Insightful look at the Commanders' 2025 running back room, including trending late-round rookie and usage speculation

I'm here to sort out the running back room and really decipher what to expect. The offseason hype of Bill Croskey-Merritt has been unlike anything we've seen in Washington outside of Jayden Daniels. The fantasy football community has blown the expectations out of the water. But is it accurate?

Maybe we need to pump the brakes for the early part of the season. Chris Rodriguez Jr is the experienced back and has shown in every opportunity that he's gotten that he can produce when he's on the field. Everybody thinks he's just a power back, but he has surprising speed that he showed off in the preseason. On his long run against the Cincinnati Bengals, Rodriguez Jr. hit 20.37 MPH.

Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will likely roll out Rodriguez Jr. as the lead back, and that's the right call. Last year, Rodriguez Jr. ranked 2nd in PFF's elusive rating and 5th in yards after contact among 91 running backs with 30+ carries on the season.

That doesn't mean that Croskey-Merritt won't be a huge factor, though. He can very well be the change-of-pace RB2 who rotates in, and earns more reps and snap counts as the season progresses, and his comfort level in the offense grows.

The Commanders haven't had a home run threat at RB like Croskey-Merritt in a long time, and he will be too dangerous to keep off the field. It might not be immediate, but his impact will come before you know it. His legs are fresh after sitting out his final college season due to NCAA eligibility issues, and he has something to prove.

Croskey-Merritt had the 2nd most missed tackles during the preseason, with seven on only 18 attempts. His production from college and playing style as an elusive back with speed and power have already translated in a small sample, and he can be a major boost to the Commanders' backfield. Croskey-Merritt was 6th in the FBS in 2023 with 6.3 yards per carry, and 8th in yards after contact with 3.98 yards.

Don't sleep on Austin Ekeler, however, and Quinn stated in the quote at the beginning of the article that he will be the third-down back. Ekeler showed last season that he's a big-time receiving option for the offense, and finished fifth on the team in receiving yards, which was more than Dyami Brown and Luke McCaffrey. This doesn't mean that he won't be on the field for those early downs, but he's locked in as the third-down option.

The Commanders have a full running back room now, even after trading Brian Robinson Jr, and each back complements the other and has their own specialties that the others don't. This allows Kingsbury to do whatever he wants with the running game this season, including rotating backs and using them in the receiving game as well. Expect a major jump in production in the running game this season.