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Jared Verse's comments bring more attention to Browns' response, admits disappointment with his play
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00:00The Browns have me sweating a little bit right now.
00:02Sweating?
00:02Yeah, just a little bit.
00:04Wait, you mean the game?
00:05You mean all the conversations right now?
00:07There's a lot of conversations right now.
00:09So, you know, part of the message on Monday was that was embarrassing.
00:14You talked a lot of mess and you didn't show up.
00:17And now we give you the grace to let's see how you respond, right?
00:21Right.
00:21If we just graded off of how the week has gone, what a bleep show.
00:26Well, nobody really knows how to control themselves when it comes to the Shador Sanders convo.
00:30That's fair.
00:31That's been evidenced by months and months of having Shador Sanders conversations.
00:34There's nobody on either side.
00:36The people that love Shador, the people that hate Shador, we can't do it.
00:38You know, there's a million people in the middle, too, who also don't know how to handle the Shador conversation.
00:43Nobody really knows.
00:44Well, because you're walking on eggshells constantly in those conversations.
00:47And they're very unproductive, too.
00:50What was odd about this week, Nick, and I know we'll talk about this later on,
00:53what was odd about this week is this was one of the few times where instead of saying,
00:57oh, why are people picking on Shador?
00:58It's like, Shador, you really did bring that on yourself.
01:00Yeah, well, some people believe that.
01:02And I know you believe that.
01:03But so it's interesting.
01:05The Shador stuff is its own thing of like,
01:07I don't really know why you chose yesterday to make the statement you make.
01:11And we can get into that, obviously.
01:13Today was Jared first.
01:14Yeah.
01:14And, you know, I had said, like, a part of my message at the beginning of this week was,
01:19Jared, it's been eight games.
01:21It hasn't worked out the way you want it.
01:23I'm sure you're frustrated.
01:25I'm sure you feel some sort of way for the way you performed,
01:28the way Pittsburgh went after talking mess.
01:30But, like, this is the time you can ill afford to change who you are,
01:35to switch up and all of a sudden succumb to the pressure of you're getting some bad publicity
01:40and some people are saying some mean things about you.
01:43Well, today he then stepped to the microphone.
01:46And so there's a few things that he said.
01:50We're going to play one part of this.
01:52There's something else I want to play in a bit here.
01:54But Jared Verse today talked about the play where Mason McCormick on special teams
01:59turned him into a lawn dart and what he perceived as a lack of support from his teammates.
02:06Yeah, I mean, I'll be quite honest with you.
02:07That was the play that made me kind of get really angry.
02:10I was really upset about the game and the way things were moving.
02:14But at that point, I was like, it became, like, really deep.
02:16Like, you're doing dirty s**t.
02:17You're going to try to sweep my legs.
02:19That honestly could have put me in a position to not be able to finish the season,
02:22put me in a position to change my life in a very bad aspect.
02:24So, you know, that upset me.
02:26The lack of reaction by those around me had upset me a lot,
02:30not in the aspect of anybody, you know, we're focused on the game and everything like that.
02:34But, you know, the similar play had happened to Derek Barnett on, I think, the next field goal.
02:38And I spazzed.
02:39I lost it because those are my brothers.
02:41Those are my teammates.
02:41And, you know, when you do something like that to them, it upsets me very deeply.
02:44So I could tell that from that point on, I was like, we have to be better.
02:47Like, we have to get better on every aspect of the game of being mentally aware of these are my
02:51teammates,
02:51these are my brothers, and we're not fighting for each other.
02:53We're just trying to focus on the one aspect of the game.
02:55All right, so it still sounds, because Jared is a very vociferous, very contagiously passionate young man,
03:04it still sounds like he's not over Pittsburgh.
03:06Before we get to the content of what he said, because there were a couple other quotes that he had,
03:10it still sounds like he's not over that game.
03:12And that is concerning.
03:15This is, you know, so much of success in this league,
03:19especially if you got kicked in the teeth and the team is down,
03:22so much of it is just flushing and moving on.
03:25And so for Jared to say, and again, it's the spirit of this,
03:28to look back on that Pittsburgh game, to still clearly not be over this,
03:32to the fact that he's talking about it today,
03:34I think that in and of itself, before we get into the substance of it,
03:38that in and of itself is alarming to me, heading into a game that is very winnable,
03:42as long as you don't show up distracted by things that happened previously.
03:46Yeah, I mean, it's like he's at the blackjack table and he's hit me.
03:48He's trying to double down on the whole entire thing.
03:50But in the process of it, he's then exposing his teammates.
03:54And so, like, are you trying to get the culture right?
03:56Or are you trying to expose what you think is the problem with the culture right now?
03:59And that's what makes this so fascinating to me, Nick.
04:02So I guess if I get to, he is right.
04:06Like, one of the things that blew me away about the TikTok that I made,
04:12Nick Talk, Adnick Wilson says, by the way, go ahead and give it a follow,
04:16or two, I was blown away, not by Steelers fans getting into the mentions of the video
04:23where I accused Mason McCormick of being a dirty pirate hooker.
04:27That one didn't surprise me.
04:28Are those the words you used?
04:29Something very similar to it.
04:31It might have been, actually.
04:32FCC doesn't apply to TikTok.
04:35Not on TikTok.
04:35You're good.
04:36And I was also in the heat of the emotions.
04:38You'll have to watch it, Adnick Wilson says, Nick Talk.
04:40However, I was surprised and blown away by Browns fans who,
04:45because the Browns were getting blown out and Jared wasn't particularly having
04:48an impactful game, that they were like, why does it matter?
04:51He talked bleep.
04:52This is what you get.
04:53And I was like, all right, I'll be honest with you.
04:55I don't think Jared played well enough on Sunday.
04:58He hasn't played well enough through the first eight games of the season.
05:01I also do not, I don't take kindly to what I think is a dirty-ass football play.
05:06And when you take dirty-ass football plays on my favorite team, my favorite players,
05:12I get upset about that.
05:13So I'm assuming that Jared felt this way about his own teammates in the way that I
05:19looked at some Browns fans who are like, I don't care.
05:22Why should I care?
05:23He didn't show up.
05:24He clearly feels like it was a one-man fight, and it was him against the entire
05:27Steeler Nation, as he called it earlier today.
05:29And that's what's bothering him.
05:31Not only did he not have support from Browns players, and guys like Schwestinger said he
05:34didn't even see the play, so it was what it was.
05:36But when he went through all the conversations leading up to the game, he was the only one
05:40that was speaking.
05:41I feel like he thinks he's almost on an island in this big, I'm going to get everyone
05:47motivated and rah-rah-speeched and all ready to go.
05:50And the response just wasn't what he thought it was going to be.
05:53And it's not that I necessarily blame Browns players for that.
05:55I don't.
05:56I just, I thought it's really peculiar heading into a very important game, how you try to
06:00highlight the idea that maybe we have a little bit too many we guys, or too many I guys,
06:06not enough we guys.
06:07I think it is concerning.
06:09Again, the fact that Jared is saying it, or the fact that Jared feels this, and the fact
06:14that he didn't feel picked up in that moment, these are alarming things.
06:19And these are things that if you lose this Saints game, we can look back and go, the signs
06:24were there.
06:25And in fairness, we probably could have said the same thing about Jared vs. talking a big
06:31game.
06:31Now, the difference is, you talk about being on an island.
06:35I'm always a believer of like, okay, what can you own, and what do the rest of us get
06:40to own, right?
06:41From Jared's side of things, I would say, well, you kind of put yourself on that island.
06:45You kind of isolated yourself, and you put yourself as the face of that game, intentionally
06:51or unintentionally.
06:52He did acknowledge that.
06:53But like, that is, you open the door for the things that happen.
06:57That doesn't excuse them.
06:58It doesn't make it okay.
06:59And I would agree that in that moment, if you don't feel like your teammates picked you
07:03up, that's as big of a concern as anything you said in the previous week.
07:08But if you put yourself on the island, that, you know, I'm glad he addressed it, but that's,
07:12you know, that's your part of this that you get to own.
07:14Yeah, and I thought he did try that, but the hard part in that is that not everybody wants
07:18to join the fight.
07:19Not everybody wants to go publicly against the Steelers.
07:22Not everybody wants to, even in that moment when you get tossed like a lawn dart, as you
07:25call it, like, not everyone wants to go and turn this into some big melee and turn this
07:30into some big back and forth.
07:32Like, this is just, it's his battle, but it felt like a very isolated battle to him, and
07:36so that's why he's still pissed about it.
07:38That's a conversation that we've had.
07:40We've spoken about it.
07:41I've made my concerns known.
07:42I've made my issues known about the situation.
07:44But also, you know, I didn't put them in a position to let them know that.
07:47I didn't let them know beforehand I was going to talk, you know, the way I talked to the
07:50Steelers and, you know, the Steeler Nation or whatever they are, but I got to be better
07:53in that aspect.
07:54I didn't do enough on my part.
07:55I mean, we all got to pick it up.
07:56Brown's defensive end, Jared Verse.
07:59That was his follow-up on his comments about getting really angry after being body slammed,
08:05turned into a lawn dart by Mason McCormick.
08:07And, again, like, I think if he felt unsupported by his teammates and a lot of the physicality
08:13that happened in that game, that is a valid criticism.
08:17I really do.
08:19Now, I think the fact we're talking about four days after the game, little concerned.
08:24Actually, more than little concerned when you factor in what we heard from Shador yesterday.
08:28Like, and there's another piece of sound we're going to play from Jared as well.
08:32You know, these are the kind of things that losing gets to you.
08:36And, like, a week ago when Jared was talking about game, that's all fun and well because
08:41you had won multiple games in a row.
08:43When you're coming off a loss, that actually is where I think it is.
08:46Most of the time, messaging doesn't matter.
08:49Most of the time.
08:50Probably 90% of the time in this whole thing.
08:53But when you are coming off a loss, that is where the timing of when things are shared,
08:58how they're shared, and the messaging behind them, that kind of stuff matters.
09:03Now, does it bother you at all that we found out about this?
09:05That he was so willing to go to the podium?
09:07Because that's the part that I would wonder whether or not you're really benefiting the team
09:11and benefiting anybody with.
09:12So this is the unknowable part of this.
09:15If he has squashed it, meaning that he's talking about it as, like, this happened and we got
09:20through it.
09:21You don't think that's real, though, I would imagine.
09:23No.
09:23No.
09:24No.
09:24There was a lot of emotion.
09:25Maybe that's just Jared.
09:26We don't know Jared enough yet.
09:28Well, he did try to make that plea, by the way.
09:29He did try to make that plea of the idea of, like, this is who I am.
09:32I'm just an impassioned player.
09:34I play better when I feel like I piss people off and when I feel motivated and I can get
09:38under people's skin.
09:39Like, he's trying to make it abundantly clear.
09:41What you saw in the Pittsburgh game and him getting under people's skin is how he likes
09:44to play football.
09:45All right.
09:46Which is great.
09:46I can get...
09:47I think Cleveland can get behind that kind of player if the numbers back it up.
09:52And again, it doesn't even have to be sacks.
09:54Yes, there will always be a segment of people who only pay attention to sacks.
09:58Get that.
09:59There's also a fair amount of people who look at it and go, all right, what about your
10:02pressures?
10:02What about your QB hits?
10:03What about your pressure rate?
10:05And those things are well off his numbers with the Rams.
10:09And it was interesting because I do want to play this because this might be just as concerning
10:15as the previous part.
10:16Previously, we've talked, the media has asked Jared about his lack of production and his
10:22message has been, hey, when we're winning, that's all that matters.
10:25And if I can help somebody else get their numbers, that's all that matters.
10:29Well, he was asked about that lack of production today and here was his answer.
10:32I think I've not done myself a service in playing the way I've wanted to play.
10:36I think it's been a lot of attention has been focused on me not doing enough on this
10:40aspect, that aspect.
10:41And I don't think we've been getting enough third and longs for me to put myself in
10:43position to get the stats and stuff like that.
10:45Yeah, but I think the stats can be rather confusing for a lot of people.
10:48All right.
10:48I don't disagree with that last line.
10:52There are a million different ways.
10:54I feel like this is where baseball gets lost in the conversation, too.
10:58Yeah, but baseball takes it down to all sorts of weird, different advanced numbers that
11:05nobody really, truly understands how the formula even works.
11:08Or if you do, you have to take a lot of understanding to get there.
11:12This is QB hits.
11:13This is pressures.
11:14This is pressure rate.
11:14This is not a crazy, wonky formula.
11:17Some of those things, like pressures and pressure rate, some of those are subjective stats, right?
11:23Because they're graded by somebody.
11:26And I think maybe, I don't want to try and editorialize what he said, but there are more
11:31stats than just do you have a sack or not?
11:33And that can help and hurt you.
11:35Right, but the part that sounded insulting was that as if we can't possibly comprehend
11:39whether or not you're doing your job well enough based off of those stats.
11:42There are some people who can't possibly comprehend.
11:44Not every sports fan.
11:46They need to listen to the show better or listen to when we talk about it better or something.
11:50Because if the idea is...
11:52That's very egotistical.
11:53If they just listened to us a little bit better, they'd know.
11:56Well, it's very simple.
11:56I can lay it off for you right now.
11:57At this point of the season last year, he had 40 QB pressures when with the Rams.
12:01Right now, he's got 13.
12:03Like, is that hard?
12:04That's basic math.
12:05This isn't crazy.
12:06Well, see, you didn't make it confusing there.
12:08None of it is confusing.
12:09That's what I'm saying.
12:09Well, no, but the key he's saying is maybe other people...
12:12Ken Karnas.
12:12That's what I said.
12:13Maybe other people are making...
12:14We'll make it as simple as we possibly can.
12:16Sometimes I can't.
12:17Sometimes I just get way too in the weeds.
12:19But like for this stuff, for whether or not Jared Verse is doing his job, I can't make
12:23it any simpler.
12:24I do think that this is another...
12:26This is another...
12:29This appears to be.
12:30I want to make it...
12:31Because I don't want to make it to be a huge thing.
12:33Because again, we're reading through the tea leaves right now.
12:36They're coming off an awful loss.
12:38The weird Shador thing yesterday.
12:40Deshaun's in the protocol.
12:42That's kind of a weird situation already surrounding this game.
12:45And then to kind of hear Jared's comments today, there is now a defensiveness about his
12:51lack of production, whether it's pressures or sacks, that wasn't there, I think, in previous
12:56weeks.
12:57And I don't know if that's just as simple as they're coming off a loss, so maybe he feels
13:00that heat a little bit more, or if he spent a little too much time on social media.
13:03It sounds like his reaction to being embarrassed at how last week went.
13:06But this is where I call back to what I said earlier this week.
13:11I think Jared Verse is a really great-hearted, energetic, awesome young man.
13:17And I think he is going to be a great Cleveland Brown, but this is a pivotal moment for him.
13:24And taking away the right lessons of what has happened his first eight games here, including
13:28continuing to develop in a new system, which I'm hopeful he can do.
13:32There's still more games to go than there have been games played so far.
13:36But so much of that is not getting lost in what has happened and getting lost in the
13:41negative.
13:42I'm a little more worried after hearing today and hearing his comments both about the Pittsburgh
13:48game, about his teammates, and certainly about his lack of production.
13:51I'm a little worried he's getting lost.
13:53And I just, I hope he doesn't.
13:55I really hope he doesn't.
13:56I hope he keeps that heart open.
13:58I hope he keeps talking to his teammates.
14:00Keep, I don't want this to be a Juan Thornhill situation where the situation swallows him up.
14:04So here's the other part of this, though.
14:05For weeks on end, they kept telling us that this team was together.
14:09This team was going to Deshaun's house for parties, and they were as close of a team as
14:14you could possibly get, right?
14:15Not Jared Verse.
14:16How about those defensive line dinners on Thursday nights, right?
14:18Like, all they kept telling us was how close this team was.
14:21This is a crack in that, Nick.
14:22Like, this is that first sign.
14:24And what Jared Verse is telling you guys, all you have to do is listen and hear what he's
14:28saying.
14:28He thinks there's a lot of guys that were working for themselves on Sunday's game and not
14:32enough guys that were working towards the team aspect of all of this.
14:35That's what he's doing and calling all these guys out and not defending him, not being
14:38there for him.
14:39And so, like, the—I don't know.
14:40Is there a crack in that whole charade that this is such a closely tight-knit team based
14:45off of what Jared is trying to say?
14:47This is what losing can do.
14:49But it's important to remember, you only lost one game.
14:53And if you let those cracks turn into fissures, well, then all of a sudden, this does get
14:57out of hand very quickly.
14:58And there's no head coach in the game that can stop that.
15:01This is a player's thing.
15:02But think about it.
15:03Two weeks ago, what were we asking people like Nathan when they came on?
15:05Oh, how close is this team?
15:07They do seem like they're really particularly close.
15:10They seem like they got a great bond.
15:12They seem like they always hang out together, whether they're watching through TikToks of
15:16different people going to, like, Dylan Gabriel's house, for instance, where Schwestinger seems
15:19like he's got—I don't know, basically lives in their apartment now.
15:22Like, it seemed that way.
15:23And Jared Burst just lit a bomb to all that.
15:26Yeah, no.
15:27I still think they can be close.
15:28I think brothers fight.
15:30I have three brothers.
15:32What he's telling you is when he needed his brothers the most, when he's been battling
15:35Steelers fans all week long, he needed his guys the most, they weren't around.
15:40They weren't there.
15:41They were MIA.
15:42But this kind of stuff does happen in NFL locker rooms and good teams and truly close
15:48teams, not just, you know, well-lit PR teams.
15:52You know, teams that are truly close do respond to it.
15:55And I would—listen, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt because they are 5-3,
16:00because they have shown great spirit.
16:02Jared has had funny moments with both Shador and Deshaun.
16:05They've been great—again, it could be PR moments.
16:08I'm not going to knock that possibility.
16:11But they've shown a lot of camaraderie in ways that I think feel real.
16:16But this is that test of that.
16:18And so I'm not as—I am—I would say I'm, like, trying to gauge, like, what's the right
16:23word.
16:24I am concerned in hearing these comments.
16:26But now, kind of like, similar to what we said on Monday, all right, you got your ass
16:30handed to you.
16:31Now, how are you going to respond to it?
16:33And so I would say the same thing to that locker room today.
16:36Like, all right, yeah, that sucked.
16:38Sunday sucked.
16:39This week, I'm sure, there have been a lot of uncomfortable conversations.
16:43Ah, that's what happens.
16:45The only difference between successful environments and unsuccessful environments are how you handle
16:50those uncomfortable conversations and the end result of them.
16:54So what Jared said today, it still seems like there's some sort of fuse lit there.
16:58That's great.
16:58Yeah, I mean, he's genuine.
16:59He's pissed.
17:00He's pissed.
17:01Nobody came to defend him in the moment that he needed it.
17:03Yeah.
17:03So then if everyone knows there's a fire, who's going to grab the blanket to throw over the
17:09fire?
17:09Well, what's funny is if there's something like this happens again, and then we see, like,
17:1112 guys run over, and then we see it just be—all of a sudden, it turns into a team meeting
17:15of people trying to help him out.
17:17I'm looking at the play.
17:17I just had to pull it back up again, because I'm trying to figure out—like, Schwezinger
17:21tried using the excuse of he just didn't see it, and he just wasn't looking at it,
17:24and he didn't know where it was.
17:25I'm looking at the play right now.
17:26First off, Tyson Campbell could not have been looking more at Jared Verst getting just
17:31wand-darted into the ground.
17:33Easton Masqueranis-Arnold, number 42, looking at him right here.
17:36He's also looking at Jared Verst as he could get tossed in the ground.
17:39There's plenty of guys that saw it.
17:40Yeah, and listen, the play remains a cheap play.
17:45It remains a—that's why they flagged it.
17:47I still don't think we—have we seen whether he's been fined for it or not?
17:51I don't think that has come out yet.
17:52No, I haven't seen that, no.
17:53I would absolutely support a fine for Mason McCormick.
17:56I thought that was a trashy play.
17:58And I love physical play.
18:00I love, you know, hog mollies fighting each other.
18:02I don't like moves that can get guys paralyzed.
18:05And that move—Jarrett was right about the idea that Jared was very lucky that that didn't
18:09end his career, that that didn't end his season.
18:12So, I like that he is that.
18:14I would also tell him to go back and say, like, I know you say, well, this is who I
18:18am
18:18and I don't want to change.
18:19Maybe ask yourself why your teammates maybe did leave you out there, right?
18:24Maybe some didn't see it, but maybe some felt like you left them on an island with your comments.
18:29Like, this is, again, good leadership, which is—all leadership is, is communication and openness
18:34to feedback that is different than your experience, that can squelch this.
18:39This does not have to lead into the Saints game.
18:43But it looks like there's a lot there beyond just the Jared Burst thing.
18:47It's Thursday, and we're still talking about the Steelers game, and we're still talking
18:49about that play, and that's Jared Burst.
18:51Jared Burst did that.
18:52216-474-0092.
18:55Scott saying, I see you're doing the show with Negative Nancy today.
19:01Yeah, I don't think you're being negative, by the way.
19:04I don't—listen, if I—you heard what Jared said, and Jared has the right to say what he's saying.
19:12I appreciate when players are open and honest about things that are going on in that locker room
19:16because we live in uncommon—actually, no, the common times now are that players say a bunch of bullcrap
19:23and there's a four-alarm fire going on.
19:25I think if you want to be mad about any negativity going on with the Browns,
19:28you should be mad with Jared Burst and the Browns.
19:30Yeah, I mean, Jared's the one that painted it this way.
19:32I mean, Jared is the one—I mean, I'm just connecting dots is all I'm doing here.
19:36You should also be mad at a team that showed up and got goosed 27-6 and put up no
19:41fight.
19:42I think that's where your anger should be, not with somebody looking at this and going,
19:46hey, this could be a real problem.
19:47them.