Where Should We Draft Jacory Croskey-Merritt in Fantasy Football?

Jacory Croskey-Merritt has been an offseason darling, with his training camp and preseason highlights making him a fantasy football sleeper.

His hype reached a new level on Monday as it became clear the Washington Commanders are looking to trade Brian Robinson, holding Robinson out of Monday's preseason affair as they try to get a deal done. Washington moving Robinson would help clear the path for Croskey-Merritt and remove a major obstacle to the rookie getting consistent volume. As such, it's upped Croskey-Merritt's fantasy football stock even more.

What would this backfield look like sans Robinson, and how legit is the hype around Croskey-Merritt? Let's dig in.

Commanders' RBs Without Brian Robinson

While we can't say for certain how the backfield touches would be divvied up without Robinson, we know that losing Robinson would flip this backfield on its head as there will be a lot of touches up for grabs if B-Rob is traded away.

In 2024, Robinson led Washington running backs in carries with 187. Austin Ekeler was a distant second in RB rushing attempts with 77. Jeremy McNichols (55 rushes) and Chris Rodriguez Jr. (35) were the only other backs to record a carry.

All of those backs are still on Washington's roster, with the Commanders' official depth chart ranking Ekeler, McNichols and Rodriguez -- in that order -- as the RB2 through RB4. Croskey-Merritt slots in as the RB5.

While the depth chart is an important piece of information, at this point in the year, how Washington deploys their RBs in the preseason likely matters more, and we can pull some info from Monday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals -- a game where the veteran, Ekeler, didn't play.

Both Rodriguez and Croskey-Merritt played with the starters with Rodriguez taking the first drive and Croskey-Merritt handling the second drive. McNichols mixed in with Rodriguez on the third drive and, then, played a handful of snaps the rest of the way. Rodriguez didn't play in the second half while McNichols and Croskey-Merritt played in the third quarter, with Croskey-Merritt operating as the lead back for most of the third.

Croskey-Merritt ended up notching 11 carries and 2 catches to Rodriguez's 6 rushing attempts. McNichols carried the ball three times and added one catch. Both Croskey-Merritt (46 total yards, rushing TD) and Rodriguez (62 rushing yards, TD) performed well.

We're left to guess what Monday's playing time means. Is Croskey-Merritt getting extended run a positive in the sense that Washington wanted to get a long look at how he could handle an increased workload, or does Rodriguez not playing in the second half mean he's clearly ahead of Croskey-Merritt on the depth chart? Admittedly, I don't know. I lean the latter -- at least for now -- as it makes sense to me that Rodriguez, who is entering his third campaign, would have a slight edge over Croskey-Merritt at this point in the season.

Ekeler is a safe bet to enter Week 1 as the team's preferred passing-game RB -- regardless of whether Robinson is on the roster. But if Robinson is gone, I doubt Ekeler is used as a workhorse, every-down RB. Sans Robinson, my hunch is Rodriguez and Croskey-Merritt will split early-down volume while Ekeler controls most of the passing-down snaps. Washington may want to keep it that way unless one of Croskey-Merritt or Rodriguez separates from the other.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt's 2025 Fantasy Outlook

The reason all of this is such a big deal is that Washington should be one of the league's best offenses with our Jim Sannes projecting the Commanders to score the sixth-most points in 2025.

If Robinson is dealt, whoever ends up garnering the majority of Robinson's vacated touches will have a chance to be a breakout running back in fantasy, and what makes it such an appealing situation right now is that Ekeler's ADP is RB44, Croskey-Merritt has an ADP of RB62 and Rodriguez isn't listed within the top-94 RBs, per FantasyPros' half-PPR ADP data.

There's a chance for us to get someone who is potentially the lead back on an elite offense with a late-round pick. Yes, please.

If that sounds too good to be true, it may wind up being just that.

The ADPs for all three of those backs will rise if Robinson is dealt. Croskey-Merritt has gotten a lot of helium this offseason, and the preseason game against the Bengals did little to slow that down as he housed a 27-yard touchdown run.

Assuming Robinson is out the door, Croskey-Merritt is certainly worth a late-round pick, but I wouldn't get too carried away. An old rookie who is already 24, Croskey-Merritt spent six years in college with four of those coming at Alabama State. Last year, he played in just one game with the Arizona Wildcats due to eligibility issues.

If you can nab Croskey-Merritt with one of your final picks, that makes sense to me. But if his ADP creeps into Round 8 or Round 9 (or earlier), I'd be hesitant to take him and would have more interest in the aforementioned Ekeler -- especially in PPR or half-PPR formats since we know what kind of receiving back Ekeler is -- while Rodriguez is also worth having on your radar late in drafts.

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