When he woke up on Monday, new Cleveland Browns defensive end Jared Verse was a third-year defensive end with two Pro Bowl appearances on his resume, with a veteran team around him, with the league MVP as the quarterback he lined up against in practice, and with a Super Bowl bid in sight. Hours later, he had been swapped from the idyllic conditions on the LA Rams to Cleveland, winners of eight games in the past two years and one playoff game in this century, a team with a new head coach and no credible starting quarterback.
We should, then, appreciate the honesty from the 25-year-old Verse when he sat in front of the media for the first time in Berea on Wednesday afternoon and was asked about his emotions after the trade.
He wasn’t thrilled, and did not claim to be.
Jared Verse: Browns Trade ‘Caught Me by Surprise’
Verse told Browns reporters: “It caught me by surprise. I loved LA. I love the coaches, the organization, the coaches, my teammates, everybody who is part of the organization, the staff. I loved the whole vibe of LA, Los Angeles, the Rams. It was upsetting, I was upset for a good little bit of time. But when you’re an athlete, you understand the nature of the business. Everybody does what they think is best for their business and that’s the situation I am in.”
But Verse did get to the positive side of things, and insisted that he got past his upset quickly.
He said: “I am happy to be part of the Browns, happy that they were able to make that trade and bring me here. Be with my teammates, be with everybody here. I truly do believe in everybody in the locker room. But it was upsetting at first. But you got two choices. You can either work or you can give up. And I ain’t never been a quitter.”
Browns Play Attacking Defense
Both Browns players and reporters have been impressed by the brisk pace at which new coach Todd Monken runs his practices, and that was something that clearly caught Verse’s attention.
“They alive out there,” he said. “They’re moving fast, everybody, specifically the defense, that is what I am focusing on, the D-line was moving really well, the DBs are locked in on everything, the linebackers are making their calls very quickly, that is giving us time to get set. It was alive out there. I feel very confident in us.”
He also said that, in his brief experience with the style that the Browns will play defensively, he thinks he is a fit.
“They want to attack and that is kind of my style,” Verse said. “I am very attacking, I want to get to it, I want to have a defined situation and be able to get to my thing, every time without having to think too much, without having to think too much, without having to slow down and read keys. It’s exactly that, I like it a lot.”
Jared Verse Will Hold a Grudge
Now, Verse said, he will be out to put his mark on this season, and said he will carry a bit of a grudge against the Rams for trading him. He said he is accustomed to playing with a grudge, that it motivates him going back to his time in college–he started at Albany before he transferred to Florida State.
“It’s a different type of feeling,” Verse said. “I have always been doubted my whole life. Coming out of high school, one offer, going to college, leaving college I was less doubted but I still had that chip on my shoulder. Definitely puts a chip on my shoulder. When I was with the Rams, I was still learning how to be a defensive end, learning how to be a football player, an NFL player, how to play at this next level.
“And then the Browns got me, and they’re going to get the best of me. They’re not going to get a half-finished product or something you gotta work on, this is going to be the best version of me. Everything I have done this offseason, it is going to be great.”
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