BEREA, Ohio — Browns defensive tackle Mason Graham made it a priority to return one text on Thursday night after he was selected fifth overall: Myles Garrett’s. “He just congratulated me, coming to Cleveland,” Graham said on Friday during an introductory press conference. “Just excited to work with me and I’m excited to work with him, make this team better and put Cleveland back on top.” That’s why the Browns picked Graham: To join Garrett and the rest of the defensive line and disrupt opponents’ passing games. “He is a DNA match for our defense,” Browns GM Andrew Berry said Thursday night. “Disruptive, interior penetrator. I think he can really affect the pocket from inside, high motor player, really physical, really tough. We thought he was one of the more dominant trench prospects in this year’s class.” The Browns traded down from the No. 2 overall pick with the Jaguars, receiving a haul in return, including the fifth overall pick they used on Graham. The trade left some Browns fans upset that the team passed on Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, but Graham isn’t fazed by any of those negative feelings. “Cleveland’s getting one of the best players, if not the best player in the draft,” Graham said. “I feel like I can do everything and I can play anywhere along the front and just coming in with Myles and all the guys along the front is only going to make the team better.” Graham, who turns 22 in September, played in 39 games over three years at Michigan collecting nine sacks and 17 tackles for loss, including 6.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss the last two seasons. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Thursday that, because of Michigan’s two-gap scheme, you didn’t always see Graham creating the pressure the Browns believe he can, but they saw enough to make him one of their core defensive players. “You saw plenty of times that when he goes, he goes,” Stefanski said. “He has great balance, great ability to be disruptive and make plays in the run game and in the pass game. Those interior rushers are really valuable in this scheme.” Graham welcomes the opportunity to fully show his disruptive ability in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme. “I feel like it’s a totally different style than I’ve been playing, so (Schwartz) has been talking about just taking the handcuffs off me,” Graham said. “I’m used to playing blocks now, but getting more off the ball and more attacking and causing more negative plays for the offenses, and I feel like I can fit right into the scheme.” The reality of Schwartz’s defense is it starts with the defensive line. “We want players, what we call attack players,” Berry said Thursday. “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.” The Browns posted a video on X on Friday of Graham, presumably during his 30 visit with the team, talking to defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire about his favorite rush, the bull rush and how he loves the physicality of it. “I’m just not a one-dimensional player,” Graham said on Friday. “I can use power and speed to my advantage. I’m not just a run stuffer or a pass rusher, I can do both at a really high level. So I feel like that’s kind of where I excel.” Graham credits his multi-sport background with his versatility on the field. A state champion wrestler, Graham also played baseball, basketball and rugby growing up. “Baseball, just moving around, and then I’d say basketball, just kind of the athletic movements, that’s kind of where I get my quickness from,” Graham said. “… I wasn’t the best basketball player so that’s why I chose football. But I feel like all the sports really helped me. I’d say rugby too, it’s a contact sport that I wanted to play. It’s just basically football without pads. You can’t throw the ball forward but you can throw it backwards and you’re just tackling big guys.” The Browns saw Graham as a good enough prospect to merit passing on Hunter and they believe he can be the type of defensive tackle to thrive in Schwartz’s system. Graham sees the fit. “I had a good feeling about all the coaches,” he said. “I met with all of them on my 30 visit. I had a good feeling from the top to the bottom, just the staff. I feel like everyone here just kind of fits what I want to be brought into.”