Jared Verse has been a disappointment on the field, but now he's becoming a problem off the field

At 5-3, the Cleveland Browns are in a better position than even their most wildly optimistic fans would have imagined at the start of the season. They are very much in the race for an AFC playoff spot (and perhaps even the AFC North) and have a roster with a lot of young talent on it. 

But not everything is going great this season, and one of the biggest disappointments has to be the play (and more specifically, the production) from edge-rusher Jared Verse. Verse was one of the key pieces acquired in this offseason's Myles Garrett trade, and the hope was that he could come into Cleveland and at least provide some of the pass-rushing impact that Garrett did.

Nobody should have expected him to be a complete replacement. But in his first two years with the Los Angeles Rams, Verse had at least demonstrated an ability to be a disruptive force and emerging star.

The Browns are not only getting that level of play, but they are getting something even worse.

A distraction that is lacking accountability. 

The Browns might have a Jared Verse problem

When it comes to on-field performance, Verse has simply not matched expectations.

Through the first eight games he has zero sacks, just 10 solo tackles, eight assisted tackles, no forced fumbles, no pass defenses, no interceptions and nothing that could be considered a splash play. 

That's problematic enough.

But where it becomes a distraction is that he started off Week 8 by writing a mighty big check going into their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with some of his pregame talk, and was then unable to cash it with a no-show performance. He then doubled down on that talk after the 27-6 loss where he did nothing except get body-slammed. 

Four days after the fact, he is still on it, while also making excuses for his lack of production.

Along with throwing his teammates under the bus for not defending him when Steelers offensive lineman Mason McCormick slammed him to the ground, he had this to say about his lack of production in terms of certain stats.

“I think attention has been focused on me not doing enough on this aspect, that aspect, I don’t think think we’ve been getting enough 3rd and longs to put myself in the position to get the stats."

There is just one problem with that.

The Browns have been one of the best defenses in the league at creating third-and-long situations.