When the Cleveland Browns drafted offensive lineman Drew Forbes in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL draft out of Southwest Missouri State, the coaching staff envisioned bringing in a guy who had played 35 consecutive starts and had a bulldog mentality who could come in and compete for a starting position right away.
A glance around the league, and it is quite clear that a lot of offensive linemen are taken in the later rounds of the draft. Just with the Browns alone, RG Wyatt Teller was taken in the fifth round by the Buffalo Bills before being traded to Cleveland in 2019. Last year, OT Dawand Jones was selected in the fourth round.
Forbes was a standout for Southwest Missouri, and quite a few teams had him on their draft radar. He wasn’t invited to the Combine, but he really shined on his Pro Day. His 40 time of 4.87 would have been the best reading out of all the offensive linemen at the Combine. Other drills would have placed him near the top in most categories.
While at Southwest Missouri State, he was named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference and was named to the Walter Camp, STATS, Phil Steele, Associated Press, HERO Sports, and Athlon Sports All-America teams following his senior campaign.
Named a football team captain at North County High School in Bonne Terre, Missouri, he had the distinction of being named First-Team All-Mississippi Area Red Conference as a defensive lineman and as an offensive lineman in the same season. Forbes filled out his athletic career by participating in basketball, soccer and was a member of the track team.
Forbes had visited five NFL teams during the 30-visit period: Minnesota, Green Bay, San Francisco, Cleveland, Atlanta, and the New York Jets. He liked Green Bay and Cleveland the best because growing up in rural Missouri, both cities gave off a Midwestern familiarity. These are places where their greetings begin with a “firm handshake.” If you live in this part of the country, you understand.
One might suspect that with Forbes playing for a smaller FCS school the probabilities of being an undrafted free agent would be very real. But not for him.
As Browns then-GM John Dorsey explained:
He had about 65 people at his watch party. His grandparents got to the sports bar an hour early, and now it was the beginning of the sixth round. He got a text from a scout of the Arizona Cardinals who told Forbes that he was trying to influence their draft room to take him, but they chose a receiver instead.
Coming up were Green Bay, Cleveland, and San Francisco, all teams that had expressed interest in him. Both the Packers and 49ers chose other players. Then his phone rings as the person on the other line instructs him to hold for Dorsey as the pick is announced on the TV screen. Forbes had been drafted by the Browns.
Forbes’ sister Holly had a scholarship to play basketball at Robert Morris University and now plays pro ball in Australia. His 13-year old brother Brett was playing outside. He was born with spina bifida and does not have any feeling below his knees. Forbes will tell everyone that his brother is what motivates him and that Brett doesn’t allow his disease to become an excuse in life. Brett is currently a state champion thrower in track and field.
Forbes and his wife Emily are both practicing Christians and welcomed a son recently.
Dawgs By Nature sat down with the Browns’ offensive lineman to find out what life is like competing alongside two Pro Bowlers, if there is a difference playing the right or left side of the line, and if Coach Bill Callahan really is the best offensive line coach in the league.
