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CLEVELAND, Ohio Heres a thought that might reframe how you look at the Browns' offseason entirely: What if trading Myles Garrett doesnt just change the defense, what if it actually unlocks it? Thats the provocative argument being floated on the latest episode of the Orange and Brown Talk podcast and when you hear Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot lay it out, its hard to argue with the logic.
The conversation centered on Mason Graham, the fifth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft who, by many underlying metrics, quietly had a very strong rookie season.
Host Dan Labbe noted on the pod that Graham finished tied for third among rookies in pressures, second in hurries and posted the third-best pass rush win percentage among rookie defensive tackles.
Those arent the numbers of a bust.
Those are the numbers of a player doing real damage at the line of scrimmage.
And yet, the sacks werent there.
The splash plays didnt quite materialize.
And if you listened to the pod, Cabot has a theory about why, one that has nothing to do with Grahams ability and everything to do with the extraordinary presence that was lined up beside him.
I think that Mason Graham is going to be one of the players on this defensive line that finds his edge rush, his pass rush voice, Cabot said on the podcast.
In the absence of Myles Garrett, I think hes one of the players that was sort of dwarfed by this larger than life presence that was on the field.
Theres something deeply human about that observation.
Garrett wasnt just a great player last season, he was on a mission.
Everyone in the building knew it.
Every fan knew it.
He was chasing 23 sacks and the NFLs single-season record and that pursuit created an unspoken dynamic that may have rippled through the entire defensive line in ways nobody quite expected.
Everyone knew that he was on this mission to get those 23 sacks and to break that NFL single season sack record, Cabot continued.
And I think some people were a little bit reluctant or hesitant to arrive at the same time and steal a half of sack away from him.
Think about that from Mason Grahams perspective.
Youre a rookie.
Youre sharing a defensive line with arguably the greatest defender in football during the season hes chasing history.
Are you really going to throw your hand up and claim the half-sack when Garrett was clearly in the vicinity? Are you really going to plant your flag? Cabot argues that defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire is now actively challenging Graham to do exactly that, to own his production and stop deferring.
Labbe, for his part, is firmly in the Mason Graham believer camp and made a sharp point about why the underlying film justifies the optimism.
If you just kind of keep doing it over and over again, one of these days youre going to bring down the quarterback, he said on the pod.
You know, youre going to make stops in the backfield.
Like, those stats are going to start to follow because hes doing the things he needs to do.
Its a classic case of production preceding statistics.
Graham is already living in opposing backfields.
Hes already winning his individual battles at the line.
He played through what was widely suspected, and later confirmed in the offseason, to be a broken rib for a team that was going nowhere down the stretch and he kept showing up and competing.
Thats character.
Thats a player who wants to be great.
The natural counter-argument, raised by Ashley Bastock on the pod, is worth acknowledging: without Garrett drawing the conga line of double and triple teams, Graham may face more attention from opposing offenses than he did as a rookie.
Thats a real challenge.
But its also the kind of challenge that separates good players from great ones.
Graham enters Year 2 healthy, hungry, unburdened by someone elses record chase and, according to the Orange and Brown Talk crew, ready to announce himself as one of the best interior linemen in the AFC.
The question isnt whether he can produce.
Its whether Cleveland is ready to watch him fully become himself.
Based on what the Browns beat reporters are seeing, the answer is almost certainly yes.
Hear the full Mason Graham discussion and the complete Orange and Brown Talk breakdown of the Browns new-look defensive line on the latest episode, available now on all major platforms and on YouTube at Cleveland Browns on cleveland.com.