{"id":104372,"date":"2025-06-04T22:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/104372\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T22:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:01:09","slug":"rams-jared-verse-and-braden-fiske-look-to-run-it-back-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/104372\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams’ Jared Verse and Braden Fiske look to run it back again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jared Verse<\/a> and Braden Fiske<\/a> joined the Rams<\/a> last season as something of a one-two punch.<\/p>\n

The former Florida State teammates were drafted in the first and second rounds, respectively, and lived up to their billing as individuals and as a collective force.<\/p>\n

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Verse, an edge rusher, became the NFL defensive rookie of the year. Fiske, a defensive lineman, was a finalist for the award.<\/p>\n

“I think we did good, but I think we became more focused on helping the team than trying to do our own little thing and having a good little duo going on,\u201d Verse said, adding, \u201cSo now we finally took another step \u2014 having another year together to figure out, \u2018Hey, this is how I work, this is how he works.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I feel like this year is going to be a good one for us to play together.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they prepare for their second seasons, the two young stars are part of a front that could rank as one of the NFL\u2019s most dynamic.<\/p>\n

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Read more: Rams’ Puka Nacua is learning a lot from new teammate Davante Adams<\/a><\/p>\n

The unit includes tackle Kobie Turner, edge rusher Byron Young and several additions, including tackle Poona Ford and rookie edge rusher Josaiah Stewart and rookie tackle Ty Hamilton.<\/p>\n

With organized team activities underway, Verse, 24, remains a boisterous presence on and off the field for a team regarded as a Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n

After recording 4 1\/2 sacks and 18 quarterback hits last season, Verse said he took the advice of a former NFL player and spent part of the offseason reviewing video of every snap. He focused on the \u201cbad\u201d plays and studied ways to improve.<\/p>\n

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“The biggest thing I realized was how many sacks \u2014 and not even just sacks but big plays \u2014 that I missed out on,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cRealizing that this really is a game of inches \u2014 whether it\u2019s stopping the ball or actually just doing your job \u2014 there\u2019s a couple of things I could\u2019ve done better.”<\/p>\n

Not that defensive coordinator Chris Shula wants Verse to change much.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not looking for any stats,\u201d Shula said. \u201cNot looking for anything else \u2014 just want him to play hard and be his best self every single day.”<\/p>\n

Fiske, 25, amassed a team-best 8 1\/2 sacks and 10 quarterback hits last season while playing through a knee issue. He aggravated the injury in the NFC divisional-round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and then had offseason surgery.<\/p>\n

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Read more: Rams players and coaches like the idea of competing in flag football at L.A. Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

Though he said he was \u201cfeeling great,\u201d trainers are limiting Fiske\u2019s reps during organized team activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no need to rush,\u201d Fiske said. \u201cThe big goal in mind is training camp and, obviously, September when it\u2019s time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiske rehabilitated from upper body injuries during his college career, but the process of recovering from the knee injury forced him to slow down for the first time since prepping for his final season at Florida State.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy entire career has been [centered on] just go, go, go, nonstop. No offseason. No time off,\u201d Fiske said. \u201cSo it\u2019s been probably good for me mentally and physically, of just like, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s all right to take a break and ease back into it.'”<\/p>\n

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The rehab work and the structured workload has paid off, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dealt with it all last season, so where I\u2019m at now is awesome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The coaching staff\u2019s expectations for Fiske are \u201cjust like Verse,\u201d Shula said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want him to be himself and to continue to elevate the strengths in his game and work on the weaknesses in his game,\u201d Shula said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jared Verse and Braden Fiske joined the Rams last season as something of a one-two punch. The former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[1586,5999,1214,7834,7,3417,1451,3418,1014,58,2444,2611,6,4266,109,10997,424,2175],"class_list":{"0":"post-104372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-braden-fiske","10":"tag-byron-young","11":"tag-defensive-linemen","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jared-verse","14":"tag-josaiah-stewart","15":"tag-kobie-turner","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-rams","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-losangelesrams","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-organized-team-activities","22":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","23":"tag-poona-ford","24":"tag-rams","25":"tag-ty-hamilton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114627352121106358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}