{"id":361633,"date":"2025-09-12T08:09:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T08:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/361633\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T08:09:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T08:09:23","slug":"cb-emmanuel-forbes-becomes-a-starter-for-the-rams-just-9-months-after-his-release-by-commanders-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/361633\/","title":{"rendered":"CB Emmanuel Forbes becomes a starter for the Rams just 9 months after his release by Commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 The Washington Commanders released Emmanuel Forbes last December, less than two seasons after making him a first-round draft pick. Coach Dan Quinn said the cornerback already needed a change of scenery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Quinn was right, the Los Angeles Rams are benefitting greatly from Washington’s decision.<\/p>\n

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Forbes was a surprise starter for the Rams in their 14-9 victory over Houston<\/a>, making three tackles and largely shutting down whoever lined up against him. The third-year cornerback is expected to be a major part of Los Angeles’ defensive rotation going forward after he beat out veteran Darious Williams for the job.<\/p>\n

Once thought too small to be an effective NFL defensive back, Forbes says he has grown both physically and mentally in the nine months since he landed in Southern California after Washington unceremoniously dumped him on the waiver wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my third year, and just growing up, the game has slowed down a lot,\u201d Forbes said. \u201cI’m able to focus in on certain things each play, and I’m just keeping my technique tight and working on my mental stuff. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rams don’t suit up their key players in the preseason, and they mix up their personnel groups extensively in training camp, so nobody outside their building had much indication Forbes had passed Williams on the depth chart.<\/p>\n

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Defensive coordinator Chris Shula said Forbes earned the job with a standout offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been really impressed with him since he got here in the middle of last year, and then when he started really learning our defense in OTAs and training camp, he\u2019s just been really impressive,\u201d Shula said. \u201cThe urgency he plays with, the physicality, the toughness, we just think he can do a lot of really good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forbes was sharp both on and off the ball against the Texans, and he showed his improving ability as a tackler. On the only play on which Forbes allowed a catch, he squared up on Cade Stover and drove the tight end backward.<\/p>\n

Forbes was a standout at Mississippi State, making 14 interceptions and returning a whopping six for touchdowns over three seasons. His speed and ball skills are elite, but his meager size \u2014 he weighed just 166 pounds at the combine \u2014 scared teams.<\/p>\n

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The Commanders still took Forbes 16th overall, and he started 10 games as a rookie. But his playing time dwindled even before Washington changed coaching staffs and front office personnel in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Rams claimed Forbes off waivers in early December, and he felt comfortable \u201cduring the first week, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always had trust in me, and they always reminded me of how great of a player I am and how good of a person I am also,\u201d Forbes said. \u201cIt\u2019s a real confidence boost when your coaches are behind you. … Honestly, (I’m) just more mentally locked in.”<\/p>\n

Forbes fit in quickly enough to suit up for the final two games of the regular season, but his real work began in the new year. He spent nearly all of the offseason in Los Angeles instead of back home in Mississippi, working on his body and his understanding of Shula’s defensive scheme.<\/p>\n

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Forbes is listed at 180 pounds this season. He still isn’t a big cornerback, but he’s significantly bigger \u2014 and better at tackling after working on it extensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been the most pleasant surprise,\u201d Shula said. \u201cI thought when he played in that Seattle game last year, he was really throwing his body around, and then you could tell he made a conscious effort to put weight on and get stronger so he could be physical and last all 17 games. Really since the first days in (training) camp when we\u2019re wearing pads, he\u2019s made a conscious effort. He\u2019s thudding up the ball carrier. He\u2019s running his feet. He\u2019s wrapping. We notice it, and he\u2019s just gotten better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

To herald his fresh start, Forbes also changed his Rams uniform number this season from 25 to 1 after it became available with the release of Derion Kendrick<\/a>. Forbes wore No. 13 at Mississippi State and with the Commanders, but Stetson Bennett has it in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted a number more like a defensive back,\u201d Forbes said with a grin, \u201cand I think it looks good on me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NOTES: RG Kevin Dotson returned to practice with his sprained ankle heavily taped, but LG Steve Avila didn’t participate for the second straight day. RT Rob Havenstein also practiced after taking a veteran rest day for his own apparently minor ankle injury.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 The Washington Commanders released Emmanuel Forbes last December, less than two seasons after making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[23384,38654,7291,11727,473,7190,7,221,25023,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,6821,237,471,20581,3416,855,111],"class_list":{"0":"post-361633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-cade-stover","9":"tag-chris-shula","10":"tag-dan-quinn","11":"tag-darious-williams","12":"tag-derion-kendrick","13":"tag-emmanuel-forbes","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-houston","16":"tag-kevin-dotson","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-rams","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangelesrams","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-rams","23":"tag-rob-havenstein","24":"tag-seattle","25":"tag-stetson-bennett","26":"tag-steve-avila","27":"tag-the-rams","28":"tag-washington","29":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115190311633320812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}