The Cleveland Browns are looking for better play at the defensive back position.

Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, the Browns have elevated practice squad members Tre Avery and Dom Jones. Both are young cornerbacks.

Avery, a fourth-year pro, signed his first NFL deal with the Tennessee Titans, where he played for three seasons. Jones, a first-year out of Colorado State, has already played in one game this season for Cleveland. He played 6% of defensive snaps and 22% of special teams snaps just a week ago against the Green Bay Packers.

The decision to bring up two players to help out against the passing game of Detroit comes as a bit of a suprise for Cleveland. Prior to signing both from the practice squad, the team had five healthy bodies: Greg Newsome, Denzel Ward, Myles Harden, Cameron Mitchell, and Jarrick Bernand-Converse.

Outside of Newsome and Ward, the others have been lackluster to begin 2025.

#Browns elevate CBs Tre Avery and Dom Jones from the practice squad for the #Lions game. Might mean Cam Mitchell still needs a little work.

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 27, 2025

Cleveland Browns insider, Mary Kay Cabot, mentioned on Twitter (X) that the change might mean that third-year cornerback Cameron Mitchell might still need more time to develope.

He has been thrust into the CB3 spot behind Newsome and Ward after Martin Emerson went down with an injury during training camp. Emerson suffered a season-ending torn achilles.

After the injury, head coach Kevin Stefanski said the team would be evaluating who could step up and fill his role in the defense, most notably in nickel packages.

Since being drafted in 2022, Emerson has been a staple on the Browns’ defense alongside the other two. He was taken with a third-round pick, 68th overall, and appeared in 50 games over the course of the last three campaigns. He has recorded 202 tackles, four interceptions and 34 pass breakups.

While Emerson’s career has panned out well thus far, the same cannot be said for Mitchell.

It’s not that he is a bad player on the Browns defense, more so that he is still developing just at a slower rate than Cleveland saw with the likes of Ward, Newsome and Emerson. Cleveland, over the past few season, has been inclined to keep their cornerback room home-grown.

Through 32 games, he has recorded 43 tackles, two for a loss, one quarterback hit and four pass deflections. He has only started four games in his career up until this point.

Just a short few weeks ago against the Baltimore Ravens, Mitchell was picked on defensively. The graduate of Northwestern had all three receptions made against him go for touchdowns in the team’s 41-17 loss.

Mitchell may have some work to do in practice to regain trust from his coaching staff as the organization looks to new faces to fill in for defensive mislaps.