During this Cleveland Browns roster building and contract preseason preview I will be covering everything from a General Manager perspective to get you ready for what the Cleveland Browns roster and practice squad will likely be week one.
Today we are looking at potential free agency and trade targets at cornerback to strengthen the position room. I'm going to stay by laying out where I currently see the room come week one of the season.
Predicted Week One Lineup
Denzel Ward
Greg Newsome
Free Agent
Cameron Mitchell
Chigozie Anusiem
Tony Brown
Practice Squad - Nik Needham
Practice Squad - Dom Jones
The injury to Emerson is devastating to his career progression, if he had had a bounce back season in 2025 then he could have been looking at around $16m a year. Instead he won't play a snap in 2025 and will likely end up signing on a cheaper deal to be a third cornerback next year. It could certainly be back in Cleveland.
They will need to add another cornerback unless they think Mitchell can step up, which feels unlikely at this stage. It will be a decision of do they want a boundary cornerback, who can come in and then move Newsome inside on three cornerback snaps. Instead they could focus on a slot cornerback who comes in to support Ward and Newsome when needed.
Part of me wonders if the team make two signings, one more well known boundary corner who they try to see if they can move inside as well as another free agent to give them as many options of finding a winning combination. At the same time they will be looking at the market to see what shakes loose or if a safety can be transitioned into the slot.
Beyond the starters no one is a lock to make the roster. Cameron Mitchell hasn't shown enough yet to be the teams fourth cornerback to be playing meaningful time if there is an injury. Maybe he has a breakout camp in year three otherwise they are likely to look at the free agency market for a cheap one year deal. This will either push Mitchell down to cornerback five or off the roster.
Previously I had Myles Harden as the fifth cornerback just ahead of Chigozie Anusiem but I have now flipped this around.
Tony Browns probably has the best chance to make the team out of any of the other players due to his ability to contribute on special teams. It is a true camp battle here plus they could look to the waiver wire as they did with Hailassie previously. I wouldn't be shocked to see Harden sliding onto the 53 instead with them adding Brown to the practice squad and elevating him for the first few weeks. Last year they signed him to the practice squad and elevated him for a few weeks first, this gave them time to assess the newer/younger players as well as not guaranteeing his contract as a vested veteran by being on the week one roster.
I can see a veteran type being kept on the practice squad if it isn't Brown, someone like Nik Needham. Ideally it would be someone else with better special teams play though. Dom Jones is now the favorite ahead of Lamareon James to make the practice squad from the UDFA group because he entered the preseason game first.