Browns defensive end Jared Verse was picked up and thrown to the ground by Steelers guard Mason McCormick on Sunday, and McCormick wasn’t the only person Verse was angry with afterward.
Verse told reporters in Cleveland today that he was upset both by McCormick’s low shot and by his teammates’ reaction, or lack thereof. Verse thought the rest of the Browns players should have supported him, and didn’t.
“To be completely honest with you, that was the play that really made me angry,” Verse said. “I was already upset about the game, the way things were going, but at that point it got deep. You’re doing stupid things, you’re trying to sweep me off my feet. Honestly, that could have put me in a position of not being able to finish the season, put me in a position of changing my life in a very bad way, so that upset me. The lack of reaction from those around me had me very upset. They were focused on the match and everything like that, but one game similar happened to Derek Barnett next”. “
Verse said he expressed his feelings to his teammates. Verse acknowledged that he took some of it on himself because of the trash talk he directed against the Steelers, but he still felt his teammates should have protected him when it went from verbal to physical.
“It’s a conversation that we’ve had, that we’ve talked about,” Verse said. “I made my concerns known, I made my issues known with the situation, but also, I didn’t put it in a position to let them know, I didn’t let them know in advance that I was going to talk to the Steelers and Steeler Nation. I have to be better.”
Verse, the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year who came to Cleveland in the trade that sent Myles Garrett to the Rams, has been a disappointment this season. His teammates might wish he would focus a little less on the trash talk and altercations on the field, and a little more on sacking the opposing quarterback — something he hasn’t done yet this season.
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