LOS ANGELES (AP) — Unless you're a quarterback in a collapsing pocket, you'll probably hear Jared Verse before you see him.
The Los Angeles Rams' rookie linebacker already looks like the NFL's next great pass rusher just eight games into his career, but his verbal abilities are also world class.
Whether he's talking trash on the field or chopping it up with his teammates in the locker room, Verse always has plenty to say — and a deep, distinct voice that gets everybody's attention.
“When Jared is in the room, you know he's in the room,” Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula said with a grin.
As the surging Rams (4-4) prepare to host the Miami Dolphins (2-6) on Monday night, Verse is already a cornerstone of a defense that's still rebuilding after Aaron Donald’s retirement. He has racked up 3 1/2 sacks and nine tackles for loss, but that’s only a snapshot of the disruption Verse wreaks on opposing offenses.
Verse was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month for September. He was even more impressive in October with 2 1/2 sacks, four tackles for loss and nine quarterback hits in four games. He's widely considered the midseason favorite to be the NFL's defensive rookie of the year, an honor won by Donald himself exactly a decade ago.
“I don't care about any awards,” Verse said. “Everything will come if I do the things I need to do. ... Handling success is harder. Handling failure, you can only get better. But handling success, you can only get worse. I'm just going to continue to work.”
His potential appears boundless — and whether he's chasing quarterbacks or talking about it, everybody pays attention.
Verse’s stentorian baritone sounds as if it should be coming out of a man twice his age. When he’s making a point, his voice flows into every corner of the Rams’ long, cramped locker room at their training complex.
Nearly every day after practice, Verse’s voice ends up raised in debate with former Florida State teammate Braden Fiske or fellow pass rushers Byron Young and Kobie Turner. They verbally spar about video games, carpool etiquette, their abilities in pickup basketball (Puka Nacua likes to get involved on that topic) or simply who will finish the season with the most sacks.
And Verse talks it just as well as he walks it. He wore a microphone for the Rams’ win over Minnesota last month, and it captured a steady stream of insults, boasts, jokes and general charisma coming out of No. 8 while he had 1 1/2 sacks and three quarterback hits.
“Oh, I definitely try to get in people’s heads,” Verse said. “It gives them something else to think about. That's all it is.”
Verse has been going at full speed since the day last spring when he became the Rams' first first-round draft pick in eight years. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was immediately grateful he only had to avoid his precocious new teammate in workouts, not games.
“I just think about Verse’s first couple of practices here in OTAs with no pads on, and he's running over people,” Stafford said. “We were trying to teach him how to practice with our own team. The growth that he’s had has been amazing to watch and see.”
Verse grew up in a big family in Pennsylvania and learned his work ethic from his father, Eric, a former Marine. Verse started his college career with three years at Albany before transferring to Florida State, where he grew into a top NFL prospect over two outstanding seasons.
Rams general manager Les Snead quickly zeroed in on Verse as a top target for his post-Donald defensive rebuild. Snead — who recognized a fellow creative talker and colorful personality — had a high opinion of Verse before they even met, saying he was “getting blinded” just watching Verse’s scouting tape.
“When you sit and watch football film, it’s in some version of 2-D, but there are some people who, all of a sudden ... you just feel that person in some version of 3-D or 4-D,” Snead said. “He was just one of those players that, based on combining a passion for football with this element of urgency, tenacity, physical toughness, it just seemed like he was one of those guys that likes going into that MMA fight and disrupting.”
In Tallahassee last year, Verse teamed up with Fiske, who transferred to the Seminoles from Western Michigan. They were reunited by Snead, who moved up to draft Fiske in the second round, banking on their chemistry to boost the Rams.
After just two drafts, the Rams have perhaps the league’s best young group of defensive linemen. LA’s rookies and second-year pros have combined for 15 sacks this season, tops in the league. Pro Football Focus says Verse has 39 pressures, by far the most among NFL rookies. Fiske (26) is second, and no other rookie has more than 20.
“The first couple of games, it was good,” Verse said. “But now, we’re taking that step to starting to be able to call ourselves great. We’ve still got a long path to get there, a lot of steps we’ve got to take, but I think we’re taking the steps necessary.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
Greg Beacham, The Associated Press
