Commanders President Compares Emmanuel Forbes to Former Pro Bowl CB
Amid the chaos that happens in an NFL war room, the Washington Commanders had no reason to panic with their guy available at pick No. 16. That guy was Mississippi State cornerback Emmanuel Forbes.
Commanders president Jason Wright went on The Pat McAfee Show and elaborated on how the team viewed Forbes. Wright described Forbes as "one of our guys all along."
Wright, who played running back in the NFL for seven years, compared Forbes to his former teammate, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. "DRC" played 12 years in the NFL and had 30 interceptions in his career. He also made the Pro Bowl in 2009 and 2015.
"DRC is it," Wright said of who he compares Forbes to. "He was incredibly explosive, he could go up and get the ball, [and] he had a natural knack for tracking the ball. He was slight in the frame, but he would stick his head in there when he needed to and I would argue Emmanuel is willing to do that much more than DRC was."
Forbes led the SEC and was third in the nation with six interceptions in 2022, a big reason why the Commanders viewed him so high.
"They liked his big play ability," Wright said on the Pat McAfee Show. "If you said we were lacking one thing on an already strong defense, it was playmaking ability [and] turnover ability. He has that in spades ... He was our guy. He's a dog."
The decision to take Forbes also signaled a shift in Washington's scouting process. While a lot of people noted Forbes being only 166 pounds as a cause for concern, Washington sees potential for growth due in part to its increase in using analytics.
"They're started to leverage analytics more," Wright said. "That's not just about performance in college or predictive performance. It's on health, and how their body can evolve, mental toughness and things like that.
"He was our guy."
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