Jared Verse enjoyed a stellar debut season with the Los Angeles Rams that ended with him winning the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
Verse led all first-year players in quarterback hits (18), pressures (77) and hurries (56). He also had the second-most tackles for loss (11) and fifth-most sacks (4.5).
The outside linebacker finished the 2024 season with 4.5 sacks, 66 total tackles, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two passes defensed while starting 16 games.
While those numbers are impressive, Verse believes he left at least 10 sacks on the table and vowed to improve his total next season, via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com:
“Yeah, I was doing a lot of things but I probably left around 10 sacks on the field just from, ‘Hey, a little too inside. A little too this, a little too that. Not taking the extra step.’ And looking at that, I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s not happening no more so the things I can do now is a whole different conversation.’ All I know is it’s going to be up because I’m not giving them up like I was last year. I learned to take that little extra step, keep my feet underneath me and I’m taking everything I got this year.”
Verse said he is focused on being more intentional in 2025, which should help him finish more tackles and sacks:
“It’s being more intentional in it. Like, my first year, I was kind of just going out there, wildin’, doing my little thing. Now I realize how important every step is. Everything has to be intentional. You do everything for a reason. Like, in the middle of the night, you’re not just going to wake up, walk to your kitchen for no reason and go to bed. You’re going to wake up, go grab a glass of water. You’ve got to be intentional with everything you do.”
Tackling was an issue for Verse at the start of his rookie season, but he progressively got better as the year went on and should be able to use this experience to his advantage.
After being named Defensive Rookie of the Year, Verse said it was the first step toward becoming one of the all-time greats in the NFL. If the 24-year-old is able to play with more discipline this year, he could very well be in the running for NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Jared Verse still thinks about Rams’ playoff loss to Eagles
Jared Verse said last month that he still thinks about the Rams’ playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and vowed to use it as motivation in his second year.
