"You Can't Run Your Mouth": Jared Verse Faces Blunt Criticism From Shannon After Cleveland Browns Fallout

Shannon Sharpe has a blunt message for Jared Verse after he expressed frustration over his teammates'© Image via: X/@NFL

Jared Verse hit the turf head first on an extra-point attempt, and not one Cleveland Browns teammate came running. He told reporters Thursday it still burns. Maybe it should. But the real trouble sits elsewhere: Verse has no sack since the Los Angeles Rams sent him to Cleveland in the Myles Garrett trade. A 27-6 loss at Pittsburgh made both problems loud. Now the Browns, 5-3, travel to face the New Orleans Saints with a quarterback question and a very vocal pass rusher.

Jared Verse Wanted Help From His Cleveland Browns Teammates and Got Silence

Pittsburgh Steelers guard Mason McCormick swept Verse's legs in the first quarter. A flag flew. Verse wanted a shove, a shout, anything.

"The lack of reaction by those around me upset me a lot," Verse admitted. "A similar play happened to Derek Barnett, I think, on the next field goal, and I lost it because it was my brothers and my teammates. And when you do something like that to him, it upsets me very deeply," he said.

His teammates say they simply missed it. Most had turned toward the sideline, convinced the play was dead. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger said he saw nothing until the game was over. "Obviously it's something if you see it, you go to his defense. It's something that you don't want to see in the game," Schwesinger said.

Shannon Sharpe has no patience for the complaint. He used his podcast to argue that a player who talks all week cannot expect a crowd behind him. "In the NFL, if you're gonna talk like a big dawg, you'd better play like a big dawg. You can't run your mouth all week and then get handled like that without your own team having your back," Sharpe concluded.

#Browns DE Jared Verse says he was upset his teammates didn't stand up for him after #Steelers G Mason McCormick threw him to the turf—and he had that conversation with them. “That honestly could have put me in a position to not be able to finish the season, put me in a position to change my life in a very bad aspect.”

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 5, 2026

Sharpe is loud, and he is partly right about the talk. He is shakier on the rest. Nobody ignored Verse on purpose.

Jared Verse Is Still Hunting His First Sack With the Cleveland Browns

Forget the slam for a moment. The bigger worry is the stat sheet. Verse had one pressure in each of the last two games and none in two others. This is a man who piled up 143 pressures over two seasons with the Rams.

He points to game situations. Not enough third-and-longs, he says. That argument gets thin fast, because nine of his 12 career sacks came on first or second down.

Verse also made it clear he will not soften his pregame act. "I don't think it's any secret that I like to talk. I like to attack things. I like to be verbal in the way I play and the way I talk and the way I move around and everything," he said.

Fine. But talk is cheap in a locker room, and Cleveland paid a steep price to get this player. Sunday in New Orleans is the next chance to settle it.