WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Martin Emerson Jr. came into the NFL last year as a third-round draft pick. That's not typically where you find cornerbacks who earn their coaches' trust as rookies.

Yet, there the 68th overall pick out of Mississippi State was last year, playing a substantial role in the Browns' secondary. It wasn't just when Denzel Ward or Greg Newsome II missed games due to injuries; it was even while they were perfectly healthy.

"Man, it's just a blessing," Emerson said following Thursday's training camp practice. "It was a blessing for them to trust me as a young player, but I feel like trust is earned, not given. So I feel like I kind of earned their trust and that was a blessing."

Emerson earned that trust with his play. He appeared in all 17 games, playing in 783 defensive snaps.

That included six starts, three in place of Ward while he was out with a concussion and another two while Newsome was out. He also started a game at Cincinnati in Week 14 with the Browns coming out in a nickel package against the Bengals' passing game.

Emerson finished with 63 combined tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and 15 passes defensed. According to Pro Football Focus, he was targeted 89 times in 500 passing snaps, with 48 completions against him.

"I think that's just results of doing your job and performing," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said." A lot of rookies, you feel one way about them and you are confident about them, but they got to go do it. They got to go show you through practices, through preseason games that they're read, and I think MJ did that last season, and it's no different than a lot of the rookies now. They'll earn roles as opposed to (being) given roles."

Emerson, according to PFF, was tied for the 30th-best cornerback in the league with a grade of 72.5 out of 100. That was best among all of the Browns cornerbacks.

That, again, was without any NFL experience coming into last season.

"As a rookie, I was just out there second guessing myself a lot, not trying to make mistakes," Emerson said. "This year I just hit my playbook this offseason pretty hard and just building that chemistry with my guys and trusting everybody that they'll be in the right position and just trying to do my job every play. So it slowed down a lot."

Then again, it didn't take too long last year for the game to slow for Emerson. He made his presence felt in the Browns' first preseason game at Jacksonville when he ripped the ball out of Jaguars tight end Jeff Cotton's hands for an interception he returned 75 yards for a score.

A little less than a year later, Emerson once again had himself a convoy to the end zone, only the stage was a little bit difference. This time, he was celebrating coming up with an interception of Deshaun Watson in a 7-on-7 red-zone period.

"Just reading my keys," Emerson said. "He was in the red zone. You get a straight stem, it's usually a dig, but he didn't press my leverage so he didn't try to run past me, try to get underneath me, so I just stayed square and when he tried to cross my face I just broke and then the ball was right there."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Martin Emerson Jr. feels he earned coaches' trust as Browns' rookie