Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham destroyed the Buckeyes. Can he do the same to Browns' rivals in the AFC North? (Associated Press)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Last week, Browns GM Andrew Berry called Colorado two-way sensation Travis Hunter a “unicorn” and compared him to Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s modern-day Babe Ruth.
But instead of turning in the card for Hunter with the No. 2 pick in the draft, Berry traded it to Jacksonville and picked Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 5.
The question now is if history will view Berry as football’s version of Harry Frazee, the Boston Red Sox owner who sold Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920, inflicting his franchise with the “Curse of the Bambino.”
“We just felt like it was a fantastic opportunity for our organization to move down three spots, still get a top-notch prospect in the trenches, adding a pick, in what we view as really the sweet spot for this year’s draft class, and then adding a first-round pick next year in a class that quite frankly we think will be a bit stronger in the first 30 picks,” Berry said in opening remarks. “So, we just felt like – both in the short term and over a multiyear time horizon -- it was a fit for what we wanted to do with the team and what we wanted to do with the roster.”
Still, bypassing the mercurial Hunter was a buzz kill for a team that in 2024 fielded the worst offense in its dismal expansion history.
“We obviously had strong affinity for Travis, no different than we had strong affinity for a number of players at the top,” Berry said. “I think the thing for us are there are a lot of good players in every class. And you know, as much as we liked Travis or Abdul [Carter] or, you know, Ashton [Jeanty], like whoever that may be, the opportunity is still to get a premier prospect and add significantly to our resources, which gives us added flexibility to build the team. We felt like it was an opportunity.”
So the Browns added draft points in April at the expense of real points in September. As usual.
Details:
* The Browns received picks No. 5, No. 36 (second round), No. 126 (fourth round) and Jacksonville’s first-round pick in 2026.
* The Jaguars received No. 2 overall, No. 104 (fourth round) and No. 200 (sixth round).
“There’s more than one good player in every draft, and for us to be able to add multiple premier prospects over a longer time horizon, we think that will allow us to build a stronger team,” Berry said.
In Graham, the Browns add a penetrating defensive tackle that dominated Ohio State in Michigan’s upset victory in November. If he’s as good as Berry hopes, Graham could be the best defensive tackle for the Browns since Michael Dean Perry in the 1990s.
“The reason we like Mason is because he has the ability to be an excellent pass rusher from the interior, and that’s really hard to find,” Berry said. “It’s a premium skill set now in the NFL. Those guys, they make a lot of money, and they very rarely become available.”
Berry called Graham “a DNA match for our defense.”
“We want players, what we call attack players,” he said. “So, guys who can use movement, quickness, power to really reestablish the line of scrimmage, get up field and ultimately rush the passer. The D-line, they’re the engine of our defense and their job is really just to mess things up at the line of scrimmage. It’s to attack and disrupt.”
Via phone from the draft in Green Bay, Graham said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz told him on his “30 visit” that he’d fit in perfectly in his scheme.
“Attacking, being disruptive on the front, and playing alongside other great players is only going to make this defense better,” Graham said.
Reports of a possible trade-down spread rapidly about two hours before the start of the draft. Berry said the trade was two weeks in the works and was initiated by new Jaguars GM James Gladstone, who, at 32, surpassed Berry as the youngest general manager in the NFL.
There were immediate reports Berry had an offer to trade down a second time from No. 5, but he said that was not true.
The Browns head into the second night of the draft with pick Nos. 33 and 36 in the second round, and Nos. 67 and 94 in the third round.
And by the end of the night, Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart was the only quarterback other top pick Cam Ward off the board. The Giants traded up from the second round to Houston’s No. 25 slot to take Dart.
Which means the Browns could face a choice of Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe at the top of the second round.
Also still on the board are Ohio State running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.
So Berry could restore some of the buzz lost on Day One. But will it be enough to make up for the snub of a generational player like Hunter?