Leading up the NFL Draft, NewYorkJets.com will use NFL Draft analyst comments to "Make Your Case" why certain draft prospects would be a good fit for the team.
The Jets hold eight picks in the 2025 NFL Draft including the No. 7 overall selection. The first round will take place April 24 in Green Bay at 8 p.m. EDT. Day 2 will be April 25 and Day 3 April 26.
Today's player: Michigan DT Mason Graham
Background/Player Profile
Graham (6-4, 306) started two seasons for Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to an undefeated season (15-0) and a national championship in 2023 while playing under the current Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
In 2024, Graham was named a consensus first-team All-American with 45 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss and played an integral role in Michigan's 13-10 upset victory over the eventual national champions Ohio State. In the final week of the 2023 regular season, he registered 7 tackles and a sack.
Graham left Ann Arbor with 39 games played, 60 tackles, 18 tackles to loss, 9 sacks, while the team had a 22-5 record with him as a starter.
"He plays with great leverage. He doesn't get moved off the ball on double teams," former Jets DT and NFL Draft Analyst for CBS Sports Leger Douzable said. "He is the complete package. When you talk about a guy that is pro ready, that is Mason Graham."
A projected top-10 pick by national media outlets, one of the few knocks on Graham has been his arm length. At the 2025 NFL Combine, he recorded 32-inch arms and a 78½-inch wingspan, which placed him around the 12th percentile at defensive tackle since 1999.
"[Graham] is the No. 1 defensive tackle in the class," Douzable said. "He is about pro ready as it gets. People talk about his arm length like it is an issue, but when you turn on the tape, he gets his hands from the ground to the man so fast that it doesn't matter."
Graham was born and raised in Southern California and was a four-star recruit out of high school. He originally committed to Boise State as a junior to play linebacker before flipping his commitment to the Wolverines as a senior after blossoming into an elite defensive lineman.
The Fit
The interior of the Jets' defensive line features All-Pro Quinnen Williams, coming off his third consecutive Pro Bowl nod, second-year DT Leonard Taylor III and 2025 free agent acquisitions Super Bowl champion Derrick Nnadi from Kansas City and former Bengals DT Jay Tufele.
The Jets will look to replace the production of DL Javon Kinlaw, Solomon Thomas and Leki Fotu, who combined for 8 sacks, 69 tackles and 10 tackles for loss in 2024.
"The thing that quarterbacks hate the most is interior pass rush," Douzable said. "That is why I think that a pairing of [Graham] and Quinnen Williams would cause nightmares for offensive linemen."
Where He's Projected in Mock Drafts
NFL.com: No. 5 (Jacksonville)
PFF: No. 5 (Jacksonville)
CBS Sports: No. 9 (New Orleans)
ESPN: No. 5 (Jacksonville)
Other Players in the Field
If the Jets don't land Graham, they could be in the market to select his running mate at Michigan, DT Kenneth Grant. At 6-4 and 331 pounds, Grant is a run-stuffing interior lineman whose numbers mirrored Graham's last season, despite being projected as an early second-round pick. Grant finished the 2023 season with 32 tackles, 3 sacks and 7 tackles for loss.
"If I had to pick a player in this entire draft that would be the perfect fit next to Quinnen Williams, it would be Kenneth Grant," said NFL Analyst Brian Baldinger. "He is going to eat up double teams for you. He is a massive player that has some pass-rush ability to him and is a load to handle inside. The Jets have been needing a player like that for a long time."
