Scouts, Coaches Rank Rams Star Among NFL's Best

Like Jalen Hurts in short yardage, sometimes NFL teams know what’s coming and they still can’t stop it. Well, thanks to a signature power move, edge rusher Jared Verse is already approaching that level. Just ask recently retired 12-year veteran Terron Armstead.

That move is a primary reason Verse earned No. 10 on Jeremy Fowler’s annual poll of the NFL’s best edge rushers. The ESPN insider surveyed personnel executives, scouts and coaches to produce the list, and Verse easily won a three-way tie with Brian Burns and Nik Bonitto for that final-slot recognition.

“When posing tiebreakers to league execs,” Fowler wrote on Wednesday, “the responses were swift: ‘VERSE!’”

The only second-year player on Fowler’s list (rookies aren’t eligible), Verse joined Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons, Maxx Crosby, Nick Bosa, Trey Hendrickson, Aidan Hutchinson, Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, respectively.

“I think he’s the best power player we've seen enter the league since, I don't know, Khalil Mack,” analyst Steve Palazzolo said Monday in naming Verse No. 7 on his list of the top 25 NFL players under age 25. “It’s Khalil Mack, Trey Flowers, those types of guys, just pure power.

“He has the best bull rush at any position I can think of since Geno Atkins. Geno Atkins specialized in that, and this is the best since that, and it may end up being better.”

No one was better than Aaron Donald, who retired shortly before the Rams drafted Verse in 2024. But even before he joined the Rams, and long before he boldly challenged Donald to a workout competition, Verse had an opportunity to pick Donald’s brain.

Authoring just part of his inspiring story while working his way from Central Columbia (Pa.) High School to the University at Albany to the NFL, Verse first met Donald as a high-school senior. And the future Hall of Famer had some important advice for the future Pro Bowler.

“So, I said, ‘What kind of moves should you really add to your bag?’” Verse recalled for Adam Schefter’s podcast, remembering that 2020 meeting with Donald. “He said, ‘You really only need three moves. All you need is a power move, a counter and a speed move. You have those three moves, you good.’”

But because Verse is so strong, he leads with his power. That’s what helped him earn NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, an award won by Donald in 2014. Across the league, Verse ranked in total pressures (77) and sixth in pass-rush win rate (19.6 percent), according to Pro Football Focus, despite only 4½ sacks. Selflessly, like a dangerous wide receiver running a Love of the Game route, his presence and effort opened countless pass-rush opportunities for teammates.

“He's a man,” an NFC personnel executive told Fowler. “Very unique strength.”

Fowler credited Verse with 24 incompletions and three interceptions created. Plus, his 23.3-percent double-team rate ranked fourth, trailing only Parsons, Garrett and Crosby.

But Verse will be the first to admit he needs improvement, especially in defending the run. While Verse ranked as high as sixth in Fowler’s poll, not everyone put him in the top 10.

“It's not that he's not ascending into a premier rusher,” said one NFC executive who left Verse off his top 10, “but he's not ahead of some of the others who are more productive or better run players right now.”

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