WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – When news broke that cornerback Emmanuel Forbes had been claimed by the Rams, the former Commanders teammate he would be reuniting with in Los Angeles reached out right away.

"He was excited," Forbes said of safety Kam Curl. "He called me the day that they picked me up, and he was just ready to get going."

Other than Curl, cornerback Cobie Durant and a pair of coaches he got to know during the pre-draft process last year, it's a brand-new environment for Forbes a year-and-a-half into his NFL career.

He initially entered the league as a first-round draft pick by Washington (16th overall) out of Mississippi State in 2023. In that short amount of time, he played for two different coaching staffs.

The Rams knew of Forbes and thought highly of him already, with head coach Sean McVay pointing to what Forbes had put on tape with the Commanders and from playing against them last year, as well as their pre-draft evaluation of him.

"It's a team that's bonded together, and they seem like a lot of great people and a lot of great coaches," Forbes said. "Just ready to get started with them."

Between travel and diving head-first into a new playbook, it's been a busy week for Forbes. McVay said they won't rush Forbes' Rams debut, and indicated it was unlikely that would be this Sunday against the Bills.

"It's really just getting him acclimated," McVay said, when asked what Forbes' week will look like. "He spent some time with (pass game coordinator/assistant head coach) Aubrey (Pleasant) yesterday, and so we'll just get a feel. He seems like a great young man, excited to get him in the building, but no pressure in terms of trying to rush him to get him on the field. Whenever he's ready, we'll see when that time is."

Part of that acclimation includes emphasizing Forbes playing with confidence.

"That's one thing they said they'd seen, that I wasn't playing with confidence," Forbes said. "And that's one thing I'm looking forward to, just go out here and play ball, and not worry about other things."

A fresh start this early in his NFL career is never what Forbes or any player envisions, but he's making the most of it.

"It's part of the business," Forbes said. "I wish it didn't happen like that, but it did. And like you said, I have a fresh start here and a clean slate, and I'm just ready to take advantage of it."