The Washington Commanders host the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night at FedEx Field to wrap up Week 2 of the preseason. Earlier this week, the two teams convened at Baltimore’s complex in Owings Mills to hold joint practice for two days.
Washington rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes — the No. 16 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft — was all over videos posted on social media this week. Some showed him losing one-on-one battles against Baltimore wide receivers, while Forbes came out on top in others.
In one of those battles, he lined up against the Ravens’ first-round pick this April — wide receiver Zay Flowers. Flowers won that rep.
With the two teams playing on Monday night, Eric Edholm of NFL.com wants to see more of Forbes matched up with Flowers.
If there’s one preseason battle we’re hoping for this week, it’s two rookies squaring off: Ravens WR Zay Flowers against Commanders CB Emmanuel Forbes. Both have been the talk of their respective camps, with Forbes apparently having an eventful Day 1 of joint practices between the teams on Tuesday. First, Flowers beat him deep on one rep. Then Forbes knocked away a deep ball intended for Odell Beckham Jr. Finally, Forbes and Ravens WR Tylan Wallace got into a fight. The Commanders know the spindly Forbes is going to lose some battles this season, but they also have to love his scrappiness, in addition to his rare ball-hawking skills. If there’s a higher power, we’ll get some Flowers-Forbes matchups in Monday’s game to see which 2023 first-rounder can come out on top.
We couldn’t agree more. Flowers has shown this summer he could be special for the Ravens, while Forbes has Washington coaches excited about his potential to give the Commanders more takeaways.
While the two will play on Monday night, we aren’t sure how many times they’ll match up one-on-one as both will likely play a limited number of snaps.
