5 Cleveland Browns who are certified building blocks for the future

5. Martin Emerson, CB

It's easy to predict breakout candidates who have already really "broken out", isn't it?

A number of major media outlets are predicting a breakout season in 2023 from Cleveland Browns second-year cornerback Martin Emerson, an absolute steal of a third-round pick a season ago. But after a rookie season that included 63 total tackles and 15 passes broken up, it's clear that there's no pending breakout for Martin Emerson.

He's already broken out, but perhaps he's on his way to becoming more widely recognized as one of the best cornerbacks in the game. Pro Football Focus pegged him as the Browns' breakout player in 2023 nonetheless.

"Another rookie cornerback, Emerson played a significant role for the Browns all season, as he finished the year with the seventh-most snaps among first-year cornerbacks. And he also quietly put together an impressive season. He earned a 72.5 PFF grade, which ranked 23rd among cornerbacks, and he forced an incompletion on 20% of the passes into his coverage, the ninth-best rate at the position."

- Pro Football Focus

Despite having a grade that ranked 23rd-best among cornerbacks, the folks over at PFF decided not to put Emerson among their top 32 players at the position for 2023. That doesn't really make sense, now, does it?

Of course, everyone has to do a little bit of projecting, but a guy like Martin Emerson just passes the eye test. He's a stud. Not only that -- he's a building block for the Cleveland Browns. That gives this team three legit studs at corner, one of the most important positions in today's NFL. And two of them are on rookie deals...

Along with Denzel Ward and former first-round pick Greg Newsome, Martin Emerson gives the Cleveland Browns an enviable trio of cornerbacks that could very well be the best in the NFL. When you strike gold like this in the secondary, you can't help but wonder how significant it will come into play in clutch situations. How many games could be won because of this cornerback group? How many big plays will be made in the clutch?

Many teams would love to have just one corner as good as the three the Browns have.