Verse understands who Rodgers has been in his career.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of their more interesting games of the season on Thursday Night Football in Week 4, taking on the Cleveland Browns. If anyone had said the Browns would be 2-1 entering this game, many would have thought they were crazy.
Cleveland hasn't been a bad team by any means to start this season, even coming away with some impressive wins, including one over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road and another against the Carolina Panthers in Week 3, winning 21-18.
The Browns haven't been perfect, but there have been things to like on both sides of the ball, and the hope is that it will continue against a good Steelers team. However, both teams understand what this game means, and after Pittsburgh's recent offensive showing against an above-average Cincinnati Bengals team, Cleveland is focused on how it can slow down Aaron Rodgers.
Speaking to reporters, newly acquired edge rusher Jared Verse, who was part of the Myles Garrett trade to the Los Angeles Rams, said the Browns have a chance to slow him down.
When speaking about Rodgers, however, he also recognized that he's one of the greatest ever and is still an above-average quarterback.
"He's a wizard. … He can do all these throws that those elite quarterbacks can do," Verse said, H/T Heavy. "His legs might not be what they were at the one point, but his arm is — I'd argue with you — better than it's ever been."
"If he's having release time of 1.2, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1, a couple of them were at 1.5 (seconds), that's who he is as a player," Verse continued. "So when you get those kind of releases, you can't let it frustrate you as a D-line. You just got to keep rushing. At one point he's gonna hold that for two, three seconds, and that's when you gotta take advantage of it."
As Verse touched on here, it's not unfair to say that Rodgers isn't what he used to be in terms of being able to maneuver around the pocket. However, when it comes to arm strength, this is still a guy who can make any pass in the book.
If Cleveland isn't ready to go on the defensive side of things, there are going to be some issues that pop up for its defense. The Steelers will have to hope that won't be a problem.
