How Jared Verse and Braden Fiske became the Rams' Fearsome Twosome

New York Times

10-07-2025

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — One week after Jared Verse was presented the Defensive Rookie of the Year award at NFL Honors, he returned to the Los Angeles Rams' practice facility.
Braden Fiske was waiting for him.
Fiske, a defensive end, and Verse, an outside linebacker, were finalists for the award, along with Eagles defensive backs Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell and Dolphins outside linebacker Chop Robinson.
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An argument could be made that Fiske was the most deserving. He had 8 1/2 sacks to Verse's 4 1/2. Verse had the edge in quarterback hits, 18 to 10. Verse was named Defensive Rookie of the Month in September, and Fiske won the award in November.
Fiske thought he might have clinched the award in an early December game against the Saints. He picked up what appeared to be a fumble by quarterback Derek Carr and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown. Then the play was called back and ruled an incomplete pass.
Verse was the leading vote-getter by a wide margin. He had 417 vote points — 183 more than Mitchell and 321 more than Fiske.
Fiske says losing to Verse felt like 'a stab in the heart.'
But it wasn't fatal.
'Next time, it's for the big one,' Fiske told Verse at the Rams' facility. 'I'll see you when they give out the Defensive Player of the Year award.'
Verse already knew what Fiske was thinking — as usual.
As college prospects, neither Verse nor Fiske was highly regarded. Fiske was a three-star recruit as an offensive lineman at Michigan City High School in Indiana. He had three more stars than Verse, who played tight end and defensive end at Central Columbia High School in Pennsylvania.
Each had one offer — Verse to Albany and Fiske to Western Michigan. Unlike Power 5 student-athletes, they had to work for spending money. Both delivered for DoorDash. Verse also took a job at Amazon, and Fiske cut down trees for Jon's Tree Service.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Verse altered his training and diet, gaining 40 pounds. Then he had nine sacks in 2021, making him one of the most sought-after players in the transfer portal.
It wasn't until the next year — Fiske's fifth season — that he broke out at Western Michigan with six sacks and 12 tackles for a loss. That's when he caught the attention of Florida State and many other big-time college football schools.
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Shortly after choosing Florida State, Fiske walked into the training room. He heard Verse before he saw him because Verse is loud enough that nearby babies should wear noise-canceling headphones. Fiske, meanwhile, is quiet enough to sneak up on you like an electric vehicle.
Fiske told Verse that Fiske was going to be one of the best things that happened to him that year. And he had a feeling Verse would be one of the best things that happened to him.
They are dissimilar in many ways, but Fiske, the son of a steelworker, and Verse, the son of an engineer, share an overwhelming need to prove themselves competitively.
While Fiske was initially held out of practice because of a recent shoulder surgery, Verse noticed how much time he spent trying to improve himself. And once Fiske returned to practice, his presence reverberated.
'I'm like, 'Oh, this dude's not playing,'' Verse says. 'He got to the quarterback before me on one play. I said, 'I can't let that happen again.' So we started competing and becoming more vocal with each other. I'm like, this is going to be a good relationship.'
Whether it was a game or practice, they went hard to beat each other to the quarterback. Every lift in the weight room was a competition.
Whenever a Seminole committed a penalty, the whole team paid with post-practice sprints. While most of the players went through the motions, Verse and Fiske lined up next to one another and went all out, intent on finishing a step ahead of the other.
Each wanted to stay in the cold tub longer than the other. Who was more flexible in stretches? It was a contest.
They watched tape together, just the two of them as daylight disappeared — but it became an endurance test, with neither willing to stop before the other. On and on it went, for an hour, an hour and a half, two hours.
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Over time, the competition changed them.
When two cyclones circle and merge into one with greater force, it's called the Fujiwhara effect. In their last three college games, Fiske and Verse combined for 9 1/2 sacks — the Fujiwhara effect.
Somehow, they weren't opposing one another as much as complementing. And as they enhanced their skills, they developed a shared intuition.
Against Louisville in the ACC Championship Game, Verse looked at Fiske without saying a word. Verse's eyes told Fiske he would take the up and under, and Fiske should wrap around the tackle. The result was a sack.
'We just gave each other a nod like, take your shot,' Fiske says. 'I have more of a feel with him than anyone.'
'I never had a sixth sense with another player like this,' Verse says.
Among those who noticed was Rams general manager Les Snead. 'That was one of those games that as you studied it, you're saying, 'Wow, these two are really symbiotic,'' he says. 'They are in the rhythm, right? They're on the same wavelength.'
The more time they spent together, the more they looked beyond how they could benefit from each other, developing appreciation and affection.
'I wish more people could see how caring, giving and respectful he is with everybody, the way he uplifts people, brings energy to a room and changes the entire environment wherever he's at,' Fiske says.
'I love Fiske,' Verse says. 'That's one of my best friends right there, one of the best people I've met.'
While watching tape during their final stretch of college games, they considered the possibility of continuing together in the NFL.
Fiske: 'Imagine if that happened. It would be insane.'
Verse: 'There is no way 31 teams would let that happen. There's no way.'
The talk about remaining teammates continued as Fiske became a postseason riser. At the Senior Bowl, the offensive linemen he practiced against voted him Player of the Week. At the combine, he finished first in his position group in the 40-yard dash (4.78), broad jump (9-9), vertical jump (33 1/2) and short shuttle (4.37).
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Snead chose Verse with the 19th pick of the first round. Then he had a day to ponder the second round — to envision Verse with Fiske as a Fearsome Twosome.
'We always thought there was a possibility that what they had together would carry over,' Snead says. 'We discussed that they would be closer to being on the same wavelength with each other than two strangers meeting for the first time.'
Fiske's connection with Verse wasn't the reason the Rams wanted him — it was one of many. They saw so much value in him that they traded up to take him, giving up a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick to move up 13 spots. They tried to trade up higher but couldn't find a partner.
Snead was trying to win football games, not produce a Disney movie. He might have done both.
On the second day of the draft, Fiske was watching with about 200 friends and family members at Zorn Brew Works in Michigan City when his phone rang. It was Snead, telling him he was a Ram.
Fiske's first words: 'That's unbelievable. I'm playing with Verse again.'
Snead handed the phone to Rams coach Sean McVay, who told him, 'I can't wait to see you two back in action again together. Then McVay gave the phone to Verse, who had just arrived at the Rams' draft house and didn't yet know Fiske had been drafted.
'Jared,' McVay said, 'talk to your new teammate Braden Fiske.'
Then the big men put their heads down and let the emotion flow.
Incredible emotions as Jared Verse joined the Draft call to his @FSUFootball teammate Braden Fiske 😭
The Rams drafted them twenty picks apart. (via @RamsNFL) @JaredVerse1 @bradenfiske55 pic.twitter.com/2s3BAuSWRw
— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2024
'We worked hard together and talked about something like this,' Fiske says. 'For it to actually transpire was the ultimate. He and I saw a vision start to blossom on that call.'
'I knew how much that moment meant to him because we spent so much time together,' Verse says. 'To see that come true for him, and then to get one of my best friends back on the field with me? Dude, I couldn't compare that feeling with anything.'
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For their first rookie practices, the Rams arranged for Fiske and Verse to room together in a hotel near their facility. Verse arrived first and FaceTimed Fiske to show him their room. Instead of a suite with two bedrooms, as they had anticipated, it was a single bedroom with two queen beds side by side.
The arrangement would have led to an Oscar and Felix dynamic. 'The way he is off the field is the way he is on the field — loud and disruptive,' Fiske says. 'I couldn't be that close to him for a month and a half.'
Their request for separate rooms was granted, but in the weeks that followed, they were as difficult to separate as the North Pole from the South. Acclimating to a new team, scheme and environment was less difficult because they had one another. 'Having him there gave me confidence,' Fiske says.
Even though Fiske is in bed by 9 most nights and believes sunglasses are for reducing glare, he has blended well in Los Angeles. Verse, meanwhile, has a smile that could outshine anything on Hollywood Boulevard. As he continues to expose his personality and blockers, Verse could become the closest thing the Rams have had to Deacon Jones.
During their time in Southern California, Verse and Fiske have dined out together and hung out at a mall. However, their relationship has still mostly been about trying to outdo one another.
They have competed in bags. Fiske has lured Verse into a batting cage, where he has an advantage as a former high school baseball player. Verse says Fiske won't try him on the basketball court. Fiske can't get Verse on the golf course, where he claims he would dominate.
'Before every play, we look at each other like, who's going to get there first?' Fiske says. 'The cool part is that it has fed to the rest of the defense. The D-line and outside linebackers are all competing.'
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As they listened to Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' snap count before a play during a September game in Chicago, Fiske gave Verse a look. Verse knew what he meant — go high. Fiske came under and made his first NFL sack, as well as a strip. Then, on the sideline, he gloated. 'Are you a little jealous right now?' he said.
Verse claims he has nothing to be envious of.
'I'm Fiske,' he says. 'Except leaner, quicker, bigger, taller and stronger.'
Counters Fiske, 'In my mind, I'm more athletic and can do a little more.'
Verse estimates he used a power rush 90 percent of the time as a rookie. He beat Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead with a power move, and Armstead later said Verse was one of the players who led him to retire.
In the offseason, however, Verse has developed his speed rush as a complement. 'That will give tackles something to be scared of,' he says.
Fiske, meanwhile, focused on identifying his own tendencies in the run game. He also recommitted to being the best he can physically, stretching more and improving his diet. He weighs 293 pounds — up eight pounds — and says his body fat is lower. A tear in his patellar tendon required arthroscopic surgery, but he returned to practice in the spring.
'With the way those two attack Monday through Saturday and then show up and play, I'm pretty sure opposing offensive linemen are going to be saying, 'I wish we weren't playing these guys because it's going to be 65 hard, hard downs,'' Snead says.
Fiske calls Verse a 'crucial part of my journey' and credits him for elevating his game.
Verse says being reunited with Fiske was probably the best thing that could have happened to him.
'There are certain people that you know are meant to be in your life for a very long time, people you need to keep in your life,' Verse says. 'Even if we had been drafted by different teams, I knew at one point we would have gotten back together because the chemistry and vibe we have is something you can't replicate.'
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In two playoff games, Fiske and Verse combined for 3 1/2 sacks, and Verse returned a fumble 57 yards for a touchdown.
Leading up to their final game in Philadelphia, Verse told the Los Angeles Times he hated Eagles fans, creating a furor. Before the game, in a glistening light snowfall at Lincoln Financial Field, Verse, in a sleeveless shirt, took a lap. As Philly fans booed and heckled, Verse put a hand to his ear.
Then, in a peaceful pregame moment, he turned to Fiske.
'I need you,' he told him.
Words, as usual, were not necessary.