The closer we get to April and the 2026 NFL Draft, the more attention the Cleveland Browns’ cornerback depth seems to be getting in the national media. Two respected ESPN Draft analysts, Field Yates and Matt Miller, for example, have recently mocked South Carolina corner Brandon Cisse to the Browns in the top 40 (with Miller dropping the more aggressive prediction of pick No. 24 overall).
That may seem like a wild idea on the surface, but defensive back might be a bigger positional need on Cleveland’s board than fans realize. While the team has an elite pair of outside cornerbacks in Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell, and a proven safety duo in Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman, the team has suspect depth at both positions.
Both Delpit and Hickman are scheduled to hit free agency in 2027. Ward, despite coming off another Pro Bowl season, will be entering his age-30 season with another contract adjustment on tap, as his current deal is set to void at the start of the 2028 league year.
Draft experts have been highlighting those future decisions in their 2026 projections, and GM Andrew Berry’s latest comments on 2022 third-round pick Martin Emerson Jr. should only fuel more speculation going forward.
Speaking with local reporters Sunday at the NFL Owners Meetings in Phoenix, Berry sent fans a telling message on Emerson, who’s coming off a torn Achilles tendon and currently remains on the market as an unrestricted free agent.
"Selfishly would love to have him back,” Berry said of Emerson, via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. “I think we're also realistic that with MJ and the injury that he's coming off of, to reach his personal goals, he's also got to be in a position where he has maybe a strong opportunity to compete for a starting spot. That's probably a little bit harder with how we're configured with Denzel and Tyson. But certainly if that changes ... we'd love to have him back."
What Andrew Berry just said about Martin Emerson Jr. changes everything
Entering the start of the new league year, this one felt pretty straight forward. The team currently has five cornerbacks on the roster in Ward, Campbell, nickel Myles Harden, and depth/special teams contributors Tre Avery, Dom Jones, and D'Angelo Ross. It would make sense for Emerson and the Browns to seek common ground on a cheap, one-year deal that could help the 25-year-old prove that he’s fully recovered from a major injury that forced him to miss the entire 2025 season.
Reading between the lines on Berry’s comments, it appears the team has an extremely cheap number in mind that’s not jiving with Emerson’s camp. It would be reasonable for Emerson to seek a deal in the neighborhood of draft-mate Cobie Durant’s recent one-year, $4 million contract with the Cowboys with $1.5 million in guarantees; Durant was a fourth-round pick of the Rams in 2022.
The Browns are likely well below that number for a fourth or fifth cornerback on their depth chart, coming off a torn Achilles. They can afford to let this play out until draft week, when Emerson can be replaced with one of the team’s nine 2026 selections.
The fact that Emerson remains unsigned here at the end of March says it all. It’s possible that he still finds his way back to Cleveland on something much closer to a vet-minimum contract. Otherwise, Berry seems prepared to replace a young player who started 35 games for the team from 2022-24.