Coming into the 2025 season, the Washington Commanders never thought they’d be relying on Jacory Croskey-Merritt as RB1. A season-ending injury to Austin Ekeler changed their outlook, but now, the team may be going in a different direction.
Croskey-Merritt hasn’t been stellar in the past few weeks, and with Jayden Daniels going down with an injury of his own, the Commanders know they have nothing to lose in Week 10.
3-6 Washington Commanders Switching Things Up At RB
At least for their game against the Detroit Lions, it seems like the Commanders will be testing Chris Rodriguez as RB1. While all depth charts still have Croskey-Merritt ahead of him, it’s important to note that Rodriguez was named captain against the Lions. Washington isn’t out here naming anyone captain, so there’s a lot of importance behind that decision.
Dave Kluge wrote, “Chris Rodriguez being named a team captain for this week’s matchup probably shouldn’t be ignored. Jacory Croskey-Merritt was already a shaky start this week, and this is enough for me to flip them in my rankings.”
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The Lions have a stellar run defense, though they’re coming off a shocking loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Commanders are no strangers to having Marcus Mariota start, so it’s not like them beating the Lions would be that far-fetched a prediction. Lions fans still haven’t forgotten the playoffs last year when Daniels sent them home.
Now that Daniels isn’t playing, the run game will shine bright. Obviously, it depends on how the game is going, but the Commanders have made it clear that Rodriguez is going to outsnap Croskey-Merritt. That’s not to say JCM isn’t going to have a role on this team, but it seems like he’s had snaps taken away from him in favor of Rodriguez.
At this point in the season, Rodriguez has 39 carries for 184 yards. His 4.7 yards per carry average is even with JCM’s, though his sample size is much, much smaller. Croskey-Merritt leads the team with 94 carries for 440 yards. For what it’s worth, Rodriguez has only one fewer touchdown than JCM and he’s had 55 fewer carries.
In PFSN’s RB Impact Metric, JCM is 19th with a C+ grade. Rodriguez has yet to register on the metric due to his low volume of carries. Rodriguez made his presence felt against the Seattle Seahawks when he outran Croskey-Merritt for the first time this season. His 12 carries for 65 yards were notably more than JCM’s 12 for 38.