BEREA ― The Browns talk regularly about the defensive line being the engine of their defense. What many engines need is a sparkplug to serve as an ignition point.
That’s what second-year defensive tackle Mason Graham can provide, and it’s definitely why the Browns selected him No. 5 overall in the 2025 draft.
“Yeah, I feel that way,” Graham said Aug. 8, the 10th day of training camp. “I feel like I’m one of the guys that this team’s going to be able to count on. So have to go out there every day and prove that just to show all the other guys that they’re just going to follow suit. So I feel like it all starts with all four of us that are out there with the first group, and then everyone else follows and we believe everyone should be playing the same level.”
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It’s what Graham has been able to do to start training camp. Or, at least during the practices in which he’s been able to participate.
Graham, who played with a broken rib as a rookie, missed three days this past week because of a minor injury he sustained the first day in full pads Aug. 3. He said he isn’t concerned about it being a lingering issue.
“Yeah, just a little tweak,” Graham said, “but I was out there yesterday and I’ll be back out there today again.”
The return of Graham was big for the Browns, who have spent a significant portion of camp dealing with injuries at the defensive tackle group. Even with his return, they go into the week of the first preseason game waiting for five tackles — Mike Hall Jr., Maliek Collins, Sam Kamara, Elijah Chatman and Kalia Davis — to get back, although Kamara’s absence may be an extended one.
Collins’ return from the physically unable to perform list as he comes back from a season-ending quad injury could be the most impactful for that tackle group, especially for Graham. The duo combined to be one of the better interior defensive line pairings in the league in terms of creating pressure, combining for 64 total pressures. Collins had 6.5 sacks before a Week 13 injury against the San Francisco 49ers.
Graham, though, had just half of a sack, a number that was a cause of some concern by many outside of the organization. Inside the organization, there’s little concern about that number, or what it portends for his career.
“We joke about it all the time … but he doesn’t even care, he really doesn’t care,” defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire said. “He just wants the team to win. That’s another form of leadership right there. A guy who does everything right, works his butt off, comes in every day, is very vocal in the meeting room, and goes out and proves it on the practice field.”
Graham is confident he can improve on that half-a-sack total from his first year in the league. His 8.3% pass rush win rate as an interior defensive lineman led all rookies and ranked 20th overall.
There were multiple times during the season when the pressure the Browns defensive line created was like a race to the quarterback. The problem for Graham was that Collins or, more likely, Myles Garrett simply beat him to the passer.
Pressure vs. sacks, it really doesn’t matter to Graham. It just matters that the quarterback gets put on the ground.
“I feel like they work hand in hand,” Graham said. “Obviously, at the end of the day we want to get to the quarterback, whether that means pressures or sacks. So whatever that looks like.”
Garrett’s departure in a June trade to Los Angeles to play for the Rams netted two-time Pro Bowler Jared Verse, a 25-year-old defensive end who was the 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year, and draft picks.
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Verse has made an instant impact in training camp, consistently creating havoc off the same side of the defensive line where Garrett used to do the same. Graham said he isn’t surprised by anything Verse has brought to the defense.
“I mean, I feel like we all knew that coming in,” Graham said. “He hasn’t changed the player he is. He’s going to be who he is at the end of the day. And we embrace that. We want guys being themselves, being vocal, if that’s what that is. So just let him be himself.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How Mason Graham can be sparkplug for ‘engine’ of Browns defense
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
