Being in first place comes with more good than bad, as one might expect, but there is a legitimate shadow side to having a franchise enjoy such sustained success as that of the Kansas City Chiefs. One downside is that the Chiefs are always last in waiver order, which keeps them from being able to pick up promising talent when it hits the wire.
The latest such example is Emmanuel Forbes. It sounds crazy that a former first-round cornerback from the 2023 NFL Draft (yes, just last year!) has been made available but that’s exactly what the the Washington Commanders have done.
On Saturday, the Commanders made the decision to rid themselves of another Ron Rivera draft bust in order to clear room for players they believe in. In doing so, they’ve made Forbes available to any other team that wants to claim him, which seems silly on the surface given that he was taken at No. 16 overall.
Forbes’ draft position puts him firmly among the top defensive back prospects on the board at the time for Washington and signals a major bust after seeing how Christian Gonzalez has fared with the New England Patriots at the same position—taken just one pick after Forbes.
Don’t expect the Chiefs to get a chance to claim Emmanuel Forbes.
For his part, Forbes was pretty much horrible all-around as a defender for Washington this season with a ridiculous score of 35.4 per Pro Football Focus. He’d missed over 30 percent of his tackles in limited action in 6 games this season and allowed a 103.0 passer rating in 14 games last year.
That said, scouts loved his raw athleticism and instincts enough to rate him as a potential first-round pick, which Washington clearly bought into, and more teams will likely reveal their previous draft interests as well with an attempt to claim him. Forbes was a ballhawk at Mississippi State and set a record with six pick-sixes in his collegiate career.
The New York Giants are atop the NFL’s waiver order and will likely pounce on the opportunity to check out a corner prospect from a division rival. If not, it will be interesting to see how far he falls. Forbes might have been a bust in the nation’s capital, but the mercurial nature of the position in general and the scheme-specific success enjoyed by defensive backs around the league should give other teams hope to at least try..
As for the Chiefs, there’s pretty much zero chance for Forbes to land with the team. Despite a potential need for further help at the position, they’re too far down the order for such an intriguing prospect to land in their laps. ‘Tis the cost of being 11-1.
