The Minnesota Vikings officially announcing the hiring of a new general manager was put on the back burner on Monday when the Cleveland Browns made a blockbuster trade to send Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams.
But aside from the trade strengthening an NFC rival, the Vikings had another reason to be interested in the trade, as it included fellow pass rusher Jared Verse.
Verse’s inclusion in the deal connects the Vikings in a roundabout way, as he was involved in one of former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s biggest decisions, executing a lopsided trade to pass on him and select Dallas Turner with the 17th overall pick.
The Rams took Verse two picks later, and as both players enter their third season in the league, Verse has had the more immediate impact. But the jury isn’t out on Turner, and Monday’s blockbuster could mean the Vikings made the right call by the end of 2026.
Jared Verse’s trade to Cleveland Browns adds interesting wrinkle to Minnesota Vikings’ Dallas Turner debate
To this point, Verse has blown his 2024 draft classmate out of the water. Verse has 12 sacks in his first two seasons and is a constant source of pressure, ranking fourth (77) in 2024 and sixth (80 pressures) in 2025 in quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
With Verse’s success, including a 2024 playoff demolition of the Vikings where he had seven pressures on 37 pass-rushing snaps, it’s easy for Vikings fans to connect the dots and see a path where Verse and other assets could have been flipped to bring Garrett to Minnesota. But that might just be pure fantasy.
Adofo-Mensah wasn’t afraid to throw draft capital around to shore up needs, and it’s possible he could have traded for Garrett after Jonathan Greenard was sent to the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason.
But he was replaced by interim GM Rob Brzezinski this spring, and Nolan Teasley as the full-time GM on Monday, with the idea of building through the draft.
Even if Kevin O’Connell was urging Brzezinski or Teasley to trade for Garrett with his job on the line, the Vikings probably wouldn’t have done it if they felt like Verse was a foundational player.
While he has two years left on his rookie deal and a first-round option for the 2028 season, the Rams trading Verse – even for a player of Garrett’s caliber – speaks volumes about how they felt about his potential as he already enters his late 20s.
The Vikings have sent mixed signals about Turner the past two years, but they’re at least giving him an opportunity to change the narrative. Turner waited his turn with three sacks in his rookie season, and his eight sacks were more than Verse’s 7.5 from last season.
Verse has been more consistent in generating pressure, but Turner also played behind Greenard, posting a similar pass-rush win rate (15.0 percent) to his veteran counterpart (15.5 percent) last season, per PFF.
It’s also notable that Turner is almost three years younger than Verse, entering his age-23 season with his 24th birthday set for next February. If Turner makes a massive leap, it could put him on a higher trajectory entering next year while also establishing himself as a franchise cornerstone.
Turner, of course, needs to play well enough to make that happen. It’s also a popular opinion among analysts that his 2025 success was based on Greenard cleaning things up for a wide-open path to the quarterback.
But in the debate of “Turner vs. Verse,” Monday’s trade is an interesting element and could give the Vikings the last laugh in the long run.
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