When an NFL franchise misses on a first-round draft pick, the pain usually lasts three to four years. You watch the player struggle, you stomach the dead cap space, and eventually, the front office cuts its losses and moves on. But when a team misses on a first-round pick while simultaneously passing on a generational talent at the exact same position, the sting lingers for a decade.
For the Washington Commanders, the ghost of the 2023 NFL Draft still haunts the secondary every single Sunday.
The decision by former head coach Ron Rivera to select Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes at No. 16 overall—leaving Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez on the board for the New England Patriots at No. 17—remains one of the most glaring personnel blunders in recent franchise history. Three years later, the diverging paths of these two cornerbacks perfectly illustrate why Washington is still scrambling to find a true lockdown defender on the perimeter.
The Fork in the Road
Entering the 2023 draft, the board fell perfectly for Washington. The team desperately needed a perimeter anchor to combat the high-octane passing attacks in the NFC East. When the Commanders went on the clock at 16, they had their choice of top-tier cornerbacks.
Christian Gonzalez was sitting right there. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he possessed prototypical boundary corner size, fluid hips, and elite track speed. He was widely regarded as the most complete defensive back in the class.
Instead, Rivera’s regime gambled on the unprecedented. They selected Forbes, a 166-pound ballhawk whose collegiate tape was undeniable—six pick-sixes in the SEC is no fluke—but whose frame raised massive red flags for the physical demands of the professional game. The rationale at the time was that Washington needed a turnover-producing machine, someone who could instantly flip the field.
The Patriots sprinted the card to the podium at 17 to take Gonzalez.
The Diverging Paths
You don’t need a deep dive into the analytics to see how this played out, but the raw data from the past three seasons tells a devastating story for the DMV faithful.
While Washington spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons trying to protect Forbes from physical mismatch nightmares against bigger NFL receivers, Gonzalez was busy establishing himself as one of the premier shutdown corners in football.
| Player | 2024 Season Accolades | 2025 Season Highlights | Current Status |
| Christian Gonzalez | AP All-Pro Second Team | Pro Bowler, Game-sealing INT in AFC Championship | Super Bowl LX Starter (Patriots) |
| Emmanuel Forbes | 6 Games Played (1 Start) for WAS | 17 Games Played, 3 INTs | Traded/Cut, Resurfaced with LA Rams |
By the middle of the 2024 season, the Forbes experiment in Washington was effectively over. After appearing in just six games with a single start in his sophomore campaign, the Commanders had to pull the plug, officially cutting their losses on a first-round investment before his second year even ended. Forbes eventually found his footing with the Los Angeles Rams last season in a different scheme, starting 14 games and grabbing three interceptions—proving he belongs in the league, but confirming he was never the essential piece Washington drafted him to be.
Meanwhile, up in Foxborough, Gonzalez has become an absolute force multiplier.
In 2024, Gonzalez earned AP All-Pro Second Team honors. In 2025, he took it a step further, making the Pro Bowl and leading the Patriots’ defense to Super Bowl LX. Washington fans watched in agony as Gonzalez recorded the game-sealing interception in the 2025 AFC Championship against the Denver Broncos, a play that showcased the exact combination of length, instincts, and physicality that the Commanders’ secondary so desperately lacks.
The Lingering Pain in DC
The real damage of the Forbes-over-Gonzalez decision isn’t just the wasted draft capital; it’s the ripple effect it has had on Washington’s roster construction ever since.
Because Washington missed on its premium swing at cornerback in 2023, the front office has been forced to constantly patch the secondary with mid-level free agents, desperation trades, and day-two draft capital. The Commanders could’ve had a cost-controlled, All-Pro talent like Gonzalez to lock one side of the field through 2027. Instead, General Manager Adam Peters has had to exhaust consecutive second-round picks just to find stability, drafting Mike Sainristil in 2024 and Trey Amos in 2025.
The desperation even led to a disastrous mid-season trade of Marshon Lattimore in 2024. Washington shipped three 2025 draft picks (a third-, fourth-, and sixth-round pick) to the New Orleans Saints for Lattimore. That gamble blew up spectacularly. Lattimore struggled with regression, looked a step slow in coverage, and ultimately tore his ACL in Week 9 of the 2025 season. He was unceremoniously released this past offseason, costing the franchise valuable draft capital for just 11 underwhelming games.
On the free-agent side, the team has relied on a carousel of veteran plug-ins. This offseason the Commanders have brought in Amik Robertson. Most recently, they’ve added 31-year-old journeyman Ahkello Witherspoon for the 2026 campaign. They are even reportedly eyeing reclamation projects like Trevon Diggs on the post-draft market. All avenues are stopgap measures to mask the glaring hole left by the 2023 draft.
When you play in a division featuring A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and CeeDee Lamb, you need size and discipline on the perimeter. Gonzalez was custom-built to match up with the heavyweights of the NFC East. Forbes, despite his undeniable ball skills and eventual resurgence out West, was a scheme-specific gamble that Washington couldn’t afford at No. 16.
For Washington, the truth is hard to swallow. The Commanders are still hurting at cornerback today because they outwitted themselves three years ago. Until Washington finds its own version of Christian Gonzalez, the ghost of the 2023 draft will continue to shadow this defense.
