Browns Trade Up to Select Safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren 58th Overall
They have their traditional "X" now as the Andrew Berry adds another weapon.
The Browns continue to make moves. After addressing their wide receiver room twice through Day 2, Cleveland turned its attention to the defensive side of the ball — trading up with the San Francisco 49ers to grab pick No. 58 and select Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
For the deal, Andrew Berry pulled off one of their patented swaps giving the 49ers 70 and 107 for 58 and 152. The deal that feels like we see from the team every year.
McNeil-Warren was widely considered one of the draft’s biggest surprises still on the board. The Toledo safety became a borderline consensus first-round selection in recent months but slide down into the second round over the last few weeks. There was hope he could be had at 39 but the Browns went to Denzel Boston. Somehow he fell all the way into the late second round, and it was too good to pass up.
The Browns are getting a player with an impressive pedigree and a nose for the football. Coming off his most impressive collegiate season, McNeil-Warren recorded 77 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss, two interceptions, five passes defensed, two fumble recoveries, and three forced fumbles. Over the course of his career at Toledo, he forced nine fumbles and defensed 13 passes — a level of havoc production that drew comparisons to some of the league’s elite safeties.
The physical profile is striking. McNeil-Warren has great length for the position at 6-foot-3 with 32-inch arms, allowing him to effectively wrap up ball carriers, attack the football, and be disruptive at the catch point. His instincts are equally praised — he sports a high football IQ and is an active communicator in both the pre and post-snap phases of the game, consistently directing traffic in the back end of the defense and playing a major role in orchestrating coverage rotations.
Perhaps most impressive is his 2025 coverage grade. Among FBS safeties with at least 200 coverage snaps in 2025, McNeil-Warren was PFF’s top-graded player with a coverage grade of 92.0, giving up just six receptions for 116 yards on 15 targets.
McNeil-Warren projects as a starting safety for the Browns who drew some Grant Delpit comps with scheme and alignment versatility at the NFL level — capable of playing everything from deep safety in a Cover-3 to an enforcer in the tackle box.
The consensus seems to be that the media loved McNeil-Warren more than teams did as he has a bit of an esoteric style that doesn’t fit everywhere. But each year the NFL has quality safeties like this who land in ranges on Day 2 who make an immediate impact. The Browns match up well for what he does best.
McNeil-Warren was just the second Toledo Rocket to make the AP All-America team in 18 years, following Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. Now he heads to Cleveland, where the Browns are betting he becomes the next great defensive back to come out of Toledo.
Browns Film Breakdown will have full breakdown of the this pick tomorrow.
He seems to be really good at identifying what the offense is trying to do. Multiple instances of coming off of one receiver to another to take away open space in zone coverage, often leading to a pass breakup. Could be a really nice pairing with Delpit, or can provide a flexibility with 3 safeties on the field alongside Delpit and Hickman.