Why Nate Tice calls Mason Graham a 'human hand grenade'

Yahoo

25-03-2025

Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and NFL writer Charles McDonald break down what makes Michigan's Mason Graham such a special prospect and why they both have him as DT1. Hear the full conversation on 'Football 301' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Mason Graham from Michigan.
He is number 7 on your big board, #8 on mine.
Charles with Graham, maybe a little drop off from 2023 to 2024.
I would say his 2023 tape was pretty much outright dominant.
Well, 2024, some flashes, more than sustained play maybe, uh, about some injuries as well as just the felt like a post hardball hangover that people had in Michigan this year.
But with Mason Graham, why is he 7 on your big board?
Why is he considered probably defensive tackle one, not probably, is defensive tackle one in this class.
Uh, he's he's a really special player.
I, I think, and I think it's, uh, the movement skills are really what, what pop out on tape, um, because he's a strong guy, he can be stout, you know, when things are coming right at him, but like the ability to just kind of Like, like create space when, you know, create space in the phone booth, um, and be able to wiggle its way up the field and still be explosive through it.
Like that to me is pretty rare stuff.
Uh, even with like the, you know, the injury, what was it ankle injury that he was hampered with all season.
I don't remember exactly.
Yeah, even with that.
You can still see a lot of the explosive ability, uh, just, just to be a difference maker.
The nickname that came for Graham was the human hand grenade because he just detonates people on the impact and it kind of just, it's, he's explosive.
I mean, his arm length isn't great and people are figuring out what his weight is, but I think his weight's plenty fine, even if he is up 300, I think his playstyle is not to be a beef guy, even though he is strong.
It's not, you know, he can hold up against blocks and he does OK against double teams, you know, some double teams can move him like most defensive tackles.
But the thing is, is that he is a big play generator for the defense, and not just passes, but against the run too.
Um, and he does it in different ways.
So it's sometimes he's knifing in there and beating you with speed and bend, sometimes it's power and you just can, the knockback, um, sometimes just effort beating double teams.
So it's kind of, he shows everything.
And I'll probably bump him like one or two spots.
He'll probably end up maybe being a top 5 player for me overall.
Uh, it's just that there's a couple of blemishes I have with him that I mentioned, just some of the length and some of the other stuff.
It's like, is he a 10 sack guy guaranteed just we're going to call it that.
Not sure, but I know he's going to impact the game.
Um, I think there's a lot of Geno Atkins to him.
Uh, that's the guy I kind of came back to when I watch.
Yeah, that's kind of who really he reminds me of just that, just a little ball of power.
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