Turf Show Times
Jared Verse is picking up the mantle from Aaron Donald and growing into the face of the franchise
It’s a paradox that the face of the franchise for the Los Angeles Rams has been a defensive player for most of Sean McVay’s tenure at head coach. McVay is one of the best offensive minds in all of football; meanwhile, Aaron Donald was heads and shoulders the team’s best player until his retirement after the 2023 season.
But the Rams didn’t take a step back without Donald in a transition year last season. Instead, they’ve likely found their next franchise player—Jared Verse—in the back half of the first round.
In only his rookie season, Verse was fourth in the NFL amongst EDGE rushers in total pressures (regular season only) with 77. That left the likes of Trey Hendrickson (83), Myles Garrett (83), and Jonathan Greenard (80) ahead of him.
While growth is not always linear, it is fair to expect Verse to get better and grow on his first NFL campaign. He already has fearsome bull rush, but he needs to develop more speed counters and find additional ways to win.
Still, LA lost an all-time defensive talent in Donald and then hit the lottery in the back of the first round to find a player like Verse. The sky is the limit for the EDGE rusher, and he’s on his way to becoming the first person you think about when you hear “LA Rams”.
Puka Nacua comes to mind because of his stellar on-field production in his first two seasons and with the charisma he brings outside of football. We’ve seen Nacua light up NBA all-star games and fully embrace the team’s Maui minicamp. It remains to be seen just how high Nacua’s ceiling is in the NFL. Will he enter the ranks of Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and AJ Brown? Davante Adams could steal production away from Nacua this season and weaken that argument.
Matthew Stafford is the Rams’ most important player; however, he’s far from the team’s best player if you look at how they rank at their positions at the professional level. Stafford is comfortably outside the top ten quarterbacks in the NFL each year historically across his career. Nacua and Verse are already better, and it’s fair to assume they have room to grow even.
Sean McVay is another option if you are including non-players. Even he still gets less fan fare from the national media than NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. The key difference between McVay and Shanahan is that McVay was able to lead the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 2023. Shanahan is still looking for his first as a leading man.
You decide.
