Jared Verse has already missed more tackles in his rookie season than he did in his final year at Florida State
Jared Verse has been a revelation for the Los Angeles Rams in his first four games in the NFL. The former Florida State product was named the league’s defensive rookie of the month while Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels took the same honors on the offensive side.
Verse’s is winning his pass rush opportunities at a rate of 28.8%—according to Pro Football Focus (PFF)— and is second in the NFL behind to only Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions (35.4%). The rookie has been more effective than even the likes of Myles Garrett (28.4%) and Micah Parsons (20.7%). Just last week against the Chicago Bears, Verse had two sacks wiped off the stat sheet because of defensive penalties in the secondary.
But there’s still room for Verse to get even better. While he’s beating offensive tackles and pressuring the quarterback, he’s struggling to finish plays and convert to sacks and tackles for loss. Through his first four games, the rookie already has a league-leading 11 missed tackles. That’s good for 39.3% of his total opportunities to bring down the ball carrier.
It’s easier said than done, of course, but Verse can take the next step into the elite echelon of NFL pass rushers if he can clean up his game, finish plays, and cut down on the missed opportunities.
Verse is actually a MONSTER and I won’t stop saying that when he learns to finish plays he immediately makes a jump to one of the best edge players in the league https://t.co/s7juR0xG9y
— austin (@PukaMVP) September 30, 2024
Jared Verse’s tackling problem dates back to college
I did extensive work on the top EDGE rushers in the 2024 NFL Draft class since the Rams had an obvious need at the position. I didn’t recall tacking issues being a part of Verse’s scouting report, so I turned to PFF’s college data to see if this is a relatively new problem or if there is a history of this player missing tackles.
Verdict: Verse did miss a high rate of tackles while at Florida State, but it’s reached a new level in the NFL. Is that sustainable?
Let’s start with the positives. Verse winning pass rush opportunities at a rate towards the top of the NFL should not come as a surprise. He posted a win rate of 21.8% his final year in college which ranked seventh behind the leader Ben Bell of Texas State at 29.8% and the likes of Laiatu Latu (26.2%) and Jah Joyner of Minnesota (23.1%).
On the bad side, Verse missed nine tackles his final year at Florida State for a missed rate of 19.1%. While this wasn’t close to leading the NCAA, it did rank in the top 50 out of more than 200 EDGE defenders with at least 462 snaps played. In front of Verse were multiple drafted EDGE rushers such as Bralen Trice (15), Austin Booker (12), Latu (12), Mohamed Kamara (11), the Rams’ Brennan Jackson (11), and Dallas Turner (10).
Aaron Donald missed 10 tackles in his first 3 years COMBINED.
Jared Verse has 11 in four games.
That’s wild.
— Sosa Kremenjas (@QBsMVP) September 30, 2024
Verse’s final year as a Seminole is also somewhat of an outlier, as his career rate and body of work from previous seasons indicate a much higher missed tackle rate:
2023 – Florida State: 19.1%
2022 – Florida State: 27.3%
2021 – Albany: 22.2%
2020 – Albany: 27.3%
Why there’s reason to expect a turnaround
Verse evidently approved at tackling in college and made progress in his final season. The Rams have also faced an abnormal stretch of mobile quarterbacks to start the year in Kyler Murray, Brock Purdy, and Caleb Williams. Murray and Purdy both put on a clinic against LA in terms of escaping the pocket, evading defenders, and finding room to push the ball downfield. The data suggests there’s truth to the mobile quarterbacks causing Verse’s missed tackle problem to an extent as the rookie had zero misses against Detroit and the immobile Jared Goff. Verse missed four tackles against each of the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers and then missed three times versus the Bears.
We could see an improvement from Verse as early as this weekend versus the Green Bay Packers. While Jordan Love is athletic, he’s not as much of a scrambling threat as Murray, Purdy, and Caleb Williams. Love is also coming off of an ankle injury that he suffered in the team’s season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. Green Bay’s signal caller did not scramble a single time against the Eagles and only escaped the pocket once in his return versus the Minnesota Vikings.
A more favorable stretch of less mobile quarterbacks could make a big difference for Jared Verse’s productivity. Once he cleans up the missed tackles and begins finishing plays, he could command status as one of the top EDGE rushers in the NFL.
