Tag: Emmanuel Forbes

Texans can wait until Round 3 to address cornerback in 2023 NFL draft

The Houston Texans can afford to wait until the third round to address cornerback in the 2023 NFL draft.

The Houston Texans have a dominant cornerback for the foreseeable future in Derek Stingley.

The Texans added the former LSU Tiger No. 3 overall in Round 1 of the 2022 NFL draft. Pairing Stingley with Steven Nelson gave the Texans a cornerback duo that gave opposing quarterbacks something to consider for nine games last season.

One approach to upgrading the Texans’ roster is to use another first-round pick on a cornerback to play opposite of Stingley, which would give the Texans a true no-fly zone with Jalen Pitre on the backend. However, Houston may not need to use their first-round or even second-round selections to find a partner for Stingley.

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah claimed on a Feb. 24 conference call that he has as many as 20 cornerbacks listed that could go in the first three rounds.

“I think I’ve got 20 guys with top three round grades,” Jeremiah said. “I think it’s a really good group.”

As deep as the group is, there isn’t as sure of a blue-chip prospect as there was last season with Cincinnati’s Ahmad Gardner, according to Jeremiah.

“I was a big Sauce Gardner fan, so, I don’t put anybody in his class in this one,” said Jeremiah. “I don’t think there’s a Patrick Surtain in this class.”

The Texans could get burned on value if they use their No. 12 overall pick in Round 1 or their No. 33 overall pick in Round 2 on a cornerback, but they may not if they wait until the third round.

“Depth-wise, I think there’s a sweet spot, and I think you can look at different positions and find sweet spots,” Jeremiah said. “Again, I think I would love to have third round picks and need corners, running backs, tight ends. I think there’s — it’s just a really, really good group to choose from there. I think this is a good group of guys in that area.”

Looking at Pro Football Focus’ cornerback rankings, the sixth-best is Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes with a big board rank of 42. Team need factors into every draft, and teams don’t go strictly best player available, which would push Forbes further back into the draft. Houston’s initial Round 3 selection is at No. 65 overall, and Forbes may not make it that far.

Another consideration could be Syracuse’s Garrett Williams, who is listed at 49 on their big board. It still may be a little outside of Houston’s reach, but if general manager Nick Caserio is confident this is the player the organization needs, he would build a trade package to grab him.

One player that Houston may be able to get at both of their third-round spots would be TCU’s Tre’vius Hodges-Tomlinson, who is listed at No. 60 on PFF’s big board.

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Vikings take popular CB in latest Draft Wire mock draft

The Vikings have been cornerback happy in mock drafts as of late

The Minnesota Vikings love themselves some cornerbacks in mock drafts and it makes a lot of sense. Only having three cornerbacks on the roster will do that.

So far, the Vikings have been mocked 12 different cornerbacks over the course of the last two months and one of the more popular ones is Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes.

Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling has been a fan of Forbes for awhile and sent him to the Vikings in his latest mock draft.

“Bringing in Brian Flores is a huge boost for one of the league’s worst defenses, and his first order of business should be improving the secondary. Forbes was a big-play machine for the Bulldogs, and would be a perfect fit in this defense.”

I disagree slightly with Easterling here, as I think Forbes would be best suited dropping into cover-3 more often than playing in an aggressive style that uses a lot of cover-0.

Regardless if he’s a perfect fit or not, Forbes would be able to come in and play a key role for the Vikings on defense.

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Emmanuel Forbes the latest corner mocked to Vikings by Bucs Wire

Forbes has been sneaking up draft boards as of late

The Minnesota Vikings head into the 2023 season with only three cornerbacks under contract, leaving them with a pressing need to address their cornerback depth. With free agency and the draft just around the corner, the Vikings’ front office must decide whether to prioritize cornerback in the draft, sign a free agent or pursue a trade.

On Tuesday, Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire helped the Vikings address that need in his latest mock draft by having them select Mississippi State cornerback Emmanuel Forbes.

Forbes has slowly been sneaking up NFL draft boards over the past few months, and he has another opportunity to help his stock out when the NFL Combine kicks off on February 28th.

Forbes is a fluid athlete with good coverage abilities, but the big concern surrounding him is his frame. He’s got a smaller build than you would like at the cornerback position. That being said, he can still play really well and could be a value pick for teams if he starts to slip out of the first round.

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Vikings select ball hawking cornerback in latest CBS mock draft

The Vikings are an extremely popular place to send a cornerback in mock drafts

Mock drafts for the Minnesota Vikings have been a lot of the same. Cornerbacks have been a heavy theme and that’s because the Vikings have a huge need at the position with only three players on the roster.

Garrett Podell of CBS Sports joined that train with his latest mock draft, as he sent the Vikings Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes.

“Forbes is a ballhawk. He totaled 14 interceptions, the most in the NCAA during his three years in school from 2020-2022 while playing in the SEC West. The Vikings, who had the second-worst total defense (388.7 total yards per game allowed) and pass defense (265.6 passing yards per game allowed) desperately need that playmaking. New DC Brian Flores loved loading up on top corners when in Miami, and he starts that trend again with this pick.”

Forbes is a ball hawking cornerback who has three touchdowns during his career in the SEC. Yes, there will be some questions he has to answer with his slender frame, but you can’t deny the length and ball production.

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VIDEO — 2023 NFL Draft either/or: Devon Witherspoon or any other cornerback?

Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling were given the choice of Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon, or any other CB draft prospect. The decision was easy for both of them.

Now that the scouting combine is right around the corner, it’s time for Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling to put on their imaginary general manager hats and make some personnel decisions with draft prospects. It’s Either/Or time! In this case, we’re giving Doug and Luke an interesting choice: You can have Illinois cornerback Devin Witherspoon, or every other cornerback in this draft class. Turns out, the decision was pretty easy.

Doug: This seems like a tough one, but it isn’t for me. In the first Top 50 of the 2023 draft season I released last week, I had Witherspoon at CB1 and the fifth-best prospect in this class. I then had Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez at ninth overall, Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. at 11, South Carolina’s Cam Smith at 23, Alabama’s Brian Branch at 24, Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes at 27, and on and on. There are cornerbacks I need to watch more who could vault up that board by the time 2.0 comes out after the combine, like Maryland’s Deonte Banks, who I have right below the first round at 35th overall.

But here’s one thing I don’t think will change for me between now and the draft: Witherspoon is the best cornerback in this class, and his combination of size, speed, short-area quickness, and smart aggression set him apart. Most taller, lankier cornerbacks don’t have Witherspoon’s ability to adjust to routes in short spaces, and most smaller cornerbacks can’t just erase a receiver like Witherspoon can. In the 2022 season, per Pro Football Focus, he allowed 22 receptions on 63 targets for 206 yards, 71 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, three interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 25.0. Which means that a quarterback facing Witherspoon was much better off chucking the ball out of the stadium than targeting him.

It’s a loaded cornerback class with all kinds of skills on display, but yes, I’d take Witherspoon over the field. Without a second thought. He’s my guy if I’m a general manager, because I can build my whole secondary around talent like that.

Luke: When I first dove into Witherspoon’s tape, I really didn’t expect to like him that much more than every other corner in this class, but I did. There just aren’t any flaws, man. He’s big enough, fast enough, twitchy enough, smart enough. He’s got the technique, the instincts, the timing, the toughness. He does everything at such a high level, you’re almost waiting for the catch at some point, but it never comes. My most recent big board had Witherspoon at No. 4 overall, trailing only Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, and Bijan Robinson. I LOVE the top of this corner class, too…I just think Witherspoon is still just that good, though.

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Vikings trade up for cornerback in latest Draft Wire mock draft

The Vikings use some of their limited draft capital to trade up in the latest Draft Wire mock draft

The Minnesota Vikings currently only have four selections in the 2023 NFL draft but they are also projected to get at least one compensatory selection in the fifth round for losing tight end Tyler Conklin to the New York Jets.

Due to their lack of draft capital, the Vikings haven’t been discussed much when it comes to trading up in the first round. In fact, the opposite is true. There has been a lot of chatter in terms of the Vikings trading down.

In his latest mock draft, Luke Easterling from Draft Wire has the Vikings trading up with the Detroit Lions for cornerback Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State.

“Bringing in Brian Flores is a huge boost for one of the league’s worst defenses, and his first order of business should be improving the secondary. Forbes was a big-play machine for the Bulldogs, and a pair of fourth-round picks would be more than worth it for Minnesota to jump ahead of the Bucs, who could also have their eye on him.”

Giving up two fourth-round picks isn’t a high price for a cornerback, but trading up for Forbes when he has been available at 23 in the majority of mock drafts is an interesting one. The player is an excellent one, as his ball skills are tremendous.

The Vikings need a cornerback and Forbes could be a big addition to their secondary.

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Vikings select talented cornerback in latest Draft Wire mock draft

The Vikings continue to select cornerbacks in mock drafts

The Minnesota Vikings have had an affinity for drafting cornerbacks over the last 10 seasons. In the first round, they have selected

  • Xavier Rhodes
  • Trae Waynes
  • Mike Hughes
  • Jeff Gladney

That doesn’t include taking Mackensie Alexander, Andrew Booth Jr. and Cameron Dantzler on day two. Of all of those cornerbacks, only one has signed a second contract with the Vikings. Alexander did come back for a fifth year, but that was after leaving for a season.

Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling thinks they go back to the well and select Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes. A long cornerback, Forbes’ specialty is attacking the football. He has excellent ball skills, and his length is incredibly valuable with both ball skills and clogging passing lanes.

The one thing that will hinder teams from selecting him high is his frame and weight. Forbes is listed by Mississippi State at 180 lbs, but his legs are incredibly slender and you wonder how true that number is.

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2023 NFL Mock Draft: Vikings Mock Draft Roundup 6.0

The latest Vikings mock draft roundup has a few interesting selections

Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!

What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 173 mock drafts and only 10 of them were on offense. This season could end up being much of the same.

We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Minnesota Vikings.

Mock Draft Roundup 5.0

Vikings select Mississippi State CB in latest TDN mock draft

The Vikings get mocked cornerbacks consistently and that continued with the latest from The Draft Network

Cornerback is something that the Minnesota Vikings are in dire need of and will continue to be mocked cornerbacks until they address the situation via trade or free agency. If they do choose to address it in free agency or via trade, we might see mock drafts go a different direction regularly.

The Draft Network’s Brentley Weissman released his latest mock draft on Sunday and sent the Vikings Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes.

“A tale as old as time, mocking the Vikings a corner. In all seriousness, the team does need more help at corner and we know new DC Brian Flores values man-cover defenders. Emmanuel Forbes is thin and a tad undersized, but he offers very good cover quickness and instincts to excel as a man defender. His ball skills are also outstanding.”

Forbes is eerily similar in body type to current Vikings cornerback Cameron Dantzler but his aggressive nature and ball skills are what separates him from the former Bulldog. He attacks the ball with aggressiveness and is great with the ball in the air.

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2023 NFL draft film room: Mississippi State CB Emmanuel Forbes

See for yourself what makes Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes one of the top cornerback prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class

It’s officially NFL draft season, so it’s time to get to know the best players at every positions in the 2023 class.

What makes Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes one of this year’s top cornerback prospects?

Watch the tape and see for yourself: