{"id":782092,"date":"2026-02-28T11:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/782092\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T11:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:56:24","slug":"emmanuel-forbes-5th-year-option-wont-be-cheap-for-rams-in-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/782092\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmanuel Forbes’ 5th-year option won’t be cheap for Rams in 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 27, 2026, 12:21 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> have a big decision to make this offseason. And an expensive decision, at that.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Jared Goff in 2019, the Rams must decide whether to exercise the fifth-year option<\/a> on a player\u2019s rookie contract. Though they didn\u2019t draft him in 2023, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. has a fifth-year option on his deal<\/a>, which could keep him in Los Angeles through 2027.<\/p>\n

If the Rams want to exercise that option, they must do so by May 1. And on Friday, we learned exactly how much his fifth-year option will cost. The NFL revealed the position-by-position amounts for every 2023 first-round pick, and Forbes\u2019 comes in at $12.63 million.<\/p>\n

He did not achieve any playtime criterion, nor did he make any Pro Bowls, so he gets the lowest salary level for cornerbacks. Had he made one Pro Bowl, his salary would be $18.12 million on the fifth-year option.<\/p>\n

If the Rams do exercise Forbes\u2019 option, his 2027 salary will immediately become fully guaranteed, essentially locking him into a roster spot for that season. Given the high cost and the uncertain development of the young cornerback, it\u2019s hard to see the Rams using the option on him.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, they can let him play out the final year of his deal in 2026 before deciding whether to re-sign him or let him walk in free agency.<\/p>\n

The Rams claimed Forbes off waivers from the Commanders<\/a> in 2024 after he was cut by Washington less than two years into his tenure. He was the 16th overall pick in 2023 and has made 22 starts, 14 of which came last season with the Rams.<\/p>\n

He picked off three passes and forced a fumble, putting together by far his most productive season yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 27, 2026, 12:21 p.m. PT The Los Angeles Rams have a big decision to make this offseason.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[95878,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,95922,95923,95882,95946,97188,96789,95924,95896,95888,95895,95897,95883,96006,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-782092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams","16":"tag-sstssportsnflrams","17":"tag-sstsnrams","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","20":"tag-tagemmanuel-forbes-jr","21":"tag-tagjared-goff","22":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-negative","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116148134462882602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782092","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=782092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}