Greg Newsome zeroing in on a breakout season

Greg Newsome was drafted by the Cleveland Browns back in 2021 with the No. 26 pick. It was thought that Newsome would team up with veteran cornerback Denzel Ward and be a tandem for the Browns defense that would be able to shut down the opponent's wide receivers for years to come.

That hasn't truly happened yet and Cleveland fans are still waiting.

Last season, Cleveland drafted another cornerback, Martin Emerson, and he ended up playing more on the outside and that pushed Newsome to the inside, an area that Newsome never got comfortable with. There have been rumblings over the past season as well that Newsome was seeking a trade and ended up changing agents because of this.

For now, Newsome is here and will likely play more coverage on the outside. New defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz will likely have his defense and his cornerbacks play more man-to-man coverage which suits Newsome better.

With Newsome changing to the No. 0 which will be a first-ever for a Browns player, the news is being received positively for the most part. Wearing a unique number might bring Newsome some more luck.

However, some are pointing to the fact that Newsome has zero interceptions to his name so the number suits him well in that regard. Interception totals shouldn't define a player but for Newsome, it might earn him a bit more trust, especially from the Cleveland fanbase if he were able to snag a pass or two. When you look at other statistics, he had nine pass deflections two years ago but only six last season.

Newsome has never been an interception machine even when he played at Northwestern University for three seasons. There he only got one pick. Nonetheless, he was considered by many draft analysts as an excellent first-round pick by the Browns back in 2021.

This next season will be important for Newsome to play better, be more consistent in his play and be on the field as much as possible. He's missed some games in the past due to injuries or concussions.

More recently, Newsome has been in the news for initially supporting his former college coach Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern, who was fired for not being more aware of an ongoing hazing problem amongst his football players. Newsome sent out several messages via Twitter saying he was supporting Fitzgerald but those posts were later deleted.

One gets the sense that these last two years for Newsome have been a little bumpy and this season should be make or break for the young cornerback. He just turned 23 years old but really needs to take his game to a new level. He can only live off the first-round draft pick status for so long. If he doesn't do more this year that "0" will be short-lived on the back of Newsome.