The Los Angeles Rams made a small splash on Monday when they claimed former first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes off waivers. The Washington Commanders surprisingly cut ties with Forbes on Saturday after just a year and a half, sending him to the waiver wire for any of the other 31 teams to claim him.
To the surprise of Sean McVay, the Rams managed to land the second-year cornerback out of Mississippi State.
That’s right. McVay didn’t think the Rams would actually be able to get him based on the fact that they were 16th in the waiver order. Any of the 15 teams ahead of them could’ve claimed Forbes, but they passed on the 23-year-old and let him fall all the way to the Rams.
“This is a reflection of very rarely do some guys that (are) recent evals that are high-ranked come available,” McVay said on the “Coach McVay Show” a few hours after the Rams claimed Forbes. “I didn’t actually think we’d get him because of where we’re at in the claim order, so we were pleased that we were able to get him. We’ll add him to the mix, we’ll get to know him and we’ll see where he fits. But that was kind of a simple thing that came to fruition.”
It’s unclear if any of the 16 teams behind the Rams in the waiver order tried to claim Forbes, but we do know none of the 15 ahead of them put in a claim for the FBS’ all-time leader in pick-sixes.
There’s no denying the fact that Forbes struggled in Washington and quickly fell out of favor in the secondary, but the Rams now have him under contract through 2026 with the possibility of exercising his fifth-year option in 2027 if he plays well enough.
It’s a low-risk, high-reward addition for a Rams team that badly needs cornerback help in the years to come.
