The AFC North has long been known for its outdoor stadiums, bitter rivalries, and old-school mentality. Generally speaking, when you play the Browns, Steelers, Bengals, or Ravens, you better be ready to stop the run on defense and block some premier pass rushers on offense.
The division was once home to three of the league’s premier edge defenders in Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Trey Hendrickson. Times have changed, though. Garrett is now in Los Angeles with the Rams, Hendrickson is now a Raven, and Watt is coming off a down year while getting set to enter his age-32 season.
The Browns had the luxury of fielding the NFL’s best singular defensive player in Garrett for the better part of a decade. It’s very possible, with the 25-year-old Jared Verse now leading the front seven, that the Browns are able to reclaim that distinction in short order — like during this upcoming 2026 season.
Longtime NFL writer Pete Prisco released his annual top-100 player rankings for CBS Sports on Saturday, and as usual, he included a few doozies.
Perhaps the biggest for Browns fans was Watt dropping from No. 11 to No. 88 on Prisco’s list, with Verse 20 spots higher at No. 68. Prisco had Hendrickson just one spot ahead of Verse at No. 67, and new Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence all the way down at No. 91 (after ranking No. 29 a season ago).
This all, of course, is only one man’s opinion, but it’s certainly a fun one for Browns fans. Verse only has room to grow in new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg's young defense.
Jared Verse has a real chance to become the AFC North's best pass rusher
All Browns fans can do is laugh at Prisco dropping Watt 77 spots on this year's list. The reality, though, is that the Steelers — with Watt, Nate Herbig, and Alex Highsmith — have a much deeper edge group than Cleveland does right now.Â
Part of that is by design, as GM Andrew Berry surprisingly didn’t add a significant player to his room this offseason, beyond swapping Garrett for Verse in the Browns’ bombshell trade with the Rams on June 1. As it stands entering training camp, Cleveland will be hoping one of its many undrafted rookie signings, like Logan Fano, Khordae Syndor, and Tyreak Sapp, can emerge behind its clear top three of Verse, Alex Wright, and Isaiah McGuire.
It would be a stretch to call Verse the AFC North’s best pure pass rusher entering 2026, as he hasn’t yet posted a double-digit sack season. But he has a legitimate chance to be the best all-around edge defender in the division. His ability to help build a wall in the run game was undeniable during his two years in L.A., and it was an area of weakness for the Browns’ defense last year.
According to Pro Football Focus’ grading metrics, Herbig, Highsmith, Verse, and Wright were all top-20 edge defenders in 2025. Zoom out a bit further, using ESPN’s win-rate stats, and Verse was No. 2 in the NFL behind only Maxx Crosby at defending the rush.
Garrett, unsurprisingly, was No. 1 on Prisco’s top 100 list. At 30 years old coming off the first official 23-sack regular season in NFL history, he truly is a unicorn.
Cleveland’s big decision to move on from Garrett this offseason only seems to gain more validation with each passing week, and an analysis of the AFC North’s new-look group of edge rushers at the conclusion of this upcoming season could end up being the icing on top.
Add us as a preferred source on Google