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The Washington Commanders selected Mississippi State cornerback Emmanuel Forbes at No. 16 overall in the 2023 NFL draft. As it turns out, the Commanders wanted Forbes all along. The team released a video on Day 2 of the draft where head coach Ron Rivera specifically singled out Forbes as being Washington’s guy in the first round on Thursday morning.
How much did Washington want Forbes? Enough to trade up for him?
In a video on the team’s official website, titled “Commanders Log,” the fourth episode of the series covers the team on the first day of the draft when Washington chose Forbes. The video shows Rivera driving to the team’s facility, where he discussed the possibility that if Forbes fell to the Commanders at No. 16, they’d have their guy.
What’s more interesting in the video is that Washington general manager Martin Mayhew tried to move up to No. 14. The New England Patriots held the No. 14 overall pick and eventually traded it to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones.
The two sides obviously didn’t agree to a deal, and Washington gladly selected Forbes 16th overall, ahead of Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, who many had rated higher.
The video shows Mayhew calling Eliot Wolf, New England’s director of scouting, to discuss what it would take to move up. The price, from New England’s side, was a third-round pick, and the Patriots would send a sixth back to the Commanders. That didn’t work for head coach Ron Rivera, who was potentially willing to send a fourth. Washington stayed at No. 16 and got its guy in Forbes.
Marty Hurney was overheard saying he didn’t think Forbes would make it past the Patriots. The Patriots wound up making the deal with the Steelers and, picking 17th, selected Gonzalez.
This begs the question: Could Washington have been looking to make a move for Jones?
We’ll never know for sure, but from watching that video it seems apparent that unless a specific offensive lineman, such as Paris Johnson, fell, Forbes would always be Washington’s guy.
Senior director of player personnel Eric Stokes asked Mayhew: Forbes or Gonzalez? Stokes answered his own question with Forbes, and Mayhew agreed. The Commanders probably didn’t expect Gonzalez to be available due to the pre-draft hype surrounding him.
“I promise if it’s Forbes, Jack [Del Rio] is going to do some flip flops,” Rivera said before the team selected Forbes. When Rivera informed Del Rio that Forbes was the pick, he was excited.
“We got him?” Del Rio asked. “Wooo.”
It’s worth a watch, as it also contains video of Forbes going back to his old high school on draft day.