BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Jared Verse has earned plenty of accolades, including becoming the 16th player to win AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and making two Pro Bowl trips in his first two seasons.
But after being traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Cleveland Browns in the blockbuster Myles Garrett deal, Verse has different goals heading into his third season.
“I don’t have anything in my mind going like, ‘Oh, I want to win this, I want to do that.’
I’m just focused on 1-0,” Verse said as the Browns prepare for Sunday’s season opener at Jacksonville. “There have been too many times in my career I’ve been focused on what I can do and how to get to a position at the end of the season to be proud of.”
Verse led the Rams with 67 quarterback pressures last season and was second with 7 1/2 sacks. He has generated 143 pressures the past two seasons, tied for fifth-most in the league.
The Browns are hoping Verse can turn those pressures into more sacks.
“A lot of pressures, at least for me, come from bull rush. I bull rush him all the way to the quarterback, then I might end up giving a sack to somebody else. You need to work off your move and can’t get too connected to one thing,” Verse said.
Verse got a crash course in the defense after arriving in Cleveland on June 2, with only two weeks left in the offseason program. In early July, he attended the Sack Summit in Las Vegas, a yearly gathering of the NFL’s top pass rushers organized by the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby, Saints’ Cameron Jordan and former Broncos great Von Miller.
Verse then used training camp and the Aug. 20 joint practice against the Bills to try out some new moves and techniques, as well as making tweaks to suit his playing style.
“I wanted to try things I’m not comfortable with, try ghost moves and things I haven’t done in the season,” he said. “I tried moves, and they would kill everyone; I’d be like, ‘Alright, boom, I’m adding that to my bag.’ I also tried moves I had no business trying, and I’d be like, ‘Alright, let’s scrap this one and leave it to Von Miller or something.’ But I’ve learned a lot and got exactly where I want to be in my bag now.”
Verse also hasn’t been afraid to make sure his voice is being heard on the practice field or in the meeting rooms. Linebacker Quincy Williams was among many who said Verse has brought plenty of energy to the locker room.
Linebacker Carson Schwesinger is excited to see the impact Verse can have starting on Sunday. Verse faced the Jaguars last season while with the Rams and had one sack along with five pressures in Los Angeles’ 35-7 Week 7 victory.
“He’s strong, he’s rocked up and all that, and he can run down your face. He’s rangy, wiry, he’s slippery in ways,” Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “He definitely makes a lot of different things challenging, whether it’s in pass protection or in the run game that you have to have a plan for.”
Even though he was on the winning side last season, Verse knows that Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence is a dual threat. Lawrence was sixth in the league in passing yards (4,007) but also was the fourth player in NFL history with at least 25 passing and nine rushing touchdowns in a single season.
“He can go back there, and he can dot you up all day, but he can also run the ball around you if you give him those gaps of the seams,” Verse said about Lawrence. “We’re not going to rush scared because you can’t do that with anybody. If you rush scared, he’s just going to be back there dotting you up the whole time. We’re going to get after him.”
The Browns were fourth in the league in total defense last season, but have had significant changes. Besides the Garrett trade, Mike Rutenberg has taken over as coordinator after Jim Schwartz resigned.
“He’s such a unique guy. He’s really like a unicorn in that he sets a standard with his play style and who he is," Rutenberg said. "Really, what we saw early is what we continue to get. He sets that standard from the jump, in meetings, great questions, great insight.”
Even though Verse was traded from a Super Bowl contender to a team many expect to pick in the top 10 of the NFL Draft again, he doesn’t seem daunted by the change.
“Respect is a thing that you can’t just get. No one just hands you respect. You have to earn that every week,” he said. “Every Sunday is the biggest thing. And going out of this game 1-0 would give us the most respect we can possibly get.”
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