BEREA, Ohio -- Jared Verse took the field for his first practice with the Cleveland Browns last Tuesday, and when the team broke for individual drills, he quickly went to work on one of his biggest adjustments.
Verse crouched into a four-point stance and worked on perfectly timing his get-off as an assistant mimicked a snap with a football.
In his first two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, Verse was an outside linebacker in their 3-4 scheme, typically rushing passers from a two-point stance. In the Browns’ 4-3 defense, Verse will find himself chasing after quarterbacks from a three- and four-point stance as a defensive end.
Verse, 25, is already a two-time Pro Bowler and the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Browns coach Todd Monken said he sees a “world of upside” for Verse, and his fit in Cleveland’s defensive scheme is a major part of that optimism.
“This is an attacking front, and that’s kind of my style,” Verse said. “I’ll be attacking. I want to get to it. I want to have a defined situation, just be able to do my thing every time without having to think too much or without having to slow down and read keys. And it’s exactly that. I like it a lot.”
The Browns’ trading of Myles Garrett, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, to the Rams leaves an enormous void in a defense that has been one of the league’s best in recent years. However, Cleveland’s valuation of Verse, paired with a trio of picks, moved the needle in trade talks and made general manager Andrew Berry comfortable with parting ways with Garrett.
Since entering the NFL as the No. 19 pick in the 2024 draft, Verse has been one of the league’s most disruptive edge rushers. His 99 pressures since 2024 only trail Green Bay’s Micah Parsons (119) and Garrett (109), according to ESPN Research. Verse also ranks 18th in pressure rate (11.2%) and 13th in QB hits (45) during that time span. Though Verse’s pressure hasn’t always translated to sacks -- he has 12 in two seasons -- Berry called Verse “a guy who really gets after the quarterback really well.”
“Jared Verse is special, if and when he adds these tools to his game,” former Pro Bowl offensive tackle Terron Armstead told “The Rich Eisen Show” last week. “The hands, the reaction, the ability to set up moves for later in the game, it will be dominant. It will be scary.”
In a scheme that asks its defensive linemen to prioritize penetrating past the offensive line, the Browns believe that could lead to increased production for Verse.
“This will allow him to do one thing, and that is run off the ball, run into a dark room and disrupt,” Monken said. “Can’t wait to see it.”
Maybe the biggest change in Verse’s utilization in Cleveland will be fewer pass coverage snaps. He had 39 such snaps in his first two seasons. For comparison, Garrett had just 18 snaps in pass coverage since 2024 and only two in the 2025 season.
What remains to be seen is how the loss of Garrett’s gravity will impact the Browns’ pass rush and defense. Cleveland didn’t have much of a drop-off in pass rush in the limited snaps in which Garrett was off the field in 2025. On the 90 dropbacks when he wasn’t on the field, the Browns’ defense registered a 34.4% pressure rate, which wasn’t far off from their 35.7% season rate and would still rank eighth in the NFL.
Garrett’s mere presence, though, altered the game plan for opponents. In 2025, Garrett was chipped on a league-high 139 pass-rush snaps, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. The extra attention devoted through double-teams -- and at times, triple-teams -- has not only freed up one-on-one opportunities for Garrett’s fellow linemen but has allowed the Browns to play an aggressive form of man coverage that forces quarterbacks to hold on to the ball for a split moment, which can be the difference between a sack and a completed pass.
A drop-off is likely and even expected without Garrett, but Verse’s current production and perceived ceiling have Cleveland confident its defense will retain an elite standard in 2026 and the years to come.
“He’s a perfect DNA match for our attacking front,” Berry said. “He’s really a terror in both phases, both as a run defender and a pass rusher, and we are really, really excited to add him to our team. He allows us to continue to play defense at a high level, which has been our standard over the past several seasons.”
