Myles Garrett’s historic sack chase last season had a way of swallowing the whole Browns pass rush. Every week, the attention followed the record pace, and Maliek Collins’ strong 12-game stretch gave Garrett another interior threat to work with. But in the shadow of all that production, Cleveland may have had another lineman quietly building toward a bigger role.
That player was Mason Graham.
For a top-five pick, Graham managed to stay surprisingly low-profile as a rookie. He started all 17 games, avoided any real bust talk, and still made his presence felt in ways that didn’t always show up in the sack column. ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi noted that Graham ranked 20th among all defensive tackles in pass-rush win rate at 8.3 percent.
“Maybe the biggest X factor in replacing Garrett's production could be a Year 2 leap from defensive tackle Mason Graham,” Oyefusi wrote. “Graham registered only a half-sack, in part because Garrett got to quarterbacks so quickly. Graham's impact, though, was felt, and the next step for him will be turning his pressures into game-changing plays.”
That quiet first season came in a strange spotlight. Graham was drafted fifth overall after Cleveland’s much-debated decision to pass on Travis Hunter in the trade down from No. 2, so the conversation around him started with the Browns’ choice, not with his own game. And with Garrett still on the roster, Graham never had the burden of being sold as the franchise centerpiece.
By the end of the 2025 season, he still wasn’t the most decorated rookie in the building. That honor belonged to linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who took home NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Now the setup has changed. Garrett approved a trade to the Los Angeles Rams on June 1, and that leaves Graham with a much clearer path to the spotlight.
He was already giving Cleveland steady interior pressure, especially after Collins’ quad injury in the second half of the year. With Garrett gone, those pressures should come with more chances to turn into sacks.
What makes Graham interesting is that he wasn’t just a pass-rush specialist. Pro Football Focus had him lining up outside, either over the tackle or on the edge, on more than 25 percent of his snaps, a sign the Browns trusted his ability to disrupt quarterbacks from different spots. He also held his own against the run, finishing with 32 run-stuffs and seven tackles for loss.
With Jared Verse now leading Cleveland’s defense, Graham still isn’t the name everyone is talking about. But after a full year-plus of NFL conditioning, the Browns’ former Michigan standout looks like a player who could be impossible to ignore in 2026.
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