Jared Verse Voices 'Concern' After Browns Teammates Fail to Defend Him

Jared Verse's mouth wrote a check his body couldn't cash in Week 8 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

After calling the Cleveland Browns' biggest rivals 'dirty' after their first meeting four weeks prior, Verse doubled down on his comments before the two foes met a second time. He even added a little more fuel to the fire when he notably said he wasn't worried about anyone on the Steelers roster and that the team planned on making Pittsburgh 'ours.' 

The smack talk is all part of the Jared Verse experience. But the comments made the 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year a target throughout Cleveland's 27-6 blowout loss to the Steelers and likely served as bulletin-board material. 

On one play in particular, Verse was body-slammed on his head by Pittsburgh McCormick during a Pittsburgh PAT attempt. In Verse's eyes, the play only validated his comments that the Steelers were a dirty team. But that wasn't the only thing that bothered the two-time Pro Bowler about the play. 

As Verse explained on Thursday, ahead of a Week 9 matchup with the New Orleans Saints, he took some exception to the fact that none of his teammates seemed to come to his defense in that moment. 

"That's a conversation that we've had," Verse said of the incident. "We've spoken about it. I've made my concerns known. I made my issues known about the situation, but also I didn't put them in a position to let them know that."

Verse continued by shouldering some of the blame for his role in riling up the Steelers, which could have put his teammates at a disadvantage, and for his disappointing, one tackle performance in the loss

"I didn't let them know beforehand I was going to talk the way I talked to Steelers and the Steeler Nation or whatever they are. But I got to be better than that. I didn't do enough on my part and we all got to pick it up." 

It's hard to know exactly why Verse's teammates didn't come to his defense after the controversial play. Based on the replay, it looks like most of the players out there with Verse didn't even really see the body-slam happen. 

If it's any consultation, Browns special teams coordinator Byron Storer came to his defense on Thursday, underscoring Verse's point that the play was unnecessary and dirty. 

"We don't teach a guy to take his legs out and slam him to the ground. I mean, there's no, way we would discuss that," he said. "So to me, it's a fine line there between preventing somebody from going to make a block and then intentionally trying to hurt somebody in that situation. I don't agree with that, the way that play went down. I think that we gotta be careful there. And I think ... that play should be penalized."

Dirty or not, Verse clearly wanted a better response from his guys in the moment, but the entire situation is poorly timed overall.

Verse hasn't looked like anywhere near the player Cleveland thought they were getting when they traded for him and a handful of premium picks via the blockbuster Myles Garrett trade this summer. 

Through eight games, Verse has registered 18 total tackles, 13 total pressures and not a single sack. While he tries to snap out of the early season slump, don't expect the talking to end anytime soon. It's simply part of his DNA, as he made abundantly clear on Wednesday. 

"I don't think it's any secret that I like to talk," he said. "I like to attack things. I like to be verbal in the way I play and the way I talk and the way I move around and everything. If you guys haven't figured that out by now, that's on all y'all. But no, that's the way I am."