Athlon Sports: Can Emmanual Forbes Succeed Elsewhere in the NFL?
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I looked at some Commanders fan forums to see what fans had to say about Forbes. I saw a lot of "he struggles" "he gets burnt" "he's a liability" and "he's not ready for prime time". Take it with a grain of salt. Forbes also had a torn ligament on his thumb which was surgically corrected in September, I believe. Here's an article about his release which may give you more info:
Can Emmanuel Forbes Succeed Elsewhere in the NFL?
The Washington Commanders have released 2023 first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes. Can Forbes be coached to succeed in another team's defense?
by Doug Farrar
Dec 1, 2024 7:59 AM EST
Over the past few years, it hasn't been a good thing to be a first-round pick of the Washington Redskins/Football Team/Commanders. From 2019 through 2023, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, every first-round pick by the multi-named franchise has either been released or traded. That unfortunate trend was extended on Saturday, when the Commanders made it official that they released 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes, the cornerback from Mississippi State, who was selected with the 16th overall pick.
Not that Forbes has had much of a chance to succeed at the NFL level. The 2023 Commanders' defense, led as it was by Jack Del Rio until Del Rio was mercifully fired in November, 2023. Bad spacing and coverage busts were the order of the day abck then, and though things have improved under new head coach Dan Quinn, it says a lot for how the team felt about Forbes that a first-round pick couldn't get on the field enough to make a difference with a Washington cornerback group that has been in flux all season long.
This season, Forbes saw action in just six games with one start. As the nearest defender to a receiver, he allowed five catches on seven targets for 64 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 60.1. Not bad stats at all, especially considering that in his rookie season, Forbes allowed 39 catches on 56 targets for 616 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 112.0.
Still, the new coaching staff obviously wasn't feeling the improvement, and now, Forbes will be a free agent once he clears waivers. Unless some other team wants to be on the hook for his four-year, $15,407,568 rookie contract (which is fully guaranteed), he will certainly do so.
At that point, what will a second-year player for whom it was preferable for the Commanders to take a massive dead cap hit to release have to offer the rest of the NFL?
Forbes needs a team where off coverage is the main construct.
Emmanuel Forbes is much better in off coverage than when he's asked to press receivers.
Modern defenses tend to prefer cornerbacks who can press receivers, because there's so much quick game these days, you're not always going to get to the quarterback. So, it's vital to disrupt receivers at the line of scrimmage, and mess with the timing of the overall play. Forbes isn't completely hopeless in press coverage — there are a few good reps — but that's not really his game.
In his rookie season of 2023, Forbes allowed six catches on just 14 press targets for 133 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 77.4. In off coverage, he allowed 25 catches on 39 targets for 400 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 113.2. Del Rio's "concepts" didn't help, and Forbes was acclimating to the speed and complexity of the NFL.
In 2024, with severely limited playing time, Forbes had just one target in press coverage, as opposed to six off coverage targets.
At his best, Forbes can jump routes and align himself to the receiver over time. He's less skilled at this level when it comes to matching the receiver through the route. When he does get to the receiver, there's something else he needs to improve upon with his next team.
Forbes needs to be more aggressive at the catch point.
Emmanuel Forbes needs to use his physical gifts to bedevil receivers when the ball arrives.
Whether it's technique or confidence, there are some young pass defenders who simply don't close to the receiver as the ball comes in. This happens to young pass defenders, because older pass defenders either figure it out, or they do not become older pass defenders. The NFL tends to correct itself in that regard.
Forbes must be able to use his physical tools to at least break even at the catch point. With a wingspan of 79 inches (92nd percentile among draftable cornerbacks since 1999), he should be getting his hands in time far more often to break up passes before they turn into completions. It's about timing and coaching, and that one improvement would help Forbes' game to ascend in a big hurry.
Of course, if he wants to get and stay on the field in his next home, Forbes will really have to shake the rust off his largest liability at this point.
The tackling is a problem, and it needs to improve... now.
Forbes will have to be a lot better in coverage before he can get away with bad tackling.
Cornerbacks who make "business decisions" when it comes to tackling are not unusual, going back to the days of one Deion Sanders. But if you want to get away with that, you'd better be more prominent in coverage than Forbes has been. He's not really built for an aggressive mindset in that regard — he was 6' 0¾" and 166 pounds at the 2023 scouting combine, and that weight was so disproportionately low, there was no percentile among cornerbacks for it since 1999.
Over 482 snaps in his rookie season, Forbes had nine missed tackles. In just 108 snaps this season, he had six. Dan Quinn helped put the Legion of Boom together in Seattle, so there is absolutely no way he is going to accept cornerbacks who won't tackle. If they can't tackle, they can be taught to, but won't is another matter altogether. We are not in a position to question a player's effort, because we're not in the building, but the tape isn't good. Quinn had a tall, skinny-legged cornerback in Seattle by the name of Richard Sherman, and Sherman didn't make a lot of business decisions despite that.
Sherman learned, and Forbes will have to learn, too.
Forbes can succeed elsewhere, but it might take a minute.
Forbes was my ninth-ranked cornerback in the 2023 draft class, so it's correct to assume that I thought the Commanders overdrafted him to a degree. A year and a half later, things have unfortunately played out in ways that would seem to confirm it.
But what was interesting about Forbes' college tape was that he had more on the ball then than he does now, and some of the flaws that have shown up in the NFL were not there in college.
When I wrote these notes in my scouting report, I was not imagining a cornerback who was better in off coverage than press:
Forbes will use his height and crazy wingspan to replace a receiver’s catch radius with his own.
Teams who prefer aggressive defenses in which cornerbacks can just line up right on the receiver and clamp down from there should love Forbes’ tape. And nobody’s going to mind adding a player with his ball skills and production. Forbes could stand to add a few pounds in the interest of play strength, and there are a few holes in his coverage, but in the right system, he’s going to be a very tough defender to deal with."
I do think that the right situation, and the right combination of defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach, and teammates could put a charge into Emmanuel Forbes, and make him into more than what he is today.
But now, the pressure is on Forbes to prove that he's more than just another name in the long line of recent first-rounders who just didn't work out in the nation's capital.
[athlonsports.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2024 03:48PM by MamaRAMa.
Can Emmanuel Forbes Succeed Elsewhere in the NFL?
The Washington Commanders have released 2023 first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes. Can Forbes be coached to succeed in another team's defense?
by Doug Farrar
Dec 1, 2024 7:59 AM EST
Over the past few years, it hasn't been a good thing to be a first-round pick of the Washington Redskins/Football Team/Commanders. From 2019 through 2023, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, every first-round pick by the multi-named franchise has either been released or traded. That unfortunate trend was extended on Saturday, when the Commanders made it official that they released 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes, the cornerback from Mississippi State, who was selected with the 16th overall pick.
Not that Forbes has had much of a chance to succeed at the NFL level. The 2023 Commanders' defense, led as it was by Jack Del Rio until Del Rio was mercifully fired in November, 2023. Bad spacing and coverage busts were the order of the day abck then, and though things have improved under new head coach Dan Quinn, it says a lot for how the team felt about Forbes that a first-round pick couldn't get on the field enough to make a difference with a Washington cornerback group that has been in flux all season long.
This season, Forbes saw action in just six games with one start. As the nearest defender to a receiver, he allowed five catches on seven targets for 64 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 60.1. Not bad stats at all, especially considering that in his rookie season, Forbes allowed 39 catches on 56 targets for 616 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 112.0.
Still, the new coaching staff obviously wasn't feeling the improvement, and now, Forbes will be a free agent once he clears waivers. Unless some other team wants to be on the hook for his four-year, $15,407,568 rookie contract (which is fully guaranteed), he will certainly do so.
At that point, what will a second-year player for whom it was preferable for the Commanders to take a massive dead cap hit to release have to offer the rest of the NFL?
Forbes needs a team where off coverage is the main construct.
Emmanuel Forbes is much better in off coverage than when he's asked to press receivers.
Modern defenses tend to prefer cornerbacks who can press receivers, because there's so much quick game these days, you're not always going to get to the quarterback. So, it's vital to disrupt receivers at the line of scrimmage, and mess with the timing of the overall play. Forbes isn't completely hopeless in press coverage — there are a few good reps — but that's not really his game.
In his rookie season of 2023, Forbes allowed six catches on just 14 press targets for 133 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 77.4. In off coverage, he allowed 25 catches on 39 targets for 400 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 113.2. Del Rio's "concepts" didn't help, and Forbes was acclimating to the speed and complexity of the NFL.
In 2024, with severely limited playing time, Forbes had just one target in press coverage, as opposed to six off coverage targets.
At his best, Forbes can jump routes and align himself to the receiver over time. He's less skilled at this level when it comes to matching the receiver through the route. When he does get to the receiver, there's something else he needs to improve upon with his next team.
Forbes needs to be more aggressive at the catch point.
Emmanuel Forbes needs to use his physical gifts to bedevil receivers when the ball arrives.
Whether it's technique or confidence, there are some young pass defenders who simply don't close to the receiver as the ball comes in. This happens to young pass defenders, because older pass defenders either figure it out, or they do not become older pass defenders. The NFL tends to correct itself in that regard.
Forbes must be able to use his physical tools to at least break even at the catch point. With a wingspan of 79 inches (92nd percentile among draftable cornerbacks since 1999), he should be getting his hands in time far more often to break up passes before they turn into completions. It's about timing and coaching, and that one improvement would help Forbes' game to ascend in a big hurry.
Of course, if he wants to get and stay on the field in his next home, Forbes will really have to shake the rust off his largest liability at this point.
The tackling is a problem, and it needs to improve... now.
Forbes will have to be a lot better in coverage before he can get away with bad tackling.
Cornerbacks who make "business decisions" when it comes to tackling are not unusual, going back to the days of one Deion Sanders. But if you want to get away with that, you'd better be more prominent in coverage than Forbes has been. He's not really built for an aggressive mindset in that regard — he was 6' 0¾" and 166 pounds at the 2023 scouting combine, and that weight was so disproportionately low, there was no percentile among cornerbacks for it since 1999.
Over 482 snaps in his rookie season, Forbes had nine missed tackles. In just 108 snaps this season, he had six. Dan Quinn helped put the Legion of Boom together in Seattle, so there is absolutely no way he is going to accept cornerbacks who won't tackle. If they can't tackle, they can be taught to, but won't is another matter altogether. We are not in a position to question a player's effort, because we're not in the building, but the tape isn't good. Quinn had a tall, skinny-legged cornerback in Seattle by the name of Richard Sherman, and Sherman didn't make a lot of business decisions despite that.
Sherman learned, and Forbes will have to learn, too.
Forbes can succeed elsewhere, but it might take a minute.
Forbes was my ninth-ranked cornerback in the 2023 draft class, so it's correct to assume that I thought the Commanders overdrafted him to a degree. A year and a half later, things have unfortunately played out in ways that would seem to confirm it.
But what was interesting about Forbes' college tape was that he had more on the ball then than he does now, and some of the flaws that have shown up in the NFL were not there in college.
When I wrote these notes in my scouting report, I was not imagining a cornerback who was better in off coverage than press:
Forbes will use his height and crazy wingspan to replace a receiver’s catch radius with his own.
Teams who prefer aggressive defenses in which cornerbacks can just line up right on the receiver and clamp down from there should love Forbes’ tape. And nobody’s going to mind adding a player with his ball skills and production. Forbes could stand to add a few pounds in the interest of play strength, and there are a few holes in his coverage, but in the right system, he’s going to be a very tough defender to deal with."
I do think that the right situation, and the right combination of defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach, and teammates could put a charge into Emmanuel Forbes, and make him into more than what he is today.
But now, the pressure is on Forbes to prove that he's more than just another name in the long line of recent first-rounders who just didn't work out in the nation's capital.
[athlonsports.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2024 03:48PM by MamaRAMa.
