LOS ANGELES — The wounds aren’t just fresh; they’re infected. Less than three weeks after the Seattle Seahawks hoisted the Lombardi Trophy to cap their 2025 championship run, Los Angeles Rams pass rusher Jared Verse isn’t offering congratulations. He’s doubling down on the bad blood.
Fresh off a sophomore season where his young defense crumbled on the biggest stage, Verse joined Ryan Clark and the crew on The Pivot Podcast this week to unload a clip of verbal ammunition at his NFC West rivals. There were no diplomatic “respect the game” pleasantries here—just raw, unfiltered animosity.
“I Genuinely Don’t Like Them”
Verse, the Rams’ 2024 first-round pick, made it clear that his issue with Seattle goes beyond simple division competitiveness. It’s personal.
“They’re a division rival, all that good stuff. But like I genuinely don’t like them. I got like a disdain in my heart for them. Like, I hate them. I don’t like the Seahawks at all. There’s nothing I like about them. I don’t like their players. There’s nobody I like about their staff.”
— Jared Verse, via The Pivot Podcast
The intensity of the rivalry reached a boiling point in the 2025 season. Seattle didn’t just beat the Rams; they broke them. First came the Week 16 overtime thriller that stole the NFC’s No. 1 seed from Los Angeles. Then came the dagger: a 31-27 offensive tussle in the NFC Championship Game that sent the Seahawks to the Super Bowl and the Rams home.
Verse didn’t stop at the organization. He made it clear that the jersey alone is enough to trigger him, even if it’s family.
“My mom could be wearing Seahawks colors, and like that’s my OPP that day,” Verse said.
The “Cake Walk” Collapse
While the hate is real, Verse also offered a rare, brutal self-assessment regarding the NFC Championship loss. The Rams entered that game with swagger—perhaps too much of it. According to Verse, the defense treated the conference title game like a coronation rather than a dogfight.
“I think it was a young mindset. I think it was my fault on the defense,” Verse admitted. “We all hyped up all week. We’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to beat them again… This is going to be a cake walk.'”
That arrogance proved fatal. When Seattle punched back early with a big play, the Rams’ young defensive core panicked. Verse described a unit that “mentally shut down” once the script flipped.
“When we start having trouble… everybody’s kind of like, s——- the bed. Like, ‘Oh, what do we do now? This isn’t going the way we thought this was going to go.'”
— Jared Verse
He even called out his own limitations in the chaos. “There were a couple of times I’m like, ‘But they’re running the other way… I can’t chase. I’m not that fast.’ So when we had some troubles, we just kind of like mentally shut down.”
What This Means for 2026
The Seahawks got the ring, but the Rams are stewing. Verse’s comments are instant bulletin board material for a Seattle team that already owns the bragging rights. But if you think Verse is worried about giving the champs extra motivation, think again.
“They got to see me for a lot more. So it don’t matter,” Verse said.
The NFC West has always been a physical gauntlet, but with Verse serving as the vocal villain against the reigning champions, 2026 promises violence. The Rams’ defense is young, talented, and now, humbled. If Verse can channel that “disdain” into discipline, the rematch won’t be a cake walk for anyone.
