There’s been one constant with the Cleveland Browns this season — well, two if you count Myles Garrett sacking quarterbacks at an unprecedented rate.
But the Browns’ 2025 rookie class has become impossible to ignore, and the NFL world has taken notice entering the final month of the regular season.
Middle linebacker Carson Schwesinger was just named AFC Defensive Rookie of the Week. Running back Quinshon Judkins and tight end Harold Fannin Jr. are already household names in the fantasy football community. And everyone’s tuning in for quarterback Shedeur Sanders, itching to see if the fifth-round pick with Hall of Fame bloodlines can one day make 31 NFL teams pay for doubting him.
The Browns rookie no one’s really talking about? That would be defensive tackle Mason Graham, the player that helped general manger Andrew Berry justify trading the No. 2 overall pick to the Jacksonville Jagaurs in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Similar to Schwesinger, Graham has started all 12 games for the Browns in a full-time role on defense. The glaring difference? Schwesinger’s been filling the stat sheet and garnering all the national recognition, while Graham’s been playing a more complementary role alongside veterans Maliek Collins and Shelby Harris; he enters Week 14 still looking for the first solo sack of his career.
Just to be clear, we’re not talking about a potential “bust” with the Browns’ No. 5 overall draft pick. Graham has been flashing big-time in recent weeks, and with Collins officially done for the season with a quad injury, the forgotten first-round rookie has a chance to go off over Cleveland’s final five games of 2025.
Week 14 could be the Mason Graham breakout Browns fans have been waiting for
The Browns’ defensive line is embracing a next-man-up mentality this week, as Collins’ injury leaves a massive void on the interior. Per Pro Football Focus, Collins finished with 28 QB pressures, 19 run stuffs, and a career-high 6.5 sacks this season.
Cleveland will be leaning heavily on Graham, Harris, Sam Kamara, and Mike Hall Jr. in Collins’ absence. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz expressed confidence in that entire group this week, but he was quick to single out Graham for what was quietly his most impactful game of the season against the San Francisco, even if the numbers didn’t pop in the box score.
“I was very, very impressed by Mason in that game,” Schwartz said. ‘I mean, played super, super hard. Was all over the field. I think every week we’re seeing better from him, and I think that was another. It’s only a matter of time before we start to see the level of play start equaling the production, the stat sheet kind of stuff, for Mason.”
Graham probably hasn’t gotten enough credit for his play this year, especially over the past four weeks. He hasn’t been finishing at the quarterback, but he’s amassed 16 pressures and 13 hurries over that stretch, per PFF, and has also been sneaky good in the run game... and in coverage?
In the 49ers game, he had three solo tackles, including two on superstar running back Christian McCaffery for short gains. The other was an incredibly instinctive play to diagnose a bubble screen to Ricky Pearsall and bury the wide receiver back near the line of scrimmage.
Graham now leads all Browns pass rushers (not named Garrett, of course) in pressures with 29 on the season. His long-awaited breakout game is coming, and Sunday’s road trip to Nashville to face the 1-1-10 Tennessee Titans could finally light the fuse, Titans rookie Cam Ward enters Week 14 as the NFL’s most-sacked quarterback with 48 on the season.