The Washington Commanders are coming off of their first loss of the season after falling to Green Bay last Thursday night at Lambeau Field, 27-18, in a game where the Packers were consistently in control.
Though the loss was bad, the news of losing veteran running back Austin Ekeler for the rest of the season due to a torn Achilles may outweigh the disappointing performance on primetime.
Ekeler began this season as the featured back, even with the sudden emergence of seventh-round rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt
taking over training camp in Ashburn this past August. Through two games, Ekeler was outsnapping the rest of the RB room, with 69 snaps vs. 67 snaps for Croskey-Merritt and Jeremy McNichols combined. With Ekeler entering his age 30 season, many around the league expected Washington to deploy more of a committee-style gameplan, especially after trading away Brian Robinson Jr. prior to this season.
Moving forward, the Commanders will likely utilize Chris Rodriguez Jr., who has been a healthy scratch through two weeks of the regular season after making the 53-man roster post-training camp. Rodriguez brings a different style compared to JCM and McNichols. Rodriguez’s ability to run in-between the tackles and use his exceptional vision are what make him so compelling, paired with the impressive physical shape Rodriguez arrived at camp with earlier this year.
Will Bill Step Into the #1 Role?
According to Ian Rapoport from NFL Network, Jacory Croskey-Merritt is expected to become the “featured” back with Ekeler sidelined for the remainder of the 2025 season.
After Bill’s impressive week one debut where he finished with 10 rushes for 87 yards and a touchdown, fans and media alike expected an increased role in week two against Green Bay. Surprisingly, JCM finished with just four carries last Thursday, which was a shock to many…
With the news of an increased role for Bill, it will be extremely interesting to see how the offense deploys the combination of JCM, McNichols, and Rodriguez. Comparatively in week two, JCM played fewer snaps than Ekeler and McNichols and ran just nine routes compared to a total of 33 for Ekeler and McNichols. Expect McNichols to handle the bulk of receiving downs for Washington, even with JCM’s ability to pass-protect, as McNichols is arguably one of the best pass-protection backs in the league.
Washington takes on an aggressive Las Vegas Raiders front-seven next week in Landover, so expect OC Kliff Kingsbury to be RPO-heavy and utilize the running backs heavily in the passing game. Also, with Jayden Daniels status unconfirmed for week three, the rushing game could be leaned on heavily.
