Emmanuel
Forbes.
Emmanuel
Forbes.
Mississippi State· 6'1"· 166 lb· 4.35s 40
"The lightest first-round defensive back in modern memory, and also one of the most productive ball-hawks college football has ever produced — the pick is a referendum on whether takeaway instinct outruns 166 pounds."Pre-draft read
Mississippi State played Forbes as a boundary corner in a zone-heavy scheme that kept his eyes on the quarterback, and ball skills organize everything. He reads stems and throwing platforms early, drives downhill from off-alignment without a false step, and plays the ball in the air like a receiver — high-pointing and finishing instead of deflecting.
The second trait is speed — a 4.35 that lets him carry verticals without safety help and turn a takeaway into a touchdown, which he did six times. In coverage he is a problem; against the run he is an avoidance tackler who slips blocks rather than defeating them. The signature is the turnover volume: 14 career interceptions from a corner quarterbacks were still willing to test.
Zone-heavy Cover-3 match or quarters front that keeps his eyes on the quarterback and lets him drive on throws from an off alignment.
Year 1: sub-package zone corner with safety help over the top. Ceiling: full-time boundary starter in a match-zone defense who produces four-plus takeaways a year.
Press-man scheme that leaves him alone against 215-pound X receivers and asks him to force the run from the edge.
The Rams found the fit that Washington never built for him.
Emmanuel Forbes Jr Career Highlights! Electric Cornerback Mississippi State
Emmanuel Forbes Jr. Mississippi State DB Highlights || Best Ball Hawk in the Draft
Emmanuel Forbes 2022 Mississippi State Highlights 🔥|| HD
Forbes is a long, exceptionally fast boundary corner whose football identity is takeaways. He is 6-1 with 32-inch arms and, at 166 pounds at the Combine, the lightest first-round defensive back in modern memory — a body type that shapes every projection about how he can be used.
The production is the loudest part of the file. He intercepted 14 passes in three seasons in the SEC and returned six of them for touchdowns, a career mark that put him in NCAA record territory, and the 2022 tape backed it up: quarterbacks posted a 44.7 rating throwing at him, best in the conference. He wins with anticipation and closing burst rather than physical disruption, which is where the flags start. He can be walled off by bigger receivers at the catch point, he loses ground on contested throws where a corner has to lean into a body, and he is a liability in the run fit — he ducks blocks instead of shedding them and arm-tackles in space.
The board saw a top-20 talent with a defined ceiling and a real floor. Some clubs had him as the third or fourth corner in the class purely on the frame; others had him top-15 because the coverage tape and ball production were rare. Taking him at 16 was a bet that scheme could hide the weight and that the takeaway skill would translate untouched.
- 01
Elite ball skills
he tracks and attacks the football like a receiver, converting 14 college interceptions into six return touchdowns.
- 02
Rare closing speed
a 4.35 forty that lets him carry verticals alone and erase cushion when he drives on a throw from off-coverage.
- 03
Advanced route recognition
he reads stems and quarterback platform early, triggering downhill on hitches and curls before the ball leaves the hand.
- 04
Length for the archetype
32 1/4-inch arms give him a recovery radius that turns half-step losses into contested rather than completed throws.
- 05
Proven against real competition
three SEC seasons on the boundary with a 44.7 passer rating allowed in 2022, best mark in the conference.
- 01
Extreme lack of mass
166 pounds at the Combine, and bigger receivers can wall him off, stack him at the catch point and win through contact.
- 02
Run-support liability
he avoids blocks rather than defeating them and arm-tackles in space instead of wrapping and driving.
- 03
Press durability
his hands are functional but he cannot hold a receiver up at the line for long against size, which limits man-heavy usage.
- 04
Contested-catch losses
he plays the ball beautifully in space but concedes too many 50-50 balls where leverage and strength decide it.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.35sp50
- Vertical
- 37.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 131inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Mississippi State | 11 | 44 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 2021 | Mississippi State | 13 | 60 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 2022 | Mississippi State | 12 | 46 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| Career | — | 36 | 150 | 1 | 14 | 21 | 1 |
Verified season by season on cfbstats.com; totals sum exactly (150 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 1.0 sack, 14 INT, 21 pass breakups). Six of the 14 interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Fumble recoveries are not reported by the source, so they are left blank rather than zeroed.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Long zone corner whose value is entirely takeaways and route recognition rather than man coverage or run support.
Ball-hawking, gambling zone corner who turned anticipation into interception volume and pick-sixes.
Long, fast corner whose body could not hold up to weekly boundary work against NFL size.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Struggled and was waived by Washington 20 months after being drafted, then rebuilt his career with the Rams: 39 games, 22 starts, five interceptions and 31 passes defensed through 2025, including a 14-start 2025 season. Fifth-year option declined in May 2026.
Washington threw him in immediately and it did not go well. He started six of 14 games as a rookie in 2023, got benched multiple times, and finished with one interception and 11 passes defensed while giving up big plays that were as much about strength as technique. The 2024 season was worse — one start in six games, a healthy scratch stretch, and a waiver-wire exit in December, less than 20 months after being a top-16 pick. The Rams claimed him and gave him two late-season snaps' worth of a look. Then 2025 turned it around: 17 games, 14 starts, 814 defensive snaps, three interceptions, a forced fumble and 18 passes defensed, tied for third in the NFL in pass breakups. Los Angeles still declined his fifth-year option in May 2026 rather than guarantee $12.6 million, and imported two Chiefs starters ahead of him.
In hindsight, the frame concern was real and the evaluation of the coverage skill was not wrong. Washington asked a 166-pound rookie to start on the boundary against SEC-caliber size every week, and that is closer to a deployment failure than a scouting one. The Rams found the version scouts described — a zone corner who plays the ball and lives off route recognition — but it took two years and a waiver claim to get there. As a No. 16 pick he is a miss on value. As a player he is a starting-caliber cover corner, which is a meaningfully different verdict.
Data note: Verified season by season on cfbstats.com; totals sum exactly (150 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 1.0 sack, 14 INT, 21 pass breakups). Six of the 14 interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Fumble recoveries are not reported by the source, so they are left blank rather than zeroed.