With Myles Garrett long gone, someone was going to have to step up and get sacks for the Cleveland Browns this season. Almost everyone expected that someone to be Jared Verse, a Pro Bowl player who was acquired from the Los Angeles Rams in the Garrett trade.
But so far, it is another young player who has taken over that responsibility. Second-year defensive tackle Mason Graham is tied for second in the league with four sacks in three games, which is eight times as many as he had all of last year.
Graham is having a breakout season, and insider Mary Kay Cabot claims it is because Garrett is no longer around.
“Mason Graham is going gangbusters this season. I think he was dwarfed by Myles Garrett. I think he was somehow afraid to bust out and be himself,” Cabot said.
Mason Graham is having a breakout season. @MaryKayCabot, @AshleyBastock42 & @dan_labbe talk about the #Browns second-year DT https://t.co/uof2D1NOGG pic.twitter.com/TlkIqiFxo3
— Orange and Brown Talk (@orangebrowntalk) September 28, 2026
After Garrett was traded in June, reports emerged that some Browns players may have been deferring to him as he was trying to break the NFL single-season sacks record. He did, getting his 23rd in the finale, but as a result, Graham had just one-half sack in his 17 games.
That fell well short of the expectations for him as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He finished the year with 49 combined tackles, seven tackles for loss, and four quarterback hits.
This season, in just three games, Graham already has 15 combined tackles, six tackles for loss, and four QB hits to go along with those four sacks. That is a 17-game pace of 22.5 sacks, 85 combined tackles, 39 tackles for loss, and 22 quarterback hits.
Graham may not be able to keep that up, but the projected sack total is definitely interesting. Cabot said she asked him, somewhat jokingly, if he was looking to set the sacks record this year, and he responded seriously that it is always the goal.
With defensive end Alex Wright lost for the season with an Achilles tendon injury suffered in training camp, the Browns have altered their pass rush under first-time coordinator Mike Rutenberg. They are getting more pressure from the interior, where Graham plays, than the outside, where Verse is still looking for his first sack with the Browns.
If Graham can somehow threaten the record in that system, fans will forget about Garrett much quicker than anyone thought.
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