Cleveland Browns Comprehensive NFL Draft Review: Martin Emerson Jr., CB Mississippi State

The Cleveland Browns selected Martin Emerson Jr. with the 68th pick of the NFL Draft. Looking at the tape and the historical, how does Emerson project in the NFL?

Author:
Pete Smith
Publish date:
May 4, 2022 12:00 PM EDT

The Cleveland Browns entered the 2022 NFL Draft with the 44th pick in the second round, but made agreed to a trade with the Houston Texans. In the deal, the Browns received 68th pick in the third round as well as 108th pick and 124th pick in the fourth round. With the first selection of this year's draft, the Browns selected Martin 'M.J.' Emerson, a corner out of Mississippi State.

Emerson has been a consistently solid corner who is aggressive playing the run, earning himself an All-SEC 2nd team from Por Football as a sophomore and All-SEC 3rd team from them as a junior.

Athletic Profile

Age: 21 (Born September 27th, 2000)

Height: 6'1 5/8"

Weight: 201 lbs

Arm Length: 33 1/2"

40-yard dash: 4.53 (4.51 at Pro Day)

Broad Jump: 124" (Pro Day)

Vertical Jump: 32" (Pro Day)

3-cone: 6.90 (Pro Day)

Shuttle: 4.14 (Pro Day)

Bench Press: 17 reps (Pro Day)

Emerson's length immediately stands out. He's tall and has long arms for the position. His straight line speed and explosion is relatively ordinary, his speed at his size is solid but what really stands out is how he performed in his agility testing.

Given what he shows on the field, the 3-cone and shuttle might have been a surprise. The bench press is notable only as it shows his dedication to the weight room. All of these components combined at his age may portend good things in the future, but his athleticism isn't what's going to make him successful in the NFL.

Martin Emerson Athleticism — Jim Cobern @Jimetrics

Production

2020 (Best Season)

Solo Tackles: 45 (12%)

Pass Deflections: 11 (25.5%)

2021 (Last Season)

Solo Tackles: 31 (7.9%)

Pass Deflections: 3 (10.7%)

Some have been quick to point out Emerson's lack of interceptions in college, but Denzel Ward only had two in his three years at Ohio State and Greg Newsome, last year's first-round pick only had one in his three seasons at Northwestern. Turnovers are valuable, but aren't necessarily a great predictor of NFL success.

The combination of tackles and pass deflections tend to be far better indicators and Emerson's sophomore season was dominant. Part of the reason his production dropped as a junior was teams learned their lesson and stopped throwing at him as often.

Martin Emerson Production — Jim Cobern @Jimetrics

Emerson checks all of the boxes when it comes to production.

Martin Emerson MSA Production — Jim Cobern @Jimetrics

Game Tape

One of the first things that stands out about Emerson other than how much he resembles a vulture out there at the left corner spot is how aggressive he is playing downhill. He's a productive run defender that plays within the scheme executing his role, but isn't satisfied to just look like he's doing his job. Emerson does an outstanding job taking on and defeating blocks to make plays. He's also someone that chases plays down from behind.

As a tackler, those long arms are a major feature. Emerson is great as a wrap up tackler, only occasionally resorting to trying to shoulder bomb the ball carrier. However, as effective as Emerson is, he often gives up his legs as he goes for a tackle, which undermines his overall strength. Once he gets to where he wants to be, even fitting up the tackle, he'll dive or just try to drag the ballcarrier down. He'll occasionally try to submarine to trip them up, which can result in missing the tackle entirely.

Mississippi State is a heavy Cover-3 team, which is often what the Browns utilize as their base coverage. Emerson typically plays eight to ten yards off of the receiver, so he's able to casually get to his drop. He's most comfortable being able to play with his hips and eyes forward, able to come down hill to play the ball or make a tackle.

He's patient, doesn't have much wasted motion and rarely bites on double moves. That's important because he doesn't have great make up speed. He only gave up one play over 25 yards this past season according to Pro Football Focus. Emerson has good eye discipline and uses his arms as an extension of his vision. When he's playing with hands on the receiver, he's able to see plays develop in the backfield and diagnose a run before focusing all of his attention on stopping the pass.

In man coverage, Emerson's hands are a critical component to his success. His overall length and power disrupts the routes of receivers, helping to negate a disadvantage he might have with speed as well as the timing of the play. His broad build and weight force opponents to have to go around him. In college, defensive backs can keep hands on until the ball is in the air, a rule Emerson took full advantage. Theoretically, he will need to adapt to the NFL to be less handsy, however more and more defenders simply ignore it and test the willingness of referees to keep throwing the flag.

Emerson will play the man, but he also plays the ball. When he's in position, he can simply knock the ball away preventing the catch. He's also been adept at playing the catch point, disrupting the hands of the receiver in order to break up passes.

Mississippi State freshman cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. (right) made the first interception of his career versus Southern Miss. He's gunning for many more. Martin Emerson — © Aaron Cornia, Mississippi State Athletics, Mississippi Clarion Ledger via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Fit, Usage and Projection

Emerson can potentially play every single position in the Browns secondary. He's played boundary corner, almost exclusively on the defense's left, but he often plays the position like a safety and his best fit in the NFL might be as a slot defender.

As long as he stays on top of the receiver in Cover-3, he can play downhill and disrupt the ball or make tackles. The question is how he will perform against receivers with more raw strength and quickness. At worst, he should be a serviceable option on the outside, but if he can properly adjust, he could be long term option there.

Given that Denzel Ward just signed a five-year extension and Greg Newsome was selected in the first round last year. They still have Greedy Williams for one more year as well, so Emerson may be depth on the boundary, but his quickest path to getting on the field could come on the inside.

However, given his unique body type in the Browns secondary, he could have some choice roles on the outside. As the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers have Tee Higgins and Chase Claypool at receiver respectively, Emerson could be part of a plan to mitigate the size and strength advantage those receivers have. It may not happen as a rookie, but defenses like to collect different body types in the secondary to give themselves options to defend opponents.

Emerson has virtually no experience in the slot, but he has tools that suggest he could make an effective transition, whether as the nickel or dime, potentially operating in a similar role to the one M.J. Stewart had for the Browns the last two seasons. Stewart was a press corner on the boundary at North Carolina before making the move to the inside, finding success with the Browns.

First, Emerson's broad build is once again beneficial as it can force smaller receivers to go around him and make it easier to jam opponents off the line of scrimmage, disrupting the timing of the play. He would have more help behind him, which could mitigate some of the issues with receivers wanting to attack vertically, allowing him to be more aggressive.

Emerson did test well with his agility and some technical improvements with his footwork could help him show it more consistently on the field. If Emerson's prowess against the run translates to the NFL as it should, he puts pressure on opponents, because he's a threat to knife inside and stop a run play before it starts. With so many teams running three receiver sets out of 11 personnel, having a player in the slot that can blitz is also valuable, which could be another area Emerson could contribute.

Emerson is going to be cross trained on the inside and outside at corner, something the Browns like to do. It will be interesting to see if he gets some small bites at safety, even if it's just dropping to the deep half from the slot. If his discipline in refusing to allow receivers to get behind him in college is any indication, he might be pretty good at it.

Based on his draft profile, Emerson may never make a Pro Bowl, but he has a chance to be a productive starter in a loaded Browns secondary, as the third corner with Ward and Newsome.