It's been days since the Pittsburgh Steelers humiliated the Cleveland Browns in a 21-point victory in Week 8, but Browns pass rusher Jared Verse isn't over the beatdown. Now he's finding new ways to embarrass himself.
On Sunday, Verse went viral for all the wrong reasons when Steelers guard Mason McCormick dumped him on his back. Verse left his feet trying to block a field goal, and McCormick let him have it.
Though McCormick was flagged for unnecessary roughness after body-slamming Verse to the turf, the Browns' newcomer won't leave it alone. He only made things worse.
On Thursday, Verse spoke to the media—this time not to rag on McCormick as a dirty player, but to throw his teammates under the bus for not having his back after the incident during the Steelers game.
Seriously? This isn't going to help morale in the Browns' locker room.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans can only laugh as Jared Verse blames teammates for not having his back after Mason McCormick incident
Verse must not be familiar with the phrase, 'What's said inside the locker room, stays inside the locker room.' Even Browns fans should be shaking their heads at how he found a way to blame his teammates for not coming to his defense.
"To be quite honest with you, that was the play that made me kind of get really angry... The lack of reaction by those around me had upset me a lot. Not in the aspect of, 'We're focused on the game' of anything like that..."
We have to get better of every aspect of the game of being mentally aware of, 'These are my teammates; these are my brothers, and we're not fighting for each other.' We're just trying to focus on the one aspect of the game."
When asked if Verse was upset that his teammates didn't immediately jump to his defense, he made it clear that he had already had these conversations with them.
"That's a conversation we've had. We've spoken about it. I've made my concerns known; I've made my issues known about the situation, but also, I didn't put them in a position to let them know that."
I can't imagine this was well-received.
Was McCormick's play against Verse dirty? That's for each person to decide. There's a running rule for offensive linemen to 'punish jumpers'—that's anyone who leaves their feet when being blocked.
But whether this was flagrant or not, Verse showed immaturity by pouting when his teammates didn't immediately come to his aid. Worse yet, he's willingly sharing all of these comments with the media—comments that had no business leaving the locker room.
How about instead of continually complaining about one lone controversial play on the field, he lets his play do the talking? Through his first eight games of the season, Verse has recorded just 18 tackles, four tackles for a loss, and zero sacks. Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus has Verse credited with a disappointing 58.4 overall grade while earning just 13 pressures roughly halfway through the 2026 season [$].
The Browns are counting on Verse to be a big part of the future plan on defense after coming over in the Myles Garrett trade. But this is not how you win over your locker room and be a leader for the defense... and Steelers fans can only laugh as Verse continues to make himself look bad.
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