Former Washington coach Ron Rivera was in the news again on Saturday. And, no, it was not for positive reasons. One day before the Commanders host the Tennessee Titans in Week 13 action, they released 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes.
Forbes’ release means all the first-round picks Rivera made in his four years as coach/GM are no longer on the roster. This unprecedented level of futility exemplifies the state of the roster that new GM Adam Peters inherited in January.
Chase Young (2020) was traded, Jamin Davis (released in October), Jahan Dotson (traded in August), and Forbes are all gone.
Washington fans have vented about Rivera for years. The rage has become louder since Peters and Dan Quinn took over and had to flip over 50% of Rivera’s roster.
On Saturday, we took to X—formerly Twitter—to react to Forbes’ release.
Before Daniels, the Commanders’ last four first round picks were Forbes, Jahan Dotson, Jamin Davis, and Chase Young.
Kind of a miracle that this team is even functional right now tbh.
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) November 30, 2024
All six of Washington’s first-round picks from the 2019-2023 NFL Drafts now are gone. Never underestimate the job that Adam Peters took on when he became the #Commanders’ general manager this past January. And never, ever, forget The Pause. pic.twitter.com/x569AaAQDn
— Al Galdi (@AlGaldi) November 30, 2024
You can’t convince me Ron wasn’t sabotaging us at the end of his tenure.
— Bleeding Burgundy & Gold (@BleedinBnG) November 30, 2024
End of An Error https://t.co/VYi43JumKU
— Rio Robinson (@Rio_Robinson91) November 30, 2024
Forbes last played back in week 10 vs the Steelers. He played 2 snaps. Before that he played 6 snaps vs the Bears in week 8. He’s played 8 special teams snaps all year and was a healthy scratch last week. This is just them moving on, nothing to do with Lattimore’s health https://t.co/61WTYUeJY0
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) November 30, 2024
Emmanuel Forbes has talent, but…
— He’s pretty much limited to off coverage so far in his career, but he can press well through the route… sometimes.
— He tends to lose receivers at the top of the route because he doesn’t close quickly and aggressively enough.
— His…— Doug Farrar
(@NFL_DougFarrar) November 30, 2024
Like how many times or different ways do we need to keep saying the same thing. Forbes wasn’t going to cut it. Ron sucked.
Commanders play the Titans tomorrow let’s get to 8-5 lol.
— Jamual (@LetMualTellit) November 30, 2024
The @Commanders 1st round picks under Ron Rivera:
– Chase Young (5th yr option declined, traded for a conditional 3rd)
– Jamin Davis (released)
– Jahan Dotson (traded in division with a 5th for a 3rd & two 7’s)
– Emmanuel Forbes (released today)People have no concept of the…
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) November 30, 2024
Much of the blame for the failed first round draft picks falls on Ron Rivera. The buck stopped with him.
However, he clearly put his trust in key people in the Washington scouting department
Martin Mayhew
Marty Hurney
Eric StokesThe list goes on. Just a complete failure.
— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) November 30, 2024
Literally everybody knew that Forbes was the wrong pick. There were MULTIPLE picks that made sense at 16, he wasn’t one. #RaiseHail
— Josh Taylor (@JoshTaylorFB) November 30, 2024
Cmon not Forbes pic.twitter.com/wQCVe7woz5
— Big Doug (@DougMcCrayNFL) November 30, 2024
The decision to take Forbes over Gonzalez might be the worst of the Rivera era. And that’s quite a list.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) November 30, 2024
He officially lowered the bar. Wow. https://t.co/ZcdwnpX18O
— Bleeding Burgundy & Gold (@BleedinBnG) November 30, 2024