NFL Draft film room: Mason Graham an all-around great defensive tackle

If the Michigan product is available with the sixth pick, he’ll be hard to pass up

With Christian Wilkins under contract for three more years, defensive tackle isn’t a pressing need for the Las Vegas Raiders heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. However, Michigan’s Mason Graham is one of the most talented prospects in this year’s draft class and could be too good to pass up if he’s available with the sixth overall pick.

Graham is coming off two very impressive seasons, during which he logged 81 total tackles, 15 TFL and 6.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024 combined. Additionally, he was Pro Football Focus’ fourth-highest-graded interior defender two years ago with a 90.0 grade and topped the charts this past season with a mark of 91.1.

The former Wolverine has a complete game where he can be a factor against the run and as a pass-rusher, and shows an impressive blend of athleticism and strength. So, let’s dive into the tape and see what he could bring to Las Vegas’ defensive line.

Graham’s get-off and overall quickness can make him dangerous when slanting. That helps him throw off offensive linemen’s angles, putting offensive linemen in compromising positions and impacting their balance. Combined with his ability to get off blocks, he’s able to get penetration and be disruptive in the backfield.

In the first clip above, Graham lines up slightly outside on the right guard but slants into the A-gap post-snap. Being a moving target, and a quick one at that, gets the guard off-balance where the guard’s upper body is too far in front of his lower body. Combine that with a nasty arm-over move to escape the block and the defensive tackle is in the backfield to factor into the tackle for loss.

We’ll see some similarities to the previous section here as Graham does another nice job of slanting to get penetration and a TFL in the first clip. Overall, he’s disruptive and very hard to block one-on-one as he can defeat blocks in multiple ways.

In addition to his quickness and get-off, Graham is fast at shooting his hands and has the strength ot win at the point of attack. While he doesn’t have long arms, he’s violent when shedding blocks to escape and make tackles near, at and sometimes behind the line of scrimmage.

What’s most impressive though is his ability to cover two gaps. There are several examples above of him plugging up his gap and then escaping to make the tackle in the adjacent gap. So, the Michigan product can fulfill his responsibility in the run fit and then go the extra mile by making the play in someone else’s gap.

Graham is also pretty good at taking on double teams and combo blocks. A big part of what makes him so effective in this area is that he focuses on defeating the man he’s lined up across from. Also, he takes on blocks with a wide and sturdy base. So, even if he gets caught off-guard by the second blocker and pushed out of his gap initially, that allows him to recover and maintain his responsibility.

On top of that, he can also split double teams and make the tackle even when two blockers account for him. This is a huge factor in what makes the former Wolverine so special as a run defender.

Moving on to some pass-rush clips, Graham’s quickness and athleticism give him a wide range of finesse moves that he can win with. He sets up his moves well by getting to square on the offensive lineman before rapidly getting on an edge to put pressure on the quarterback.

What also stands out about Graham as a rusher are his fluid hips, especially for his size. That allows him to get clean wins since he can turn his hips almost parallel to the sideline to get skinny and clear his lower half. The former Wolverine often looks like a dancing bear when rushing the passer.

Finally, Graham can also be an effective power rusher. His get-off and overall strength are big factors in this department, but his leg drive after contact and motor are what help put him over the top. The latter are major reasons why he’s able to fight through two blockers in a handful of the plays above.

If it weren’t for a lack of arm length, Graham would be up there with Jalen Carter as the best defensive tackle prospect to come out of college in recent years. So, it would be completely understandable if the Raiders went with a “best player available” approach for the second year in a row and took the Michigan product sixth overall this April.

Coincidentally, Wilkins is my pro comparison for Graham which would give the rookie a good mentor to learn from in Las Vegas. Schematically, those two could coexist on the field at the same time if Patrick Graham wants to use a lot of odd fronts like he did last season as the former Wolverine would be a great replacement for Adam Butler.