Giants Reporter Floats ‘Flier’ on 2023 First Rounder Who Was Cut by NFC East Foe

Getty Former Washington Commanders first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes could use a fresh start, and the New York Giants still need CB help.

With the New York Giants now eliminated from playoff contention, all roster decisions should be made with an eye toward the future, and cornerback stands out as an area that could still use a boost in 2025.

Enter 23-year-old first-round talent and waiver claim possibility Emmanuel Forbes — who was cut by the NFC East rival Washington Commanders after being selected eight picks ahead of current Giants’ CB1 Deonte Banks.

“Should the New York Giants, badly in need of young talent and depth in their secondary, take a flier on Forbes?” Big Blue View beat writer Ed Valentine pondered on December 1. He went on to detail a few of the reasons Forbes didn’t make it with the Commanders.

“[Forbes] wasn’t good with Washington,” Valentine stated bluntly. “He played in 14 games as a rookie, starting just six. He had a 103 passer rating against and a 15.7% missed tackle rate. [And] he had an abominable 30% missed tackle rate this season.”

The NYG beat reporter also noted that Forbes is severely undersized, weighing in at 6-foot and 166 pounds at the NFL combine. Now the available CB is listed at 180 pounds, per Valentine.

Still, despite all of that, Valentine figures Forbes might be worth a look.

“The Giants have Deonte Banks, … Cor’Dale Flott and Dru Phillips as starters,” he reasoned. “They have nothing, though, behind that trio that they could comfortably go forward with in 2025.”

Continuing: “Veteran Adoree’ Jackson won’t be back next season — it was a surprise he was back this season. Tre Hawkins is usually inactive. Art Green and Greg Stroman are really practice squad players.”

Having said that, Valentine was not in favor of claiming Forbes off waivers.

Claiming Ex-Commanders CB Emmanuel Forbes Would Cost Giants Final 2 Years of Rookie Contract

“Claiming Forbes on waivers would mean the Giants would be on the hook for whatever remains on the final two-plus years of his fully-guaranteed $15.407-million rookie contract,” Valentine noted. He added that “if the Giants are interested, the more likely path would be signing him as a free agent after he clears waivers to avoid taking on the rookie contract.”

According to Over the Cap, Forbes’ rookie deal would include cap hits of approximately $4.2 million and $4.9 million in 2025 and 2026. That’s way too much for a struggling flier in need of a fresh start — and no team is likely to pay that.

Assuming Forbes does clear waivers and hits the open market, it would be up to the Giants to entice him into signing with them.

While a potential regime change could hurt the pitch of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, the wide-open CB depth chart could appeal. Forbes would be competing against Flott and Banks for a starting job on the outside.

The former has yet to truly prove himself as a starting NFL cornerback, and the latter was benched earlier this season for lack of effort. If there was ever a CB room that provided opportunity, it’s this one.

Are Emmanuel Forbes’ Tackling Concerns Too Reminiscent of Current Giants CB Room?

One obvious concern in bringing in Forbes is the missed tackle rate that Valentine shared.

The Giants cornerbacks have struggled with missed tackles in 2024. Per Pro Football Focus, Hawkins, Jackson, Flott and Phillips all have a missed tackle rate over 15.0%. Veteran cut Nick McCloud actually led the team with a 25.0% missed tackle rate before being released.

Ironically — considering he was seemingly benched in part due to lazy tackling — Banks has the lowest missed tackle rate by far (7.0%) among Giants CBs with 100 or more defensive snaps.

Either way, adding Forbes to this unit doesn’t necessarily help with that problem. And Big Blue must improve their tackling in 2025.

It’s not just the cornerback room, but the Giants defense as a whole has missed 118 tackles this season. Their team-wide PFF tackling grade of 43.1 out of 100 ranks tied for 24th in the NFL.

Per PFF, the top five offenders in terms of overall volume have been safety Jason Pinnock, linebackers Micah McFadden and Bobby Okereke, Phillips and safety Tyler Nubin. In terms of missed tackle rate (minimum 100 defensive snaps), the top five offenders have been edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari, linebacker Darius Muasau, McCloud and linebacker/DB Isaiah Simmons.

Clearly, this issue doesn’t stem from one or two culprits.