Scouting Profile: Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Mississippi State
Get to know the Washington Commanders' first round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 166lbs
Class: Junior
Positional Rank: CB5
Comparison: Fred Smoot, with just a couple sprinkles of Richard Sherman1
A wiry-thin cornerback with ball-hawking instincts and fearless playing style, almost everyone agrees that Emmanuel Forbes has the mental processing and confidence to be an NFL playmaker.
First Team All-SEC, Second Team All-American in 2022. Recorded 14 interceptions2 during his Mississippi State career, and famously set the FBS record for most career interceptions returned for a touchdown (6).
Exceptional athlete; stopwatch times are excellent—4.35 seconds in the 40 (and it looks effortless at that speed) and below 1.5 seconds for a 10-yard split3—and also recorded a 37.5” vertical leap. Those metrics show up on tape, too; his closing speed is phenomenal—once he makes his read, he breaks instantly quickly and covers a ton of ground very very quickly. Smooth glider, runs like a gazelle.
As a former high school wide receiver, he definitely shows flashes of approaching the cornerback position with that background and mentality, particularly in the way he breaks on the ball, understands of how/when receivers will break on the ball, goes up and high-points the ball when attempting to pick it off, and moves in space.
There was some concern about whether he would hold up in zone coverage after excelling in man coverage in college, but people I trust point to how comfortable, smooth/fluid and confident he looks in zone coverage—whether that’s in deep third/Cover 3, in quarters, etc. He may very well be at his best in off-ball coverage, and he also presents a skillset making him a viable option as a slot corner.
There’s a chicken-and-egg argument regarding his turnover totals. Some people who have looked at his interception totals and pointed to the fact that tons of them came off deflected passes and pop-ups. But, proponents will tell you that he capitalized on being in the right place at the right time. Still, banking on the number of interceptions made by a cornerback in college is a dangerous criteria for evaluation.
Forbes absolutely has areas needing polish, in terms of his coverage, though. There’s also a bit too much of ‘reacting and breaking on the ball when it’s in the air,’ versus simply lining up on a receiver and blanketing him, for my taste. He definitely has his moments of freelancing and taking chances on passes in order to try and make a big play. He also likes to bait quarterbacks into making bad throws, meaning teams will likely try targeting him on double-moves early in his NFL career; that penchant for jumping routes got him exposed a couple of times by savvy offensive coordinators this past season. He will get his arm wrapped around receivers, often unnecessarily. And even with the aforementioned stopwatch speed, you do see some real deep threat/speed merchant get a little behind him on deep downfield throws.
Then, of course, there are the limitations that come from his size (or lack thereof). His short-comings in press coverage stem from the fact that he doesn’t generate a ton of force or impact when jamming guys at the line of scrimmage.
As a tackler, while he’s willing to attack the guy with the ball4, he’s definitely uses a “throw his body at the guy with the ball and hope for the best” approach. Finishing tackles, particularly against some of the monstrously-built offensive skill players in the NFL, will be a challenge for him. He can come off the edge in a hurry on corner blitzes, but I think he could be nullified rather easily by running backs. But even when he did have a clear path to the QB on a blitz, he’d come screaming off the edge only to fail in bringing the quarterback down. Simply put: he’s a willing tackler, but he’s not very good at it.
To me, the bottom line for him is the fact that everyone says the same thing: he’s terrifyingly small, but he plays bigger than his size, and you can’t teach his football acumen, ball skills, and explosiveness. Nearly any Draft personality you heard speak about him did so with acclaim. Every time his lack of bulk was mentioned, people responded effectively with: “yeah, but this guy can play.5”
The late Mike Leach described Forbes as such: "He is the ultimate competitor. One of the greatest players I've ever coached." Clearly, Ron Rivera was smitten by Forbes from the get-go6.
Now, we just have to hope that they were right about him, in terms of how his success in college will translate in the NFL, and for the Washington Commanders7. ■
He’s also drawn comparisons to Josh Norman and Xavien Howard.
Both his 40 time and 10-yard split were among the very fastest of all players at his position; no top 10-15 cornerback ran a faster time in the 40 and only one—DJ Turner from Michigan—had a faster 10-yard split.
He definitely had a couple of instances of “making a business decision” around guys running with the ball downfield
One of my favorite quotes about him: “He’s only 166 and 6-1, but my God, talk about movement skills. He’s so fluid. He moves like a little corner and still shows up physically.”
Ron Rivera and company seemingly approached this pick with a “Vontae Mack, no matter what” mindset.
Still threw up a little in my mouth when writing out that reprehensible choice of a team name.