NFC Notes: Emmanuel Forbes, Evan Neal, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Despite all the work teams do on draft prospects, there’s still a mystery box element until they actually get the players in their building for the end-of-spring practices. Sometimes it doesn’t take long for teams to realize they’ve made a mistake and the next few years are just painful confirmation. Other times, it’s apparent right away they have something. That seems to be how the Commanders feel right now about first-round CB Emmanuel Forbes.

“Well, I think the biggest thing in terms of just watching him move around more so than anything else, it’s what we were hoping for,” Commanders HC Ron Rivera said via USA Today’s Bryan Manning. “I mean, we’re looking for a guy that can impact the ball when it’s being thrown, when it’s in the air, and that’s who he was in college, and that’s what he’s showing us so far. So it’s been pretty exciting. We’re feeling really good about it so far.”

Forbes has been thrown right in against Washington’s talented receiving corps that features Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson and has more than held his own. 

“He’s working against some of the best route runners right now in the league, and that’s kind of neat to watch this young man grow already,” Rivera said. “So it’s been a very good offseason with him so far.”

That said, the biggest question with Forbes was whether he could hold up physically at just 166 pounds, and teams won’t put the pads on and start hitting for another couple of months. Still, so far he’s done what the team has asked him to do at a high level. 

“Obviously, there is the physical nature of the game that we’ll have to watch once we get the pads on, but as of right now, everything else he’s done, he’s done exactly what we saw,” Rivera said. “He is a ball hawk. He does time it out very well, does put himself in position.”

Cowboys

Cowboys DC Dan Quinn has been impressed by sixth-round CB Eric Scott Jr.‘s mindset through their offseason program thus far. 

“When you see a guy wanting the moment to go compete, like, you know, I’m balling my fists up and saying, ‘I ain’t leaving here,’ that’s what I’m looking for specifically for the rookies,” Quinn said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “That kind of mindset and attitude is really what it takes for a young player to assert themselves into these moments because that responsibility is really to say, ‘Hey, man, can we count on you when it’s there?’ Them learning to do that early on, that’s a big deal, knowing that like the amount of work that goes into to say, ‘I’m down for this challenge.’ I’ve seen that from Eric so far.”

Giants

Former Bengals OT Willie Anderson trained Giants RT Evan Neal in order to help him move from left tackle coming in from Alabama as a rookie.

“I’ve seen Hall of Famers go from left tackle to right tackle and get their a– whooped,” Anderson told Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post. “It’s not because they are terrible players. When you change from left to right, you change the part of your brain that commands you to be stronger on your dominant leg and your inside arm. It throws guys off because it doesn’t feel stable.”

“He was so staggered,” Anderson said of Neal. “I said, ‘Let’s try to get you comfortable — not a low stance, but a loaded stance where we can get that big body exploding but being balanced on contact.’ A lot of big, tall guys get too wide. I think he spent his whole rookie year trying to figure out how to change his dominant leg to the right side.”

Neal admitted that he felt uncomfortable in his right tackle stance.

“You’ve got to be functional in your stance and be able to move efficiently,” Neal said. “That’s what we were trying to find — a place that I’m quick out of, that’s comfortable for me, a stance that I can repeat rep after rep after rep. I’m open to change. In this league, you’ve got to be able to adapt. I’ve done a lot of things that work for me in the past. I’ve done things that haven’t worked so well. This is just another one of those things — trying something new, just seeing how I can get better.”

“He admitted that he had a rough rookie year in some spots: Name me the offensive lineman who didn’t,” Anderson added. “He has the ‘it’ factor in that he wants to figure out how to get over the hump. Every good lineman I’ve known who’s struggled but has the will to want to be good, they figure it out. He has self-pride inside him.”