The Cleveland Browns have the luxury of being able to focus nearly all of their attention and resources toward upgrading the offense this offseason in new head coach Todd Monken’s image because the defense is already so reliable and will be returning so many of its key pieces. The defense was dominant in 2025 and could easily be one of the best in the NFL once again, even without defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, and especially if the offense can help them out a bit more.
As established as the defense is, there are still some ancillary aspects of that side of the ball that could use some reinforcements. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah may never play again and Devin Bush is a free agent, but there’s another position that might be a more immediate area of need.
ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi recently wrote about three big questions hovering over the defense under new DC Mike Rutenberg. One of those questions is what the cornerback room is going to look like outside of Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell.
“Cleveland’s cornerback depth behind Ward and Tyson Campbell is bare and was exposed at times; in a Week 2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Ward was on and off the field and missed the majority of the second half because of cramping. Baltimore targeted his replacement, Cam Mitchell, and quarterback Lamar Jackson threw three touchdowns when targeting Mitchell, who was released days later,” Oyefusi wrote.
Martin Emerson missed the 2025 season with a torn Achilles and is now likely to land elsewhere in free agency, leaving behind Myles Harden as the current top corner option behind Ward and Campbell. With ten picks in the 2026 draft, the Browns certainly have the resources to bring in some help for the CB room on the second or third day of the draft.
Rutenberg has big shoes to fill in Schwartz’s absence, but it will be exciting to see him build this defense in his image. Cleveland has little cap space, so the draft could be the path to find more help at nickel, but there is plenty of time to figure that out over the next few months.
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