Jared Verse’s pressure surge is lifting the Browns pass rush, even without the sacks

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Jared Verse is making his impact felt on the Cleveland Browns defense, even though he hasn't had a sack.

The third-year edge rusher leads the Browns with nine quarterback pressures this season. He had six in last Sunday's 21-18 victory over Carolina , including three where he collapsed the pocket around quarterback Bryce Young, allowing Mason Graham and Isaiah McGuire to get the sacks.

Verse also had a quarterback hit and five hurries against the Panthers.

“I think the measure of a great player is how you can elevate those around you,” Verse said on Tuesday as the Browns prepared for Thursday night's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “Even if I’m not getting the stats that I want, every player wants, as long as my teammate and as long as we get the W, that’s all that matters. That’s what I get paid for.”

Getting consistent pressure without it leading to sacks has been a way of life for Verse, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Rams in the Myles Garrett trade. He has generated 152 pressures since entering the league in 2024, fifth most among edge rushers. However, he has only a 7.9% sack conversion rate, second lowest among players with at least 600 pass rush snaps.

Among the top 10 edge rushers the past two-plus seasons, no other player has a pressure-to-sack rate below 11.5%.

Another reason why Verse had success against the Panthers is because defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg moved him around more. After lining up only as an edge rusher the first two weeks, Verse saw some snaps in the box at defensive end and defensive tackle.

“When you put speed up in the middle, it throws off the guys on the interior. When you got power rushers on the edge, it throws everybody off,” he said. “I mean, the interior guys don’t really do a lot of scout reports on me because I don’t rush over them a lot. So when I am over them, it gets them in a stressful situation and I think that’s what we took advantage of.”

Verse worked on a bunch of new pass rush moves and techniques during training camp and the preseason. With the new moves not working, he decided to go back to basics.

"I think I listened too much to other people. Everybody’s talking about, ‘Oh, you need this move, you need that move.’ And I forgot where it got me to the point I’m at, which was genuinely just running through your face," he said. “If you’re not stronger than me, I don’t care how these guys are 320, 330 (pounds), it doesn’t matter. I’ll still run through. You’re going backwards while I’m going forwards at full speed, I’m just going to run through you. So I forgot that’s my superpower.”

Coach Todd Monken lauded Verse for going back to what works best for him.

“He wants to get to the quarterback, he wants to disrupt the game, and I think he’s right in terms of just, like, ‘all right, what can I do, right, what is it that I do well, and don’t try to be anybody else but yourself, and be the best version you can of yourself.’ And I think he’s bought into that and really affected the quarterback,” Monken said.

The Browns go into Thursday night's game with a 42.5% pressure rate, second highest in the league. They are also one of three teams with five players who have had at least seven pressures this season.

Cleveland has had at least nine players have multiple pressures in each of the past two weeks, only the third team to do that in consecutive weeks since 2018.

The Browns pass rush will be in for a tough test against Pittsburgh's Aaron Rodgers, who has one of the quickest releases in the league. Rodgers completed 6 of 11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown against Cincinnati last week while under pressure.

“That’s who he is as a player. When you get those kind of releases, you can’t let it frustrate you as a D-line. You just got to keep rushing.,” Verse said. “At one point he’s going to hold that for two, three seconds, and that’s when you got to take advantage of him.”

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