What CB Emmanuel Forbes brings to the Washington Commanders
Taking a closer look at the skill set of the Commanders first-round pick
With the 16th overall pick of the NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders selected cornerback Emmanuel Forbes out of Mississippi State. Forbes is a very athletic corner that measures in at 6-foot-1, 166 pounds and ran an impressive 4.35 40-yard dash at the combine. So what are the Commanders getting in Forbes, who they selected despite projected top-10 cornerback Christian Gonzalez still being available? Let’s take a closer look at his skillset and how he fits in Washington’s defensive scheme.
At Mississippi State, Forbes played a lot of zone coverages like quarters and Cover-3, which are two coverages the Commanders lean on consistently, especially quarters. Forbes is at his best playing from off coverage where he has vision on the quarterback and multiple receivers around him. He’s excellent at processing what he sees quickly and adjusting his coverage to the different routes being thrown at him.
On this play, Georgia’s offense attempts to overload Forbes and the Mississippi State defense with a good route combination to Forbes’ side of the field. The receiver Forbes initially lines up over runs a clearing vertical route, designed to grab Forbes and the safety and take them both deep, clearing space behind it for other receivers to work. The tight end initially works out to the flat, trying to act as if he’s not a threat and just a checkdown open, but he’s actually running an out-and-up double move, while the running back leaks out late to replace him in the flat as the checkdown option.
I picked this play because it shows how quick Forbes processes a lot of information while playing with vision. Forbes opens his hips inside off the snap and looks to run down the sideline with the outside receiver. However, while he does this, he has vision on both the quarterback and the tight end in the flat. As soon as he gets just the slightest hint of the tight end turning up the field, he immediately peels off the outside receiver, trusting the safety to take over the route. By peeling off, Forbes positions himself to pick up the tight end as he works up the sideline. Because of that, he forces the quarterback to take the checkdown to the running back in the flat, which Forbes is also very quick to read and break on.
It might not appear to be a spectacular play, but being able to process multiple routes and see the tight end breaking while running with the receiver shows fantastic awareness. The play was designed to drag him deep and open up that out-and-up to the tight end, but Forbes sniffed it out and force the quarterback to take the much less threatening checkdown in the flat.
Forbes is so aware and effective in various zone coverage structures. We saw him there being effective playing deep and peeling off to match an intermediate route, but he’s also very strong playing underneath zones.
Here, Alabama run a corner-flat concept in the red zone. Forbes is a flat defender in this coverage but this route combination is designed to stress the flat defender in this situation. The corner route from the receiver splits the coverage, working between Forbes in the flat and the safety over the top, while the running back swings out to the flat as bait. Alabama hopes that Forbes will see the running back in the flat and bite up on the back, leaving space for the receiver to break off his route behind him and away from the safety.
However, Forbes is very much aware of what Alabama is trying to do and counters it perfectly. He midpoints the two routes, sinking back just far enough to close the throwing window to the deep corner route while not getting too far back that the running back will have a walk-in touchdown. By sinking back, he combines with the safety to squeeze the deeper route and take it away from the quarterback, who is forced to check it down in the flat to the running back. We then see Forbes quickly flip his hips and trigger on the running back to close quickly and make the tackle with some help from his teammates.
It’s a great play because it shows how Forbes has a strong understanding and feel for zone coverage, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of different coverages and how offenses could look to attack them. He was able to negate the potential touchdown threat, force the ball underneath and then break on it quickly to rally to the ball. It’s almost teach tape zone coverage.
Forbes not only has an understanding of different route combinations and how to negate their threats, but he also knows he has the quickness to break on things underneath and make up ground. This enables him to bait quarterbacks, making them think the receiver in the flat is open on for him to be in the perfect position to jump the route.
This play comes from back in 2021, when Forbes played against Alabama. Alabama runs a quick game concept to Forbes’ side with the point receiver of the bunch running a quick spot route designed to create traffic while the inside receiver breaks to the flat. Forbes is responsible for the flat to his side, but he doesn’t immediately drive down on the receiver running to the flat. He sinks back and hangs between the two receivers, baiting the quarterback into throwing the flat. As soon as Bryce Young begins his throwing motion to the flat, Forbes begins to jump the route. Unfortunately, Young spots Forbes at the last second and adjusts his throw to make sure it hits the dirt instead of allowing Forbes to intercept it and run it back the other way.
Having the confidence to bait quarterbacks, even prospects as good as Bryce Young, shows that Forbes has the desire to make plays and isn’t worried about giving up a play as he’s more concerned with creating turnovers. This can be a risky strategy, but Forbes is typically pretty good at picking his moments to minimize his risk. That instinct to make plays and try to create turnovers is a big part of why the Commanders drafted him. Forbes had 14 interceptions over his three seasons in college, six of which he took back for touchdowns. He clearly has playmaking ability and can do it in big moments too.
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