The 24th team I’ve visited this summer is the one with new ownership and, seemingly, a whole new outlook. Here’s what I got from the Commanders …
1. The decision to take Emmanuel Forbes with the 16th pick—and over Oregon star Christian Gonzalez—spurred a lot of conversation in Washington, but to this point, Forbes has been everything the Commanders imagined he would be. A big reason the coaches and scouts fell in love with him, to the point where he was a clear target (maybe the clear target) of theirs going into the first night of the draft, was his ball production. Ron Rivera & Co. knew they needed more in the way of turnovers, and creating them was Forbes’s specialty at Mississippi State. So far, the Commanders have gotten that. But what might surprise some people about Forbes is how quickly he, at 6'1" and 166 pounds, has come into being aggressive and physical in the run game. And that showed up in Monday night’s game, when the rookie stoned veteran tailback Melvin Gordon on a third-and-1, a play a few folks at the facility Wednesday raised to me. If Forbes holds up physically at his size, it sure looks like Washington got a good one at a very important position.
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