Cornerback is one of the sexiest positions to play in football and my favorite position. It’s simply me vs. you, and I’m going to do everything I can to blanket you and stop you from catching the ball. This is especially true in man-to-man coverage. Here is it a look at the Cleveland Browns cornerback position.
Headlined by Joe Haden, the orange-and-brown have one of the youngest corps in the entire league with an average age of 23 years old. While it’s not a make or break year by any means for Haden, 2013 is the year that Haden should become an all-pro. It will also be nice to see him play all 16 games this season too. Not by coincidence, the Browns lost every game that Haden missed last season.
After Haden, third round pick, Leon McFadden, veteran Chris Owens, the non-fan favorite, Buster Skrine, and second year man, Trevin Wade fill out the rest of the corners that we are familiar with. McFadden needs to play better than a third round draft pick and win the starting job on the opposite side of Haden. Owens will provide some veteran experience in the secondary. Skrine and Wade must substantially improve as well by being in better position on the field.
The Cornerback position is really scary after this point. The rest of the roster, Josh Aubrey, Akeem Auguste, Abdul Kennah, Vernon Kearney, and Kent Richardson are all rookie free agents looking to make their NFL dreams come true. The reality is that maybe one of them will make the final Cleveland roster. However, Richardson is intriguing. In 2012 for the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL, Richardson picked off 12 passes and was named the Defensive Back of the Year.
Ryan Ruiz is the Cleveland Browns Beat Writer for The Inscriber: Digital Magazine. You can follow him on Facebook: Ryan Ruiz (BrownsWriter) and Twitter @ryanpruiz24.