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State of the Roster 2026 Update: Commanders Offense
Running Back
On the roster: Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White, Jeremy McNichols, Jerome Ford
Short term need: Medium
Long term need: Medium/High
Analysis: One of the surprises of this offseason to me was that the Commanders allowed Chris Rodriguez to leave. He was a restricted free agent, so they could easily have tendered him at a relatively cheap rate and retained him as part of their rotation for 2026. Instead, they opted against tendering him and he immediately went and signed
with the Jaguars on a two-year, $10 million contract.
That surprised me because entering the offseason, I said I would be fine with a running back room of Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Chris Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols, which is what the team ended the season with. Rodriguez and Croskey-Merritt could split the bulk of the carries and provide a nice one-two punch with Rodriguez providing the thump and Croskey-Merritt the explosiveness. McNichols, meanwhile, would retain his spot as the third down back with the capability to fill in other spots when needed. It wasn’t necessarily the most spectacular plan, but they all had clear roles and could play well enough to sustain the offense.
But with Rodriguez gone, that left the Commanders with just Jacory Croskey-Merritt on the roster entering free agency and the running back spot became a big need. Washington went on to fill out the room with a few solid veteran options. Rachaad White and Jerome Ford were signed and Jeremy McNichols re-signed too, but all signed just one-year deals and none of them cost more than $2 million. There’s no long term option there and frankly, on those contracts, none of them are guaranteed to make the initial 53-man roster come the start of the regular season.
Now, if they had a game tomorrow, they could get by with that group. Croskey-Merritt would have to become the lead back and White would be the third down back, with McNichols and Ford filling in when needed. That could be ok for some games but there’s risk there. Croskey-Merritt is unproven as a workhorse back and he struggled when elevated into that role last season. He started the year off strong as the change of pace back but when he was handed a larger role he started hunting for big plays instead of just taking what was given and ultimately ended up missing out on yards. He did come back stronger later in the year but it would be tough to rely on him as your only option as the workhorse back.
White and McNichols I think are very similar. Both are strong pass protectors, which is an underrated part of playing the running back position. Both are good pass catchers out of the backfield too, so they both fill that third down back role nicely. Both are also capable of taking some of the workload and filling in as a runner when needed, but at this point in their respective careers, it feels like both are third down backs more than anything else.
So it feels to me that the team is light at running back. They could make this current room work and I think if there is a position to go cheap and try to mix in some different guys it is the running back position. With a strong offensive line, a quarterback that is a threat to keep the ball and run himself, and a renewed commitment to running the ball from a new offensive coordinator, the run game should improve regardless of who is carrying the ball. But if the team wants to double down on that commitment, I think they will be looking to find another back.
That could well be with the seventh overall pick if Jeremiyah Love is there. I’ve typically been against drafting a running back that high but in a draft class that is lacking elite talent, Love could be in play. It could also be another mid-late route draft pick. I’m sure they will add some undrafted free agents into the mix for training camp too. There are some veteran options still available and others that could be cut after the draft that could improve the room as well. However it comes, I think they will be adding at least one more back to this group at some point this offseason.
With four backs on the roster, the team could make it work so it’s not a desperate need, but they are a bit imbalanced and at risk of it turning into a big need with one injury. So I’m setting the need level at medium in the short term, and medium/high in the long term as only Croskey-Merritt is under contract beyond 2026. Drafting another running back, especially one as high as Love, would fill that need and bring it down to low in both the short and long term categories.
Commanders Wire
Adam Schefter provides clarification on Jeremiyah Love and Commanders
Schefter told Sheehan, “This is, let me spell it out…connecting the dots, okay? Jeremiyah Love, in my mind, is going to be a top ten pick. I don’t believe a month out, ‘don’t think, not reporting’, (I) don’t believe or think that he (Love) will go 4. I’m skeptical he will go 5. I don’t think he’ll go 6.”
“I think Washington, and let me be very clear, I’ve never spoken to Washington about Jeremiyah Love, never once, okay? But I’ve spoken to a lot of people about Jeremiyah Love and the kind of player he is. I also know that Washington has been in the running back market. Ah, they’ve been in the running back market. We’ve got a great player. There’s a real chance he may get past 4 or 5, and 6. If that real great player gets past 4 (through 6), wouldn’t it make sense to take him at 7?”
Schefter was not ‘reporting’ Monday nor Tuesday regarding a Commanders consensus. Sorry, he was only providing ‘his opinion’ of where things in his mind seem to be heading. That’s all it was, Commanders fans.
There is an important distinction needing to be maintained between ‘thinking’ and ‘reporting.’ Glad to see Schefter keeping that distinction front and center with his followers.
Commanders Wire
Commanders bring back a 2025 training camp offensive tackle
The Washington Commanders signed an offensive tackle, [Foster Sarell], on Tuesday.
In fact, a few of you will recall his name, seeing that he has been with the Commanders previously.
Just about one year ago (March 18, 2025), the Commanders signed Sarell to a one-year $1.1M contract. Sarell (6-6, 322) was with the team through training camp and the preseason. He was then released on August 26, as NFL teams were trimming their rosters to the 53-man limit.
From there, Sarell was signed by the Chargers, released, brought back, and played in six regular-season games for Los Angeles last season. Playing in 41 regular-season games, Sarell has started four games over his NFL career, dating from the 2022-2025 seasons.
Turning 28 in August, general manager Adam Peters likes Sarell enough that he is willing to give him another opportunity to make the team.
A to Z Sports
The Commanders should draft another EDGE for the future
The Commanders only have two players under contract after the season, and it’s Oweh and Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who probably won’t make the roster cuts after the new additions.
The Commanders could very well have just one player for the long haul at EDGE, and that’s why I could see them drafting another with the No. 7 overall pick, or at least later in the draft for more depth.
Sure, the Commanders could just re-sign Chaisson or Omenihu after the season, but they still wouldn’t have much long-term security, and not another sure starter opposite of Oweh. We don’t know the team’s plans with Dorance Armstrong after a significant knee injury last year, and how much that impacts him getting a new contract.
Deatrich Wise and Drake Jackson are easily replaceable after the season as well, but they can also be replaced in the NFL Draft if the opportunity presents itself. Don’t rule the Commanders out on taking David Bailey or Rueben Bain Jr. with the No. 7 overall pick if one falls, despite a lot of the projections going towards Jeremiyah Love and Carnell Tate now.
If they pass on one in the first round, I’d love to see them target Dani Dennis-Sutton or Gabe Jacas with the No. 71 overall pick, and the quality at EDGE drops significantly on Day Three of the draft. Yes, the Commanders did address the position, but they could be right back in the same situation after the season if they don’t add more long-term security.
Commanders.com
5 things to know about Nick Cross
He’s been one of the most productive safeties since 2024.
Cross had to wait his turn to become a starter on the Colts’ defense. It wasn’t until Lou Anarumo took over as their defensive coordinator in 2024 that Cross was elevated to the lineup as their strong safety.
Once he got there, he cemented his status as one of the league’s better young players at the position. Since 2024, Cross has recorded 266 tackles — the second-most in that span for a safety behind Budda Baker — to go with four interceptions.
“He’s been a force,” Anarumo told Colts.com. “We’re counting on him to be that way and can continue to be disruptive when we blitz him … So, we like what he’s about, we like where he’s heading and we’re going to continue to use him in that manner.”
Cross was the second-most utilized safety last season with 1,111 snaps, and the Colts put him all over the field, from free safety to in the box and the slot. He had the third-most solo tackles at his position, and he generated the second-most pressures behind Nick Emmanwori.
Commanders.com
Tim Settle looking to be ‘destructive’ for Commanders’ defense
Settle left the Commanders looking for more opportunity back in 2022. He was a key piece of the rotation at defensive line, but the team had four first-round picks up front, including Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. He spent two seasons with the Buffalo Bills and another two with the Houston Texans, where he was finally part of a starting lineup with 23 starts in 29 games. It was his most successful stretch since the 2019-20 season with Washington, as he recorded six sacks with 46 tackles.
Opportunity is calling Settle’s name again, only this time it’s back where he began his NFL career. The Commanders had one of the league’s worst defenses in 2025, particularly against the run. They ranked 30th in yards allowed per game, 27th in yards per attempt and 26th in rushing first downs allowed per game. Like the end of the 2024 season, it remains one of the Commanders’ top priorities to shore up their defensive front, as general manager Adam Peters said he wants the team to get younger and faster across the board on that side of the ball.
Settle might not be faster, but he’s certainly younger — he’s still only 28 despite having eight years of experience — and was one of the better run stoppers on the market this offseason. He helped the Texans rank sixth in run-stop win rate last year, and he’s coming off his highest-graded season, according to Pro Football Focus.
And this time around with Washington, he expects to be a bigger part of the team’s plans.
“I’m coming to control the middle of the field,” Settle said. “I think I’m gonna be used in a really good way, and I’m gonna be used definitely to help the defense, just being able to penetrate and do what I’ve been doing in the past in my career.”
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Blogging the Boys
How Cowboys’ last 3 drafts are hurting the roster
Here’s what the four curves look like:
The first thing that stands out is that we see actual evidence for the “second-year jump”. The difference between the rookie season curve and the 2nd season curve is 0.3 eAV points at the end of the draft, climbs to 0.5 eAV points in the bottom of the fourth round, increases to 0.8 eAV at the top of the second round, and maxes out at +1.7 eAV points for the first pick. That may not sound like much, but for the 104th pick (where the blue line hits 2.0 eAV in the chart above), the jump from 2.0 to 2.6 eAV points is an increase of +26%, for the 254th pick (0.6 to 0.9) that’s a jump of 47%, and even for the 12th pick (from 5.4 to 6.5), that’s still an improvement of 20%.
We can also see that the 3rd-season eAV is almost identical to the second-season eAV, while the 4th season dips slightly, most likely due to injuries and more players getting released/cut.
With the eAV now established, we can begin to compare Cowboys draft classes against expectations. I’ll illustrate what that looks like with the 2022 Cowboys draft class.
Overall, this is quite a strong draft class. Despite picking “only” 24th, the Cowboys rank 7th overall in the NFL with their +30.7 eAV surplus points. Standouts DaRon Bland and Tyler Smith rank as the 18th and 21st best players in the 2022 draft class across the league in terms of eAV surplus. Jake Ferguson ranks 31st overall and is the second-ranked TE behind Trey McBride. Damone Clark may be a surprise for some, but he was a full-time starter in 2023, earning eight AV points in just that one season.
A disappointment relative to eAV is Sam Williams, but he had to sit out a complete season in 2024 and struggled to regain his form in 2025. Matt Waletzko saw spot duty over three seasons and didn’t get a single point of AV. Devin Harper was waived after just one season, but the eAV counter ticks mercilessly for four years, even if the player didn’t play four seasons.
Now that we’ve established what an individual draft class looks like, we can look at how all Cowboys draft classes since 2013 compare to the rest of the NFL.
[T]he Cowboys draft success (No. 3 overall since 2013!) is driven largely by their first-round picks. Those first-round picks account for 158.8 points of the entire 211.5 eAV surplus, the highest value in the league and 75% of the total surplus. Add in Dak Prescott with a 49.3 eAV surplus and we’re at 208.1, which means the entire Cowboys draft “success” is driven by their first-round picks plus Dak Prescott. Remove the underperformers among the first-rounders and you’re left with these players driving the entire draft success of the Cowboys:
when Prescott got injured in 2024, the Cowboys issues became plain for everyone to see. Mismanaged contract negotiations and two successive uninspiring drafts (2023 & 2024) left the Cowboys offense with few weapons and a shaky offensive line, and a defense full of holes that wasn’t held together by Dan Quinn anymore, and the bottom fell out on the 2024 season. Add another botched draft in 2025 along with another mismanaged contract negotiation that saw the Cowboys lose their best defender, and it’s no surprise the Cowboys strung together two losing seasons.
The Cowboys consider themselves a draft-and-develop team, except that they haven’t been drafting well for quite a while, which makes their stubborn refusal to participate in free agency even more baffling.
The front office is sitting on a decaying roster of their own making and is refusing to make any changes to the way they operate. Is anybody in the building looking at their abysmal draft record over the last three seasons and challenging the process? Is anybody challenging their personnel acquisition strategy? No way, Jose. The Cowboys are comfortable with the way things are, way too comfortable.
Nobody holds the Cowboys front office accountable. They are not held accountable if their boards are wrong, or if the players that they like can’t play, or if they don’t want to pay the players they like. Outside of the coaches, nobody’s job is in jeopardy. And if you occasionally get lucky in the draft, you are considered an expert talent evaluator.
The Cowboys have always been a stars & scrubs team, so that isn’t really new. But if you struggle to draft starter-level players outside of the first round, you’re hollowing out your roster. Fail to fill those gaps in free agency, and you will fail to beat teams with a better roster quality, and these are teams you regularly meet in the playoffs.
NFL.com
Brian Schottenheimer: Cowboys can ‘draft natural and draft pure’ thanks to offseason moves
“I think we did a really good job of setting ourselves up to be able to draft natural and draft pure, which is what you want to do,” he said Tuesday from the University of Texas pro day, via the team’s official website. “You don’t want to have to be forced to reach for a player, that’s when you make mistakes.”
On offense, the Cowboys franchise tagged George Pickens, re-signed Javonte Williams and added some depth to the offensive line. The defense underwent significant, needed changes with the trade for Rashan Gary and the signings of defensive backs Cobie Durant, Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke, among other moves.
The defensive side of the ball remains the focus heading into the draft. Upgrading the defense, one of the worst units in football last season, should remain the goal in Dallas as the Cowboys own two first-round picks (Nos. 12 and 20) in April’s draft.
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ESPN
Bengals, 41-year-old QB Joe Flacco agree on 1-year deal
The 41-year-old quarterback has agreed to a one-year deal to stay with the Cincinnati Bengals, his agent, Joe Linta, told ESPN. Sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler the contract is for $6 million, but could be worth up to $9 million with incentives.
Flacco began last season as the Cleveland Browns’ top quarterback. But after four starts, he was benched in favor of Cleveland rookie Dillon Gabriel.
Around the same time, the Bengals needed a starting quarterback following Joe Burrow’s turf toe injury and Jake Browning’s struggles. Cincinnati sent the Browns a 2026 fifth-round pick in exchange for Flacco and a 2026 sixth-round pick. Browning signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this offseason.
Flacco was more than serviceable for the Bengals. He made six starts in Burrow’s absence. In nine total appearances with the Bengals, Flacco completed 61.7% of his passes for 1,664 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. Playing with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, Flacco threw for a career-high 470 yards in a loss to the Chicago Bears.
NFL.com
Buccaneers LB Lavonte David announces retirement following 14 seasons, 1,714 tackles
The 36-year-old David, a one-time Super Bowl winner, All-Pro and Pro Bowl linebacker, announced his retirement Tuesday after 14 seasons in the NFL.
“Fourteen years of playing football, to come to this moment, I never thought I’d be in this situation,” David said at his retirement news conference. “I never thought I’d be here. Growing up, playing the game of football at 6 years old, I always did it for the fun of it, did it for the love of it. Never cared about what came with it just because it was built in me a different way. … My 14-year career has come to an end. I feel it’s time to move on and find a different path. … At the end of the day, I’ll always be a Buccaneer. As always, it’s Bucs for life.”
David started all 215 games he played for the Bucs since he was selected in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Just how long David would keep playing has long been an offseason quandary. In the spring of 2025, he inked his third straight one-year deal with Tampa Bay.
Pro Football Talk
Editorial: NFL will try to strongarm the players union into an 18-game season in 2027
Here was the key question, from Mike Jones of The Athletic: “How quickly do you think that these owners are going to ask you guys to come to the table?”
“Uh, now, because they can ask, right?” Tretter said. “They could call me tomorrow and ask. The answer is no. We’re not in a position to do that. . . . We’re not willing to do that. In the end, those are decisions that will be made by our players, our executive committee, our board. They just hired the director. I need to come in and make sure that this organization stabilizes. I think David [White] did a great job. Kudos to David White for stepping in in a really difficult time and stabilizing the organization. I need to continue that, and I need to start building us forward. And the time for stabilizing has really ended. We’ve stabilized now. We need to start building up to do the things we need to do.
“That’s what I’m tasked with. It’s looking forward to doing that. . . . But we’re not going to start [negotiating] until we’re ready to start, because if we start before we’re ready, we’re not going to succeed in our job. . . . I’m sure they’ll ask. I’m sure they’ll poke around. That’s not surprising. They’ve been kind of poking around publicly, at least for a while, but that’s fine. It’s their job to ask. Our job is to be ready. Our job is to be prepared, and our job is to succeed. That’s what we’re focused on doing.”
[T]he NFL is surely ready to move. The NFL has enjoyed stability during the union’s extended run of chaos. The NFL, made up of some of the richest and most powerful businesspeople in the world, has a plan. That plan is soon going to be put into motion. And Tretter will have to decide whether he’s willing to take more now or less later.
As PFT reported the day after Super Bowl LX, there’s still no firm date for Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta. It’s unheard of to be within two years of a Super Bowl with no specific date for it. The convention center needs to be booked for a full week of media events, the NFL Experience, and other activities. Thousands of hotel rooms must be reserved.
They’ve waited, as we’ve reported, to pick a specific date for the Super Bowl to be played in little more than 22 months because of the possibility that, come 2027, the regular season will be extended to 18 games.
So, yes, it’s coming. Tretter can try to refuse to engage. That won’t stop the NFL from making the union an offer it can’t refuse that entails 18 games in 2027, because refusal will result in lesser terms and lesser terms and lesser terms and ultimately a set of terms the players will accept as they stand on the brink of missing game checks.
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ESPN
NFL to consider rule proposals in case of ref work stoppage
The changes would only apply if the NFL hires replacement officials, a process it began preparing for earlier this month by reaching out to mostly small-college officiating supervisors in an effort to develop a list of 150 replacement candidates. The NFLRA’s current CBA is set to expire May 31.
If a work stoppage were to continue into the regular season, the new rules would create a type of centralized officiating that the league hopes would help avert the chaos encountered in 2012, when replacement officials worked the first three weeks of the season. While each game would still be officiated from the field, staff members in the league’s Art McNally GameDay Central command center in New York would be permitted to weigh in on a wide variety of called and uncalled penalties and would take on additional roles following the two-minute warning and in overtime.
NFL owners will discuss and possibly vote on the changes next week at their annual meeting in Phoenix. All rule changes require approval from at least 24 of the league’s 32 teams.
According to verbiage the NFL released Tuesday, league staff members could alert a replacement referee if they see clear and obvious evidence of an uncalled foul for roughing the passer, intentional grounding or an act that would normally lead to disqualification.
Those staff members would also be permitted to alert replacement referees that a flag shouldn’t have been thrown if there is clear and obvious video evidence that “at least one element of the foul called is not present,” according to the verbiage. Fouls eligible for this alert include: twisting, pulling, or turning the face mask; roughing the passer; intentional grounding; horse-collar tackles; illegal contact; pass interference; and disqualification.
In 2019, the NFL conducted a one-year experiment that subjected pass interference to replay review. The effort bogged down amid a muddled standard for overturning an on-field decision. In Tuesday’s proposal, the competition committee limited league staff member’s involvement only to circumstances where “there was inadvertent tangling of feet when both players were playing the ball or neither player was playing the ball.”
In addition, after the two-minute warning or in overtime, the list of called or uncalled penalties that league staff members could provide referees with would expand to include unsportsmanlike conduct based on punching or kicking at an opponent. During kicks, league staff members could also consult on the leverage and leaping rules.
Finally, throughout a game, league staff members could assist on discerning whether a foul should be classified as roughing or running into the kicker.
The competition committee also proposed:
- A rule that, regardless of whether there are replacement officials, allows the referee to consult with league staff members on whether a penalized act was “flagrant” and should result in a disqualification. It also would allow league staff members to disqualify a player for a flagrant act even if it wasn’t flagged on the field. A penalty would then be assessed as well.
- Allowing teams to declare an onside kick at any time in a game, regardless of score. Currently, teams can only use the onside kick if they are trailing.
- Closing a loophole that incentivized teams to intentionally put kickoffs out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line, because of a penalty on the opponent.
- A modification of kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team.
- Adjusting roster cut-down dates and procedures to account for international games in the first week of the season.
- Previously, the Cleveland Browns had proposed allowing teams to trade draft picks up to five years in the future, up from the current level of three.
[There are no proposals this year to ban the ‘Tush Push”]
