CB Emmanuel Forbes (Miss. St.) - 1st round pick (16)

[Om]

I won't pretend I wasn't loudly against this pick. I have a hard time getting past those long skinny legs and the fear they just won't hold up at the NFL level. But, now that he's a Commander, I will pivot and cross my fingers and hope I am dead flat wrong ... that he'll hold up just fine and that the good things about his game--obvious ball skills, anticipation, elite athleticism--will outweigh the injury fear and he'll become a fixture in our D for years,

So, meet our newest:

Emmanuel Forbes Draft and Combine Prospect Profile | NFL.com

All Combine and Draft-Related Analysis, News, Video, and Biographical Information for Emmanuel Forbes

www.nfl.com

Emmanuel Forbes | Los Angeles Rams CB | NFL and PFF stats

NFL and PFF player stats for Los Angeles Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes on Pro Football Focus.

www.pff.com

2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Emmanuel Forbes

Emmanuel Forbes Scouting Report By Charlie Campbell Strengths: Instinctive Tremendous ball skills Dangerous interception skills, a true ballhawk Soft hands Threat to take the ball away Knows what to…

walterfootball.com

 

[Boone]

 

[Om]

lol ... the Cult of Colt hath spoken.

 

[Boone]

Other than maybe drafting Levis I think this is the riskiest pick possible at 16. I’m of the mind that your goal in round 1 is to draft a player at the top of his position group that has no glaring weaknesses and is an immediate starter.

I’m not sure Forbes is that guy. He probably had the best 2022 of all college CBs and he is an absolute ball hawk. Said to have not good but ‘elite’ ball skills. Incredibly long arms, supposedly had a 44” vertical leap in High School. And his rep is an aggressive violent player. But as Om and many others rightfully are concerned, he’s not got an NFL frame. You can have all the talent in the world and it’s irrelevant if you get broken in half 3 games into a season. The counter argument is that this kid showed durability and toughness playing in the SEC which certainly has some big boy football players. All we can do is hope he is one of those special outliers. He is definitely an outside corner - no way he survives playing in the slot.

 

[Boone]

lol ... the Cult of Colt hath spoken.

He’s just quoting Bleacher Reports grade… for what that’s worth…

 

[Om]

Oh, I know. Just trying to stay away from fan hot takes this morning. My laptop survived the throw threat last night, but I'm still edgy.

 

[Boone]

My fallback mindset is always to want to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since they’ve shown themselves to be pretty draft savvy in recent years. But I do think you are right that this is a high risk pick and am not going to minimize the concerns/criticism which is mainly why I posted that.

 

[Boone]

 

[Canadian Hog]

The Forbes pick feels alot like the Dotson one - one where the on-field play is going to have to convince us into liking the selection. To me, it somewhat feels like they were hellbent on addressing the lack of turnovers on defence, and decided to take a guy who was elite in that specific category, as opposed to taking the best all-round player at a position of need.

 

[Neophyte]

Two things for Bleacher Report:

1. Thirty other teams have now passed on both Porter and Levis
2. There was a lot of moaning last year about Dotson (me among the moaners) and I'm happy with that pick.

Bonus #3 thing - you're an amateur at this, don't get your panties in a bunch.

 

[Boone]

The Forbes pick feels alot like the Dotson one - one where the on-field play is going to have to convince us into liking the selection. To me, it somewhat feels like they were hellbent on addressing the lack of turnovers on defence, and decided to take a guy who was elite in that specific category, as opposed to taking the best all-round player at a position of need.

 

[Boone]

Two things for Bleacher Report:

1. Thirty other teams have now passed on both Porter and Levis
2. There was a lot of moaning last year about Dotson (me among the moaners) and I'm happy with that pick.

Bonus #3 thing - you're an amateur at this, don't get your panties in a bunch.

But ‘their scouts’…..

Lol.

 

[Om]

The Junkies were talking about that Ron video this morning ... one pointed out that, as a producer, he would have had Coach record 5 or 6 of those, one for each of the guys they expected/hoped to be available.

 

[Neophyte]

Yeah, I saw this.

Cynical Bob's first thought was "I wonder how many players the media team had him do videos like this for."

 

[Boone]

I’m sure you guys are right.

 

[Bulldog]

Evidently Forbes is now up to 178 in the off-season and intends to play at 180 plus.

If he maintains his quickness and cover skills down the field the pick looks better than it did on first glance.

Christian Gonzalez shined for one year and that to me is a potential red flag as players with limited experience often take awhile in the NFL, just ask Jamin Davis.

 

[Boone]

 

[Chris]

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I’m not going to pretend I know much about this kid. In my couch drafting, I was focused on Porter, Banks, Branch, and Gonzalez if he fell. I thought for sure they would take Gonzalez since he was mocked to be a top 10 pick. But they went with Forbes instead. As others have said, this reminds me of the Dotson pick as well. We all thought it would be some other guy. I remember thinking about how small Dotson was as well. But when Dotson got on the field, he was nothing short of spectacular. I can only hope Forbes is the same way. I’m willing to wait and see.

As for draft grades, they are always one persons opinion and a lot of those grades are based on how well the analyst predicted a certain player to a certain team. The TV analysts really like him and they all said he was very physical despite his size. But to bring in some balance to the F above, CBS gave the commanders an A.

2023 NFL Draft first-round grades, tracker: High marks for Eagles; Cowboys get 'A' for Mazi Smith

Pete Prisco grades the first 31 picks of the 2023 NFL Draft

www.cbssports.com

 

[SkinsOrlando]

I'm not fond of this pick but there is a lot of chatter that the kids the real deal from the "experts" and fits our scheme. Maybe he surprises us doubters and maybe he doesn't. The Steelers jumping us didn't help matters for o line for sure.