Commanders fans are concerned about Emmanuel Forbes, but excited about a pair of 2nd-round draft picks

Survey results!!

Ron Rivera’s draft classes

I certainly won’t be the first person to mention the dismal results obtained from Ron Rivera’s four first-round picks: Chase Young, Jamin Davis, Jahan Dotson, and Emmanuel Forbes. While Young was the consensus pick in the 2020 draft, the other three picks, who have each subsequently struggled to perform at a high level in Washington, all seem to have resulted from GM Ron Rivera trying to be ‘the smartest guy in the room’.

With Jahan Dotson being traded to the Eagles on Thursday, only Davis — who is undergoing either cross-training or a full-on position change in an effort to add value to his on-field play — and second-year cornerback Emmanuel Forbes remain on the Commanders roster.

In this week’s Reacts survey, six out of ten Hogs Haven readers who responded to the survey identified last year’s first-round pick as the player they are most concerned with at the moment.

Going into the final preseason game, it has become clear that numerous questions surround Washington’s cornerback group. The picture is so muddled that few outside observers even agree on who the starting boundary and field corners will be. Emmanuel Forbes, for example, could be one of the starting outside corners, or he could spend most of Week 1 riding the pine.

In fact, the only cornerback who seems to have distinguished himself in the eyes of all training camp observers is the rookie, Mikey Sainristil. The former Michigan Wolverine has been seen as the likely #1 slot corner since OTAs and minicamp, but more recent reports from training camp have said that he has been lining up (and playing well) as an outside defensive back in 2-cornerback sets.

In a Week 4 game against the Eagles last year, the limitations of then-rookie Forbes were badly exposed as the Commanders’ first-rounder had no answers for big-bodied Eagles receiver A.J. Brown or the rest of the Philadelphia receiving corps. The 22-year-old, selected 16th overall in the draft, allowed multiple receptions and gave up two touchdowns: a 59-yarder and a 28-yarder.

During OTAs and minicamp this year, much was made of Forbes obvious efforts in the offseason to bulk up his thin frame with added muscle, and hopes were high that new coaching would result in better performance from the young player who was benched for several games in the middle of the ‘23 season.

This offseason, concern about Forbes spiked, however, when film clips from the joint practice with the Jets seemed to show Forbes getting repeatedly roasted by Jets receiver Garrett Wilson.

Last week in Miami, the Dolphins starting offense was able to march right down the field for a touchdown on the ‘Fins opening drive, with Tua Tagovailoa completing 5 passes on 5 attempts, including a 13-yard touchdown on a 4th & 1 play. This wasn’t a good look for a defensive secondary that is trying to rebound after ranking dead last in passing yardage given up in 2023 (262 yards per game).

Over the past couple of weeks, Dan Quinn has repeatedly stressed that the Washington coaching staff would use joint practices and preseason games to ‘stress’ players in one-on-one situations rather than game-planning as they would in the regular season.

In the preseason, you actually want to put people into the hardest looks and the hardest matchup. So, there’s times you’ll want to do some things just to put some stress onto a call or to a person in a coverage or whatever that might look like. And so to see the different elements offensively, defensively, and on teams, I think it’s a great test and these practices are perfect times to do that and play man-to-man coverage, play a zero blitz look, play things that maybe you wouldn’t normally do, just to really emphasize the stress and the evaluation of that play or that player.

We won’t…game plan, but we will allow the rules and looks to dictate how we would play. It’s really more about us and our performance, our skills, and finding some matchups and just digging in on more information, more detail. So, less scheme and really more on the personnel side, the evaluations,

So, it could be that the apparent struggles of the Commanders defensive secondary that fans have witnessed have merely been the result of this preseason philosophy, and that, in the regular season, coaches will use defensive schemes to help the unit perform at a high level. Let’s hope so.

Dan Quinn made an effort to bolster confidence in Forbes in a recent press conference while, at the same time, reinforcing just how unsettled the CB competition is, and how tenuous Forbes’ progress may be:

I thought Emmanuel showed his best week from practice down at Miami and into the game. I love when I see this — [a player] on the way up. We’re still into the middle of [figuring out] what the best combinations look like, but I was definitely pleased to see Emmanuel on the way up.

It’s good to hear positive comments about a player from the head coach at any time. For the moment, though, fans are clearly concerned about Emmanuel Forbes’ ability to compete against physical NFL receivers, and they will be hoping that defensive coordinator Joe Whitt and head coach Dan Quinn have answers that haven’t yet been clearly evident in the preseason.

Adam Peters’ rookie class

While no player drafted onto the Commanders roster by Adam Peters has yet taken a regular season snap, fans and media seem convinced that the rookie draft picks and undrafted players are a cut (maybe several cuts) above what we saw in the Ron Rivera era. Reports from training camp surrounding the rookies have generally been very positive.

In particular, second-overall pick, quarterback Jayden Daniels, has been said to be meeting or exceeding expectations. Comments about No. 5 often focus on his coolness and composure — traits that go beyond his obvious playing skills and have a positive flow-on effect to his teammates.

Among the undrafted players, safety Tyler Owens seems to have stood out, and many camp observers think he has done enough to make the initial regular season roster.

There has been more muted enthusiasm about 3rd round rookie receiver Luke McCaffrey, who is expected to need some time to develop after having undertaken a position change to receiver just two years ago.

Heading into camp, Brandon Coleman was probably the rookie — outside of Jayden Daniels — that fans were most interested in due to concerns about the offensive line’s ability to protect the rookie quarterback. There were hopes that Coleman could earn a starting tackle job, and concerns that it might be too much to expect from the third-round draft pick in his rookie year. As it has turned out, the jury is still out on Coleman as we head into the final preseason game because of nagging injury concerns during much of training camp. Comments from coaches and camp observers seemed to indicate, prior to the road trip to New Jersey two weeks ago, that the rookie had done enough to win the starting left tackle job over veteran Cornelius Lucas, but Coleman has not actually played any competitive snaps against another team this preseason. If he is unable to play on Sunday against the Patriots, it would be fair to question whether coaches would be willing to put him on the field for his first NFL start against the Buccaneers in Week 1.

Given this interesting blend of promise, hope and questions surrounding the Commanders rookies and other young players, we asked, with the second question in this week’s Reacts survey, which of these players fans are most excited about at the moment.

Two players stood out among the rest — rookie cornerback Mikey Sainristil and rookie tight end Ben Sinnott.

Mike Sainristil

As mentioned above, reports out of training camp about Sainristil have been almost universally glowing. He is reported to be smart and personable in addition to having skills beyond those expected of a rookie defensive back. He has reportedly helped hone those skill by spending some time training with legendary Redskins cornerback Darrell Green, whose jersey number — 28 — will be retired this season.

ESPN wrote about the second-round draft pick:

Sainristil has an excellent shot to open as Washington’s starting slot corner. At 5-foot-10, 182 pounds he’s smaller than most corners Quinn has kept on his roster, but coaches like his quickness and toughness inside.

Washington liked that Sainristil also played receiver at Michigan and was considered a strong leader. Quinn has said he fell in love with Sainristil after visiting with him during his pro day. That’s why, after Washington selected him, Quinn high-fived coaches and front office members.

“He’s wise beyond his years,” said secondary coach Tom Donatell. “I feel like I’m talking to a six-year vet. He comes in prepared; he’s asking questions before we’re even talking about it.”

The feeling seems to be that the leadership and on-field skills demonstrated by Sainristil last year as a key member of the Wolverines team that won the College Football Playoff National Championship and set a single-season program record of 15 wins during the season are already translating at the Pro level.

The sky appears to be the limit for Sainristil as he embarks on his NFL career.

Ben Sinnott

The excitement for Ben Sinnott — another of Washington’s three 2nd-round pick in this year’s draft — may stem primarily from his style of play, which was on display in his first NFL game appearances against the Jets and Dolphins.

This kind of physicality is hard to demonstrate to coaches and fans prior to the preseason and regular season games. In the shorts & tee shirt environment of OTAs and minicamp — and even in the ‘no tackles’ environment of training camp — players like Sinnott simply can’t show off what they do best, which is to mimic the effect a bowling ball has on bowling pins when running with the ball in his hands.

With a veteran like Zach Ertz to set the example of how to excel in the NFL, it seems likely that Sinnott will have every opportunity to optimize both the ball skills and professional attitude required for sustained success in the NFL.

We are two weeks away from the start of a pivotal season for the Washington Commanders — one in which a new direction may be set for the short- and long-term future of the franchise. Fans feel both hope and trepidation as this almost-completely new organization — stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up — sets out on a new era. A new generation of players is prepared to don the burgundy & gold of the franchise. It should be an exciting time!