4 Cleveland Browns rookies that stood out in win over Jaguars

The Cleveland Browns got some outstanding performances from rookies in their win against the Jacksonville Jaguars and these players are making names for themselves

The Cleveland Browns started their preseason with a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Friday night. They got the win 24-13 but spotted the Jags the 13 points in the first half before mounting a comeback where several rookies on the team stood out and helped pull off the win.

Much of the discussion at the start of the game was about quarterback Deshaun Watson getting the start after sitting out of football for 19 months. He and the first unit looked rusty and out of sync. But the better story on the night, which we’ll focus on here, is on those rookies.

Here are four players who certainly have us talking about them because of those awesome jobs in the game.

4 Browns rookies that stood out in win over Jaguars

No. 4: Martin “MJ” Emerson, CB

The third-round pick — who was the first selection for the Browns in this year’s draft — got off to a very nice start to his professional career. I wrote about Emerson potentially getting to start in defensive coordinator Joe Wood’s 4-2-5 defense this season. The team is stacked at the cornerback position, but Emerson certainly made a name for himself in this first preseason game.

The highlight of the night for the team was Emerson’s impressive pick 6 on a pass that was intended for wide receiver Jeff Cotton. Emerson was able to steal away the pass and sprint 74 yards the other way for the touchdown.

Now Emerson only had one interception in his collegiate career at Mississippi State so the idea of Emerson being a takeaway machine this season wasn’t a likely conclusion. However, when you watched highlights of his games at college and saw his aggressive style at training camp, you got the feeling that he could be primed for a great career with the Browns.

Cleveland has several established players at the corner position including Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II but the other players like Greedy Williams and A.J. Green will have to show out to stay in the mix. The nice part of Wood’s defense is there’s room for all these players to get time on the field because of the flexibility.

We’ll see how the rest of preseason goes and there are always bumps in the road, but Emerson was very impressive with his play on Friday night.