The Cleveland Browns’ offense had a tough outing on Sunday. They couldn’t get anything going on offense against the Chicago Bears, with Dennis Allen pressuring Shedeur Sanders on almost every dropback.
Their defense, on the other hand, wasn’t much better. Jim Schwartz’s unit wasn’t as dominant as they’ve been for most of the season, with Ben Johnson’s creative play-calling scheming everyone open. Nevertheless, Mason Graham still held his ground.
As pointed out by Jim Wyman of Pro Football Focus, the rookie out of Michigan had a dominant performance and was the lone bright spot in the tough road loss:
“It was a tough day all around for the Browns, but Graham was one of their steadier contributors, particularly in run defense. His 69.1 grade in that field is his second-highest on the season, as 18.2% of these snaps received a positive grade — which included a stop,” Wyman wrote.
Graham hasn’t been the flashiest player out there, but that’s rarely the case with defensive tackles. Defensive tackles don’t make a lot of headlines unless they are giving up big plays and making mistakes.
Graham is a polished run-stopper who shuts down the interior with ease, shaking off double teams and opening things up for Myles Garrett. He’s also made big strides as a pass-rusher in his first year in the league. Once he gets a little better in that regard, he might be a top-five ranked player in his position.
The Browns have the odds-on favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year in Carson Schwesinger, but that doesn’t mean that Graham hasn’t been as impressive.
He looks like a building block for this defense for many more years to come, which is obviously what one would expect from a top-five selection.
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