There were not tons of positives for the Cleveland Browns in the 2025 season, as they finished with just five wins and now-former head coach Kevin Stefanski was fired. There were moments, sure, but offensively, the Browns have a ways to go.
Although, two promising young pieces from Cleveland’s 2025 rookie class emerged as standouts in Harold Fannin Jr. and Quinshon Judkins, and both should be crucial pieces for Cleveland. Dylan Sampson displayed flashes as a change-of-pace back as well, and he can be a favorable matchup at times on short routes with his receiving and open-field elusiveness.
As the year wore on, another young skill player popped at times for the Browns, too, and that was Malachi Corley.
Malachi Corley could be the Browns’ breakout weapon in 2026
Originally a third-round pick by the New York Jets from Western Kentucky, who was picked up off waivers before the 2025 season, Corley is not a household name for Cleveland. Regardless, when he had chances to make an impact, he did show promise in his second NFL season. This was after having a disappointing rookie year where he couldn't find a way to make any sort of positive imprint with New York.
The target-share for him wasn’t going to be considerable, but Corley showed he can make things happen as an outlet in the short pass game for Cleveland.
In 2025, Corley had 11 receptions for 79 yards, to go with 13 carries for 127 yards. Something to keep in mind was that Corley was getting mostly quick-game looks; the average depth of target for him was minus-0.5 yards. But, he did demonstrate that he can make impactful plays in those circumstances, and it was reason for optimism.
Plus, he played in 24 percent of Cleveland’s offensive snaps, so one couldn’t have expected a ton of touches for him, let alone big numbers.
However, Corley demonstrated impressive running abilities in his opportunities. He proved to be a meaningful short target who also runs the ball with conviction and is assertive when the ball is in his hands on jet sweeps or bubble screens. That carried forward from his collegiate days.
At Western Kentucky, Corley amassed 3,035 yards on 259 catches, and plenty of that yardage came after the catch. He was able to carve out chain-moving plays often for the Hilltoppers. And going forward, he’s the type of tough runner that gets more and more difficult to tackle as games progress for Cleveland.
Corley had a nation-leading 975 yards after the catch in 2022, and tacked on 683 yards after the catch in 2023. Corley is a stout ball carrier at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, with good vision to boot. That led to him making tons of plays with the ball in his hands after securing receptions for the Hilltoppers, and over the course of his last three college seasons, he forced 77 missed tackles.
Needless to say, if given more chances, he could gash defenses from short passes and some runs for the Browns. Coupled with that, passes to Corley could become quality drive starters for Shedeur Sanders. If defenses start to react more to those, Corley could potentially become more of a target further downfield or others could be, from his knack for creating meaningful plays after the catch.
No matter who Cleveland's head coach ends up being, Corley, who turns 24 in March, should be a player that factors into the offense in 2026. The Browns look to have something there with him.