first game. These dudes are going to make you pay for it.”
Verse has made a transition to the Browns’ way of attacking an offensive backfield. With the Rams, they were more about decisive pursuits, whereas Cleveland preaches an attack-style front that does not require a traditional read-and-react scheme.
Coming to Cleveland, the Browns will use him as a pass rusher who has upper-body strength but brings 4.58 speed. It worked well with Garrett, and the coaching staff sees Verse getting high sack and pressure numbers this year because the system boosts Verse’s sack objectives.
Cesaire spent 11 years in the NFL as a defensive end. He played in 125 games with 220 total tackles, 12.5 sacks, and 19 QB hits. He was one of Schwartz’s coaches who has remained on Monken’s staff. So, a lot of Schwartz’s techniques are being transferred through Cesaire. He has already been working on Verse’s moves and counter shifts.
And the defensive line as a whole has been in a flux of improvement over the past few years that has now come to fruition: DT Mason Graham, DT Maliek Collins, DE Alex Wright, and now Verse. The backups have quality as well: Adin Huntington, Isaiah McGuire, Kalia Davis, Julian Okwara, and the jury is still out on former second-round pick Mike Hall.
Verse stated:
“I’m here now. Mason [Graham]’s a better player. We got (LB) Quincy Williams. We got all these dogs across the board. We got our DBs in the secondary getting paid. This is some dog work. I ain’t going to lie. I’m excited to see what happens.”
The Browns actually can have a good win-loss record this year. They have the last-place schedule, so a lot of their games are against the lower half of the league. While they kick off the year with two playoff clubs from last year, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, they play the New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and the New York Football Giants. All bad teams from last year.
Plus, the AFC North Division is no longer the toughest division in the NFL. Every team in the division is a coin flip and could become a split for the Browns, which would add three more wins to their final tally. Remember, last season the Cincinnati Bengals only won one more game than Cleveland, and the Baltimore Ravens went 8-9-0.
“We’re not here to rebuild and tank for the No. 1 pick of whoever’s going to be up for quarterback or running back or wide receiver. We’re not tanking for any of that. It’s not like a rebuild year where we’re trying to go out there and get three wins, four wins, nothing like that. We’re here to win. I know a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it’s the Browns. They got this, they got that. They lost Myles, who’s a great player.’ ”
Vegas has the Browns’ win total projected at 5.5 games. Yes, the quarterback situation remains in flux, and that is a huge thing that will keep the win totals down. But Verse sees the talent. He sees an improved offense. He sees that the defense will carry on Schwartz’s direction. And he hopes that this year will become a special year for his teammates and the Browns fanbase.
Every NFL season, four new clubs, on average, become new playoff teams from the year before. Verse believes that Cleveland can go that route:
“When we exceed expectations and go farther than anybody expects us to, I’m ready to see the look on everybody’s face.”
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