Jared Verse’s pressure surge is lifting the Browns pass rush, even without the sacks

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Jared Verse is making his impact felt on the Cleveland Browns defense, even though he hasn't had a sack.

The third-year edge rusher leads the Browns with nine quarterback pressures this season. He had six in last Sunday's 21-18 victory over Carolina, including three where he collapsed the pocket around quarterback Bryce Young, allowing Mason Graham and Isaiah McGuire to get the sacks.

Verse also had a quarterback hit and five hurries against the Panthers.

“I think the measure of a great player is how you can elevate those around you,” Verse said on Tuesday as the Browns prepared for Thursday night's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “Even if I’m not getting the stats that I want, every player wants, as long as my teammate and as long as we get the W, that’s all that matters. That’s what I get paid for.”

Getting consistent pressure without it leading to sacks has been a way of life for Verse, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Rams in the Myles Garrett trade. He has generated 152 pressures since entering the league in 2024, fifth most among edge rushers. However, he has only a 7.9% sack conversion rate, second lowest among players with at least 600 pass rush snaps.

Among the top 10 edge rushers the past two-plus seasons, no other player has a pressure-to-sack rate below 11.5%.

Another reason why Verse had success against the Panthers is because defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg moved him around more. After lining up only as an edge rusher the first two weeks, Verse saw some snaps in the box at defensive end and defensive tackle.

“When you put speed up in the middle, it throws off the guys on the interior. When you got power rushers on the edge, it throws everybody off,” he said. “I mean, the interior guys don’t really do a lot of scout reports on me because I don’t rush over them a lot. So when I am over them, it gets them in a stressful situation and I think that’s what we took advantage of.”

Verse worked on a bunch of new pass rush moves and techniques during training camp and the preseason. With the new moves not working, he decided to go back to basics.

"I think I listened too much to other people. Everybody’s talking about, ‘Oh, you need this move, you need that move.’ And I forgot where it got me to the point I’m at, which was genuinely just running through your face," he said. “If you’re not stronger than me, I don’t care how these guys are 320, 330 (pounds), it doesn’t matter. I’ll still run through. You’re going backwards while I’m going forwards at full speed, I’m just going to run through you. So I forgot that’s my superpower.”

Coach Todd Monken lauded Verse for going back to what works best for him.

“He wants to get to the quarterback, he wants to disrupt the game, and I think he’s right in terms of just, like, ‘all right, what can I do, right, what is it that I do well, and don’t try to be anybody else but yourself, and be the best version you can of yourself.’ And I think he’s bought into that and really affected the quarterback,” Monken said.

The Browns go into Thursday night's game with a 42.5% pressure rate, second highest in the league. They are also one of three teams with five players who have had at least seven pressures this season.

Cleveland has had at least nine players have multiple pressures in each of the past two weeks, only the third team to do that in consecutive weeks since 2018.

The Browns pass rush will be in for a tough test against Pittsburgh's Aaron Rodgers, who has one of the quickest releases in the league. Rodgers completed 6 of 11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown against Cincinnati last week while under pressure.

“That’s who he is as a player. When you get those kind of releases, you can’t let it frustrate you as a D-line. You just got to keep rushing.,” Verse said. “At one point he’s going to hold that for two, three seconds, and that’s when you got to take advantage of him.”

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FILE - Cleveland Browns defensive end Jared Verse runs onto the field prior to the start of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Cleveland, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirk Irwin, File)

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber.

Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando.

The curtain to the death chamber went up at 6 p.m., and Beasley was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm. A spiritual adviser was seated at Beasley’s feet and remained there throughout the execution.

When a team warden asked if he wished to make a final statement, Beasley said, “I want to apologize for all the mistakes I made.”

The execution began immediately after that. Beasley began to breathe heavily as the three-drug cocktail began flowing. The heavy breathing eventually subsided, and the warden checked Beasley’s eyes and shouted his name, but there was no response.

A medic was called into the death chamber at 6:11 p.m. and declared Beasley dead soon after.

The Florida Supreme Court recently rejected arguments that executing a man his age who's suffering from cognitive decline would amount to cruel and unusual punishment, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene Tuesday. Beasley is Florida’s seventh prisoner over 70 to be executed this year.

Beasley also was the 29th person, all men, who have been executed around the U.S. this year. On Wednesday Tennessee plans to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years by giving a lethal injection to Christa Pike, 50, for killing a classmate in a jealous rage when both were teens.

Court records show Beasley had been staying at Monfort’s home in Dundee in August 1995 while he was pressure washing and painting nearby apartments owned by her son-in-law. Monfort's daughter went to her home after being unable to reach her for two days and found her body in a blood-splattered laundry room.

Monfort had suffered multiple blunt-force trauma injuries to the head, and a bloody hammer head was found wrapped in a towel nearby, according to investigators.

Authorities began searching for Beasley after a witness reported seeing him driving what turned out to be Monfort's car. Investigators determined Beasley had traveled to Miami and later relocated to Alabama, where he was arrested while working under a false name for an electrical company, officials said. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998.

The state is getting closer to last year's total of 19 executions, which was a record in Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first state in nearly a decade to do so.

Two more executions are scheduled for this year, but Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has temporarily paused the next one.

William Lee Thompson, 74, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 13 for raping and fatally beating a woman at a Florida motel in 1976. After a doctor this month determined Thompson might be suffering from dementia, DeSantis ordered a panel of three psychiatrists to examine him to determine if he is competent to be executed.

DeSantis issued similar stays in 2023 and 2025 but both executions proceeded following evaluations.

William Reaves, 77, has an Oct. 20 execution date. He was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy outside a convenience store in 1986.

All Florida executions are carried out via injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

FILE - Law enforcement vehicles sit parked outside the Florida state prison in Starke, Fla., on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/David Fischer, file)