4. CB Martin Emerson
This is where we get into it. Every single player from here on out, I predict, will see a lot of action. Martin Emerson won’t get more reps than any other corner ahead of him, as the team will rely on Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams, and Greg Newsome more than Emerson but Emerson will get the chance to prove he can replace veteran Troy Hill, who the Browns laughably traded away.
Without Hill, and the expiring contract of Williams, the Browns have a reason to hope for the best with Emerson. They need him to step up and show off what he’s capable of if the Browns are going to continue to implement defensive coordinator Joe Wood’s defense.
If you can’t have a pass rush that suffocates a quarterback, then you have to have a defensive back group that can stifle receivers long enough for the defense to get to the quarterback another way. Emerson is going to be part of that type of defensive secondary.
That said, the corners are going to have to be better in 2022 than they were in 2021, mostly due to them not being able to rely on the safeties. John Johnson was not worth the money in his first year in Cleveland, and the team lost M.J. Stewart in free agency; making the safeties another point of concern, as they were in 2020.
The corners will need to step up to help negate that issue.