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‘Disruptive’ Jared Verse is Rams' first pick
HERMOSA BEACH - The Los Angeles Rams got it right last year. After doing some home purging of their roster, the Rams went the way of the NFL Draft to shore up their personnel. The Rams went with the youth movement.
The strategy paid off for head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead.
The Rams had 14 draft picks in 20223. All 14 of those draft picks wound up making the team. Several players, including defensive tackle Kobie Turner, offensive lineman Steve Avila, and wide receiver Puka Nacua produced stellar rookie debuts.
PITTSBURGH, PA - NOVEMBER 04: Florida State Seminoles defensive lineman Jared Verse (5) rushes on defense during a college football game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on November 04, 2023 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)
The challenge for the Rams has been magnified with the retirement of star defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Even at the quarterback position with starter Matthew Stafford and backup Jimmy Garoppolo, another signal-caller would add more youth to that quarterback room.
The Rams came into the 2024 draft coming off a year in which they made a surprising playoff run, losing out to NFC Conference runner-up Detroit Lions. And so with the 19th overall pick in the draft this year, the Rams made Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse their selection.
“It’s a dream come true,” Verse said duing a Zoom press call with reporters. “You work your whole life for this moment. I talked to the Rams throughout the process. Last week I got to meet with them again and do one last interview with them and it felt like the right thing. As you go on, as you go through the whole process and hear them call my name with that Los Angeles Rams attached to it. Woo! Dream come true.”
The hole on the defensive line created by the retirement of Donald simply called for the Rams to fill that void immediately. In his two seasons playing for the Seminoles, Verse recorded 18 sacks and 29.5 tackles for losses.
At 6-foot-4 and 254 pounds, Verse has the size to play at the NFL level.
His ability to create havoc in the offensive backfield could be attributed to the motor he has thanks to his track background. At the NFL Combine, Verse posted a 40-yard time of 4.58 seconds.
“It helps your footwork a lot because you can't make false steps,” Verse said. “If you make false steps in track, they don't care how fast you are, but in high school you might be able to get away. When you face top level competition your form has to be perfect, especially on the later runs like the 100 to 200 to 400, your strides become very important.”
“That's why when a quarterback or a running back gets of out the pocket, I have faith in my speed and my form to be able to catch up to him and do something like that. Even if they may be faster, their form is not better than mine,” he added.
Verse is the first player to be selected by the Rams in the first round since 2016. That was the year the Rams made Jared Goff, now the starting quarterback of the Detroit Lions, the face of their franchise.
The Rams have moved on from the Goff experiment and have won a Super Bowl since then with Matthew Stafford manning the quarterback position.
"The way he plays the game, from the first snap to the last snap of the game, he wears people down."
?? Coach McVay on @JaredVerse1 pic.twitter.com/Dpmsi4TFxm— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) April 26, 2024
The Rams want to make another Super Bowl run with Stafford. That means surrounding the veteran quarterback with all the right pieces to enable that to take place. Filling in the gap left behind by Donald was of the highest priority for the Rams.
According to the overview of his draft profile, Verse is described as being “twitchy and compact, with explosiveness featured at the point of attack.”
Translation: Verse is a disruptor, which McVay likes.
“He's got great hands. He's violent,” McVay said. “He's got a versatile arsenal of moves that he can activate, but he plays the game the way that we want it to be played. We're looking for grown men on defense and I think you've seen a lot of the guys that we've added through free agency and then with the first pick tonight, he was one of the guys that we had targeted and feel really good coming away with him. He's going to make a big impact.”
One of the things that has Snead impressed with Verse is his passion for the game.
“The cool thing about him is where he started (at) Albany, transferred to Florida State," Snead said. "Might have gone about where he went tonight last year, but he decided to stay back. I can tell you about him. He's just one of those guys that you want to just watch another game on because you can tell he cares about football. He has fun playing football and oh, by the way, he's pretty disruptive, violent. You think defense, the way he plays is next to the word in the dictionary.”
Top Image Caption: CHESTNUT HILL, MA - SEPTEMBER 16: Florida State Seminoles defensive lineman Jared Verse (5) in action during the college football game between Florida State Seminoles and Boston College Eagles on September 16, 2023, at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA. (Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire)
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