“We Have All The Pieces”: Jared Verse Discusses Rams Super Bowl Aspirations
Jared Verse knows what the Los Angeles Rams need to do in order to get over the hump and win the Super Bowl.
During Verse’s two seasons, the former Florida State Seminoles standout has emerged as one of the top young defensive stars in the league. The 25-year-old Verse won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2024 after racking up 66 tackles and 11 tackles for loss.
He has clinched back-to-back Pro Bowl bids in his first two years, racking up 7.5 sacks in 2025 and helping the Rams finish seventh in that department.
After losing in a tight divisional round playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2024 season, the Rams inched even closer this past season, losing a close one in the NFC Championship Game to the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks would eventually throttle the New England Patriots on the way to winning the Super Bowl.
Verse revealed what it’ll take for the Rams to dethrone the Seahawks this upcoming season, whether he’s talked to former Rams teammate Cooper Kupp since he won the Super Bowl in Seattle, and what his Defensive Player of the Year aspirations are in this one-on-one interview.
Interview with Jared Verse
Q: What do the Rams need to do to get over that hump and win the Super Bowl? Because you guys are getting closer and closer each year.
Verse: We keep beating ourselves. When you stop beating yourself up, you win, it’s easy to win. We have all the pieces we need. We got great DB’s, we got great linebackers, our defensive line is the best. We got amazing outside linebackers. If you ask me, we got the best outside linebackers. I’m a little cocky in that aspect, bro. We got amazing safeties, quarterback is the reigning MVP, amazing running back, o-line, wide receivers, kick returners, kickers, punters, snappers. I don’t care. We got the best of the best.
The only thing that can stop us is ourselves. After the season I told everybody once we got back, I said, ‘We gotta stop beating ourselves.’ During the first week back, everyone’s always ready and everything like that. This is the second week back, and I wanted everyone to tackle today, and it was harder than I expected the second week back, when we can really measure success and how hard you’re willing to go.
Q: Like you mentioned ,the key to beating the Seahawks and the Niners — which are two very talented teams — is not beating yourselves, not shooting yourselves in the foot?
Verse: 100 percent, it’s easy to go up against a team you should beat because you have a more talented roster. When both rosters are excelling the Seahawks have a very talented roster. The Niners have a very talented roster. When you put two talented rosters against each other, or all three of us against each other, it’s who executes better.
The second and third time we played the Seahawks, they executed better, it’s as simple as that. That’s why we lost. Against the Niners when we play them in Australia — they match up in the 2026 season opener — we got to execute better.
Q: What makes the Seahawks so hard to beat? Why are they so tough?
Verse: They have a good offensive team. I think the defense, they have a great defensive line. They got great players. But like I said before, it was nothing that we didn’t expect, or they didn’t throw anything at us that was a left hook or anything like that. It was just things where we beat ourselves. We didn’t do this, we didn’t do that, a drop here, and missed tackle there, doing this after third. It was just a lack of execution on our part.
Q: Out of curiosity, Cooper Kupp, a Rams favorite, got to win the Super Bowl this past season. Have you talked to him at all since then? Did you wish him congratulations? I know your rivals now, but did you say anything to him?
Verse: I haven’t gotten to see Cooper in a while since we actually last played. I told him before they even won the Super Bowl, ‘Go win that.’ He’s like a big brother to me. That’s a real stoic dude. When he talks, you listen. The way he attacks the game and every aspect, he’s going to be successful, no matter where he goes.
Q: As you approach your third season, in what ways do you want to be better and what are key objectives for you this season?
Verse: I’m not gonna get too heavy into it. I’ll just say it’s as simple as I’ve spent many reckless days and nights watching my phone, learning what I’ve done wrong, learning what I gotta do better. Hey, I gotta be quicker here, stronger here, doing this as a third. I want to be simple and just say, ‘Oh yeah, I need to add this move.’ It’s not as simple as that. I gotta be more flexible. It’s not as simple as that. I’ve done everything I can to be in the best position to put myself in the best position for this next season, and I’m gonna continue to do so.
Q: You’re always looking for ways to get better. Are there any concrete objectives when it comes to accolades or is it more so you just want to be better on the field?
Verse: There’s no specific way I can say, ‘Oh yeah, I want to do this. I want to do that.’ Obviously I want to be more flexible. But on the grand scheme, I just want to be better.
Q: And if I were to ask you moving forward in your career — I know it’s team-based — you’d want to win Defensive Player of the Year down the road?
Verse: There’s probably 1000 something players in the league right now that play defense — you ask every last one — they’ll probably say the same thing.