Jared Verse came into his first season with the Cleveland Browns with lofty, and some might say unrealistic expectations since his name will forever be attached to Myles Garrett due to the trade. Unfortunately, the criticism is starting to get loud, especially after Verse talked a bunch of trash heading into the Pittsburgh Steelers game a few weeks back and failed to back it up.
Garrett made his debut for the Los Angeles Rams last week after missing the first few months with a knee injury and immediately racked up three sacks. Garrett’s brilliant debut will only add to the criticism around Verse since he still hasn’t picked up his first sack with the Browns, and one former player recently piled on and sent a direct message to Cleveland’s young pass rusher.
During a recent episode of BIGPLAY Cleveland, Phil Taylor stopped by and had some words for Verse. He and the hosts discussed Verse’s struggles and the fact that Verse reportedly met with the team psychiatrist recently and Taylor stressed that it’s time for Verse to get it going.
“I don’t know what it is that gets him fired up, but he needs to find it,” Taylor said.
Verse was making big plays without necessarily getting any sacks through the first few games, but he has started to get lost in the shuffle and feel invisible of late. The Steelers game was a rough turning point and his performance is becoming a bit worrisome.
He has just four tackles over the past three games and has no forced fumbles or pass deflections all season. Everyone expected the 26-year-old to be having more of an impact by this point in the season and the main reason why Verse has gotten a pass has been because this defense collectively has had no problem getting to the quarterback and the Browns are winning games.
Nobody is giving up on Verse at this point, but he needs to get a sack on the board soon. He was the main piece that came back in return for Garrett and is in line for a big contract extension soon, so it would be nice to see him get things turned around sooner than later. Perhaps he could start on Sunday with the Houston Texans coming to town.
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