Being a top five pick in the NFL draft comes with outside expectations, and DT Mason Graham knows that.
He also knows what he wants to accomplish in his rookie season with the Browns and is aiming to help the team through playing sound football. In a few short months since he was drafted, he's been working on living up to the billing.
"I have those expectations for myself. It's just not people saying that about me," Graham said. "I have those expectations for myself and I'm just trying to get better and, like I said, trying to make an impact in our first game."
In the three months he's been a Cleveland Brown, there's a lot that Graham has had to learn since walking across the stage in Green Bay in April, primarily with his defensive technique.
At Michigan, he played in a read and react style defense. Now, for Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, he's playing an attack penetration defense. Graham has used the offseason to learn the new defensive scheme and is now shedding habits from Michigan to adjusting to his role with the Browns.
"I just feel like within the technique there's little things like not stopping your feet," Graham said. "A lot of times in the defense, you stop your feet on contact, brace for the double teams when you know you're tight here to just keep running your feet nonstop. It's really just the muscle memory."
Even in the read and react style defense at Michigan, Graham's skills jumped off the paper to defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire, who noticed what the California native was able to do within the scheme.
"When you see a guy start penetrating (the offensive line) and he's in a read scheme and he's penetrating the line of scrimmage – and I'm not talking one yard, I'm talking about three, four, five yards in the backfield – getting tackles for losses or setting other people up to make play, that's when you're like, this kid can do what we're going to ask him to do," Cesaire said.
During his three seasons at Michigan, Graham compiled nine sacks, 18 tackles for loss and 108 tackles, leading to the Browns trading back to the fifth pick to take him.
Then, when he got to the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, Cesaire was impressed by what he was seeing. All the checklist items that Cesaire had for a young player, Graham embodied through how he went about his first days as a Browns player and his goals to develop.
"No matter what, it doesn't really count for me until they step in that building. When they step in that building, you get to see their habits every day, right?" Cesaire said. "Who is this person? Is he a guy who comes in early? Yes. Is he a guy that hits the field early? Yes. Is he a guy that wants to work after practice? Yes. That's when you start realizing, not only is that guy a really good player but he's probably one of the hardest working guys that we have."
Ultimately that hard-working mentality comes from Graham's background, as Graham said he came from humble beginnings with the goal of playing sound football and contributing to the success of a team one day.
That mentality has continued to shine through. During OTAs, Cesaire noticed the steady improvement Graham made.
"Every day he came out here and he was running to the ball as fast as he could," Cesaire said. "You see his rush game developing. You see him launching his hands. It's going to be hard coming from a read scheme going to an attack scheme, but he's done a really great job."
Following OTAs, the work didn't stop for Graham. In the middle of July, he went to the "Pass Rush Retreat" hosted by former defensive tackle Brandon (B.T.) Jordan, someone that Graham said he has been working with throughout the summer. At the retreat, Graham worked out and participated in drills alongside other NFL defensive linemen. He also worked out with one of his veterans DT Maliek Collins in Houston, using the time build chemistry.
With Graham acclimating to the Browns defense and his teammates, he is also adjusting to playing alongside DE Myles Garrett, someone he said he's learning from. Graham believes he can help alleviate some of the pressure Garrett receives from opposing offenses by playing alongside Garrett, and the pair can collapse opposing offensive lines to reach the quarterback.
As the Browns continue through training camp and prepare for the 2025 regular season, Graham is working to make an impact on the defense. Whether applying pressure inside, attacking the passer or creating disruption, Graham believes his skillset fits into the vision of the Browns defense.
"I just feel like I'm a playmaker in general," Graham said. "That's the type of guys that Coach Schwartz and everyone on the defense wants. So, penetrating, making plays, even when you're not making a play, causing disruption."
