Most of Week 2 of the regular season is still ahead of us, but there’s already one injury that will have a huge fantasy football impact for the rest of the season. On Thursday Night Football, the Commanders lost Austin Ekeler, and that will open up huge playing time in their backfield for Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jacory Croskey-Merritt.
Let’s take a look at the latest on Ekeler’s injury and how the Commanders’ backfield will look moving forward. Since Washington is typically very effective running the ball, Rodriguez could be one of the top waiver wire pickups of the season, depending on the size of the role he steps into.
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Austin Ekeler Injury Update
Ekeler led the Commanders’ backfield, playing 47% of the snaps in Week 1 and taking all the work in the first quarter of both games. He had a team-high eight carries and tied for the team lead with 17 rushing yards against the Packers in Week 2. He also caught two of his four targets for seven yards.
In the fourth quarter, though, Ekeler was running a route when he suffered the dreaded “non-contact injury,” collapsing to the ground and grabbing the back of his leg. On Saturday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed that Ekeler did tear his Achilles and will miss the rest of the season.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt as the RB1?
Without Ekeler, Commanders rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt will step into a much larger role as the team’s lead running back. The seventh-round pick has quickly become a fan favorite and he climbed the depth chart so effectively that the team traded Brian Robinson Jr. to the 49ers since it was so confident in “Bill” playing a large role.
In Week 1, he looked ready for the workload, playing 47% of snaps and taking 50% of the team’s RB carries on his way to 82 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. He was held in check by the Packers and the game script in Week 2, getting 17 yards on his four carries and not catching his only target.
Croskey-Merritt will likely take most of the early-down work in Washington, but he hasn’t shown anything yet as a receiving back, which could lead to the Commanders still using other options in the rotation.
Even after Ekeler left the game on Thursday, Jeremy McNichols stepped in on passing downs since the team doesn’t seem to trust Bill in pass protection just yet.
A role for Rodriguez
Chris Rodriguez Jr. has been a healthy scratch each of the first two weeks of the season, but Ekeler’s injury could open up a path for playing time for the third-year back from Kentucky.
Rodriguez scored two touchdowns last year and ran for 173 yards on his 35 carries. He got a little more work with 247 yards on 51 carries as a rookie in 2023. He had not been very involved in the receiving game in his first two seasons, but he did work with private receivers coach Drew Lieberman in the offseason, who has also worked with Brandon Aiyuk and Chase Brown.
Rodriguez has flashed upside when given the chance and looked very promising in training camp and preseason. Ekeler’s injury should provide him a chance to get involved going forward, and it could be the chance he needs to either become the team’s primary receiving back or at least carve out a slice of the timeshare.
The Bottom Line
For season-long leagues, Croskey-Merritt is already on a team in just about all formats, but Rodriguez is on the waiver wire in almost every league. If you can grab Rodriguez coming out of Week 2, he has a chance to earn enough playing time to be a viable flex play by the time we get to bye weeks.
Meanwhile, Croskey-Merritt will be an RB2 in most matchups going forward, with the potential to emerge as a full-time feature back if he can clean up his pass blocking and receiving.
In Week 3, the Commanders are home against the Raiders, and Croskey-Merritt, Rodriguez and even McNichols could be good DFS fantasy value plays, so stay tuned as salaries come out and we work our way closer to that contest.
