Croskey-Merritt mostly made good on the promise he showed last summer in training camp, where the hot-motor, big-play rookie usurped incumbent Brian Robinson by the end of August. Robinson was not a good starter, but it still speaks volumes for a seventh-round pick like Croskey-Merritt to rapidly secure the coaching staff's favor over a returning veteran starter (who subsequently was traded to San Francisco). Croskey-Merritt reliably created big plays in college at New Mexico and then Arizona, and as a rookie he proved he has the wheels to offer some of the same at the NFL level, breaking off two carries over 40 yards. The challenge for Croskey-Merritt is that he needs to round out his game to project soundly as a starter. When he can't find the big play, he too often goes down with nothing to show on the carry, bouncing around for openings that aren't always there instead of making the most of limited space and pushing the pile forward. Croskey-Merritt also needs to hold on to the ball after fumbling four times in 2025 -- a mostly unacceptable figure over only 184 touches. If Croskey-Merritt can avoid the dud plays, hold on to the ball better and earn his coaches' trust on passing downs, there's no obvious reason why he wouldn't be Washington's lead runner. The team has free-agent signing Rachaad White and Jeremy McNichols to handle passing downs, with sixth-round rookie Kaytron Allen also in the mix for a job, but Chris Rodriguez's departure to Jacksonville could free up more goal-line carries and other power rushing work for Croskey-Merritt
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! Commanders 1. Rare back-to-back road games to start the season. The Commanders have benefited from starting the season at home for the last few years. Since 2020, they have had a home opener five times and won four of them, the most recent being their 21-6 victory over the New York Giants . This season, not only will the Commanders kick things off on the road, but they’ll also be away from Northwest Stadium in Week 2 as well. It’s rare for Washington to start the season with back-to-back road matchups. It’s only happened three times in the last 43 years, with the last time coming in 2012 during Robert Griffin III ’s rookie year. The other two occasions in recent memory were in 2001 during Marty Schottenheimer’s first season as the franchise’s head coach and in 1982, when Washington won its first Super Bowl. The Commanders will face two of the better teams in the division for those matchups. They’ll open the season against the Philadelphia Eagles for the third time since 2019 and then travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys . Both teams are particularly tough to beat on the road. The Eagles have not lost a Week 1 home opener since 2010, while the Cowboys are 31-18-1 at AT&T Stadium since 2020. However, it would provide positive momentum for the Commanders if they managed to get a 2-0 start against two division rivals. Heavy.com Finding unheralded running backs who can cut it in the NFL has become a happy habit for the Washington Commanders , who “really like” a free-agent addition with the “explosive” talent to challenge last year’s late-round draft find Jacory Croskey-Merritt for carries this season. Undrafted backfield threat Robert Henry Jr. has the Commanders “intrigued,” according to ESPN’s John Keim . He explained on The John Keim Report how Henry is “going to be one to watch in training camp. To what degree? I don’t know. I know there’s some people here are intrigued by him because he had a game against Texas A&M in college where he ran for 177 yards, made guys miss. Like that stuff opens eyes. So like, hey, let’s see him here. He’s one of the undrafted guys that I think will be one to watch.” Bleeding Green Nation What an absolute dump. Know what’s worse than a dilapidated stadium in the early afternoon? A dilapidated stadium at night. The Commanders play in the middle of nowhere and it’s hard to get both into and out of the stadium grounds. A quick day trip for a game like this makes sense if you’re on one of those large fan-centric buses, but with a trip of roughly two-and-a-half hours before even taking traffic into consideration, those are much more palatable for 1 p.m. games rather than prime-time ones. Oh, yeah, Northwest Stadium has the worst sight lines of any NFL home, too. Hard pass! Blogging the Boys The Cowboys get off to a strong NFC East start by winning two games in a row in the division. The Cowboys offense at home will be too much for the Commanders defense. We’ll also get a second look at how a Christian Parker defense deals with a mobile quarterback. Who knows if this game will mean anything to either franchise at this point in the season? We might see a lot of backups. Or, it may mean everything to one or both of them. We’re taking the view the Cowboys have locked in their playoff position and rest some starters. Commanders win. Cowboys loss: 10-7 record Big Blue View One question: Will Jayden Daniels be healthy? That really is THE question for this game, and I think we have to assume that he will be. Scary Terry might finally start to slow down this year, but the duo of Luke McCaffrey and Antonio Williams (2026 3rd, Clemson) could pick up the slack. I would also expect the Dan Quinn to have his rebuilt defense playing well by this point [... truncated ...]
Washington Commanders second-year running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt (also known as Bill) came into his rookie campaign in D.C. as a sexy sleeper at the position in 2025, and his path to regular playing time in his first year in the NFL was wide open when veteran Austin Ekeler tore his Achilles early on. The 25-year-old ended up leading the team with 175 carries for 805 rushing yards (4.6 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns in 17 games (seven starts). He didn't contribute much in the passing game, though, with only nine receptions on 13 targets for 68 yards, and he fumbled four times (two lost). JCM was the RB29 in half-PPR scoring, which has to be considered a success after Washington took him in the seventh round in 2025. The 5-foot-11, 208-pounder from New Mexico is a big-bodied, big-play back whose dynasty stock is on the rise going into his sophomore season. However, to take the next step, he'll need to improve as a pass-catcher. If he cannot make strides out wide, the Commanders have both Rachaad White and Jeremy McNichols to contribute in the passing game. With a clear path to RB1 duties, Croskey-Merritt is a dynasty riser as RotoBaller's RB42, and he's considered an RB3/flex in redraft leagues with at least the team's early down role in his grasp
Washington Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt remains atop the depth chart following the 2026 NFL Draft. There was plenty of chatter that Washington might spend a premium pick on a running back, but that never came to fruition. Instead, they waited until the back half of Day 3, selecting Penn State's Kaytron Allen with the 187th overall pick in the sixth round. That's not exactly a big move, and Allen is unlikely to threaten Croskey-Merritt's role within the backfield. To this point, Rachaad White remains the biggest competition for Croskey-Merritt, but even then, it doesn't seem like he's an enormous threat. In all likelihood, Croskey-Merritt will get the bulk of the early-down carries after posting 805 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns as a rookie last year. Meanwhile, White will get more involved on passing downs, plus as a change-of-pace back when Croskey-Merritt needs a breather on early downs. That sentiment is reflected in RotoBaller's latest dynasty rankings, which have Croskey-Merritt slotted in as the overall RB44
Washington Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt was one of the most fun stories heading into the 2025 season, and through the first month of his rookie campaign, the man known simply as "Bill" looked to be making good on all the preseason hype. Playing behind an above-average offensive line, Croskey-Merritt was able to churn out chunk plays at a league-leading level, averaging 11.6 fantasy points per game through Week 5 despite minimal usage in the passing game. Unfortunately, the big plays eventually dried up, and Croskey-Merritt finished the year as RB31, working in almost a true 50/50 split with Chris Rodriguez Jr. by the end of the season. The Commanders have since replaced Rodriguez with Rachaad White, which could be viewed as a win for Croskey-Merritt managers, as White's greatest contributions have come catching the ball, a market that Croskey-Merritt was never going to own. However, Washington is one of the teams picking in the top 10 of the upcoming NFL Draft that has been tied to Notre Dame prospect Jeremiyah Love. Should he become their pick on Day 1, Croskey-Merritt would be relegated to little more than change-of-pace duty. If the Commanders opt to go in a different direction, or if Love has already been selected by the time they're on the clock, Croskey-Merritt, who is currently RotoBaller's dynasty RB44, could still provide value as a low-end RB2 or flex play
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