RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, WAS (4 Viewers)

[FarFromHome]

First drive they make just go Ekeler as deference to the vet.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anything your saying. I just never understood this idea. Im sure it happens. It just seems silly to me. You play to win the game. I get the depth chart thing. It's a clerical way to pay homage or respect to the vet. You go all off-season and then your first series is this "give it to the old guy" thing. Ha ha

 

[Ilov80s]

Didn’t Bill run back a kick or punt for a TD in the preseason? Why can’t he be up and active and partake in ST? McNichols should be the odd man out.

Probably the same reason the Lions don't have Jahmy Gibbs returning punts.

 

[GreenNGold]

Commie RB Depth Chart

https://x.com/SleeperNFL/status/1962971828676399330?t=_mol5iTu1Dcjua_3hDWvvg&s=19

RB1 Ekeler
RB2 McNichols
RB3 Rodriguez
RB4 Bill

I'm kind of surprised they would rest Bill with the starters while playing McNichols and Rodriguez in the last pre-season game if this list is to be believed. It will be interesting to see if and/or how much he will actually be used.

 

[King of the Jungle]

Commie RB Depth Chart

https://x.com/SleeperNFL/status/1962971828676399330?t=_mol5iTu1Dcjua_3hDWvvg&s=19

RB1 Ekeler
RB2 McNichols
RB3 Rodriguez
RB4 Bill

I'm kind of surprised they would rest Bill with the starters while playing McNichols and Rodriguez in the last pre-season game if this list is to be believed. It will be interesting to see if and/or how much he will actually be used.

I think he was also dealing with a minor shoulder injury at the time which may have been a factor.

 

[NajehHejan]

If Bill is a healthy scratch this Sunday, I’m going to smash my neighbor’s TV.

 

[jm192]

Commie RB Depth Chart

https://x.com/SleeperNFL/status/1962971828676399330?t=_mol5iTu1Dcjua_3hDWvvg&s=19

RB1 Ekeler
RB2 McNichols
RB3 Rodriguez
RB4 Bill

This is clearly just a ploy to motivate Tatum Bell

 

[Da Franchise]

The depth chart is absolutely meaningless.

They like him a lot but the theme song of the Commanders is “Ball is Life”. Quinn preaches it endlessly and even more so after all the turnovers in the NFCCG. Trust needs to be established so I would temper expectations for the first handful of games.

Most importantly he needs to hold onto the ball. Be reliable, be in position, don’t get Jayden blown up, and hold onto the football. He has to show that first before he gets a bunch of carries.

They want him to do it and will be thrilled if he does. They’re gonna test him out first though. He’s still a 7th round rookie and hasn’t seen live bullets yet. Just not looking sloppy is the first bar to clear and is probably more important than actual production.

He’s nowhere near my lineup this week for sure. Start some boring, dusty WR instead.

 

[(HULK)]

Commie RB Depth Chart

https://x.com/SleeperNFL/status/1962971828676399330?t=_mol5iTu1Dcjua_3hDWvvg&s=19

RB1 Ekeler
RB2 McNichols
RB3 Rodriguez
RB4 Bill

I'm kind of surprised they would rest Bill with the starters while playing McNichols and Rodriguez in the last pre-season game if this list is to be believed. It will be interesting to see if and/or how much he will actually be used.

If you believe in depth charts, then Treyveon Henderson is also 3rd string in New England.

This is 100% meaningless right now.

 

[(HULK)]

The depth chart is absolutely meaningless.

They like him a lot but the theme song of the Commanders is “Ball is Life”. Quinn preaches it endlessly and even more so after all the turnovers in the NFCCG. Trust needs to be established so I would temper expectations for the first handful of games.

Most importantly he needs to hold onto the ball. Be reliable, be in position, don’t get Jayden blown up, and hold onto the football. He has to show that first before he gets a bunch of carries.

They want him to do it and will be thrilled if he does. They’re gonna test him out first though. He’s still a 7th round rookie and hasn’t seen live bullets yet. Just not looking sloppy is the first bar to clear and is probably more important than actual production.

He’s nowhere near my lineup this week for sure. Start some boring, dusty WR instead.

Excellent post.

Bill will get touches though, and as long as he doesn't screw up big time, he'll keep getting them.

 

[FantasyGuru24]

If Bill is a healthy scratch this Sunday, I’m going to smash my neighbor’s TV.

Does he have Ekeler?

 

[Da Franchise]

The depth chart is absolutely meaningless.

They like him a lot but the theme song of the Commanders is “Ball is Life”. Quinn preaches it endlessly and even more so after all the turnovers in the NFCCG. Trust needs to be established so I would temper expectations for the first handful of games.

Most importantly he needs to hold onto the ball. Be reliable, be in position, don’t get Jayden blown up, and hold onto the football. He has to show that first before he gets a bunch of carries.

They want him to do it and will be thrilled if he does. They’re gonna test him out first though. He’s still a 7th round rookie and hasn’t seen live bullets yet. Just not looking sloppy is the first bar to clear and is probably more important than actual production.

He’s nowhere near my lineup this week for sure. Start some boring, dusty WR instead.

Excellent post.

Bill will get touches though, and as long as he doesn't screw up big time, he'll keep getting them.

Right and the other thing is, we run more hurry up offense than anyone in the league so he needs to demonstrate the ability to get lined up and know the playbook on the fly. They’re not going to overload him these first few weeks but he can earn a really valuable role in time.

 

[ConstruxBoy]

I took the bait. I drafted CMJ in the 7th round of a Gorilla draft. Hells Bells.

I took him 8.01 as my RB3 in a Big Gorilla draft last night

What the hell is a gorilla draft?

This place is gonna explode if he gets 8 carries week 1. Ha ha

My prediction:

Commanders will lead from early on. Bill will get 15 carries. He'll be somewhere around 4 ypc, but he'll break a medium long one for a TD. He'll add 2 receptions, 1 which goes nowhere, and 1 that goes for a first down. Final line: 15 carries for 80 yards, 2 catches for 11 yards, 1 rushing TD.

This place will go ape **** if that happens.

I love this place sometimes. 2 unrelated posts.

User Name checks out

 

[Ministry of Pain]

12-team PPR
Middle 8th - RB4 with a total of Flex-3, yes 3 of them after 2 RB and 2 WR
The upside selections dry up quickly.

Go Bill Go

 

[TLEF316]

Got frozen out of all the decent RB2's (took Lamar and 3 WR's early. very unlike me) and had to start taking flyers in the middle rounds. Got this kid in the 8th.

Wasn't the plan, but had to go for some upside once I drafted a couple of guys that might only be flex-worthy at best.

Why not?

 

[fatness]

Just to verify the Commanders depth chart posted above, here it is on the team website: https://www.commanders.com/news/commanders-release-2025-week-1-depth-chart

I don't think it has anything to do with who's going to play and how much on Sunday.

 

[Pots]

Got frozen out of all the decent RB2's (took Lamar and 3 WR's early. very unlike me) and had to start taking flyers in the middle rounds. Got this kid in the 8th.

Wasn't the plan, but had to go for some upside once I drafted a couple of guys that might only be flex-worthy at best.

Why not?

People are WAY overvaluing rookies this year.

 

[rockaction]

Got frozen out of all the decent RB2's (took Lamar and 3 WR's early. very unlike me) and had to start taking flyers in the middle rounds. Got this kid in the 8th.

Wasn't the plan, but had to go for some upside once I drafted a couple of guys that might only be flex-worthy at best.

Why not?

People are WAY overvaluing rookies this year.

I don't think so, actually. I think the NFL has changed to where they're not bringing along the superior talent slowly. They're only cost-controlled for so long and the talent demands that the mistakes of youth are weighed against the strategic advantage of deploying the superior talent. Therefore, fantasy has to adjust. The guys winning the best ball tournaments and the analysts that are good enough to hang with anybody are advocating to draft more rookies than you're likely drafting. That's the way it is.

Especially in twelve-team leagues and leagues where the pool of players remains deep and not rostered. Not so much in sixteen-team leagues, but where there are replacement points on the wire, why hold guys with low ceilings on your bench? You want guys that at least have unknown potential to win your leagues through their superlative talents and scoring. As Scott Barrett of Fantasy Points (in an article where he cites Adam Harstad of FootballGuys and says Adam basically taught him this concept) the goal is not to be consistently right about all the players but to be spectacularly right about two to three of them. And if you know a guy's ceiling and it's mid, you don't want it on your bench starting around, say, the eleventh round or so. You want a guy that can shoot the moon. And those guys often come in the form of a bouncing baby rookie.

 

[Football Jones]

All my thoughts about JCM have been from a dynasty perspective. Caution in straight redraft leagues is definitely warranted.

Bill isn’t going to get the benefit of the doubt as a 7th round pick. He may very well have to earn the right to be their feature back via regular season games as opposed to a day-1 or day-2 pick, who typically gets gifted the starting job (more or less).

There’s no way I’d start JCM week 1 unless there’s direct evidence he’s been annointed the starter.

 

[Marauder]

All my thoughts about JCM have been from a dynasty perspective. Caution in straight redraft leagues is definitely warranted.

Bill isn’t going to get the benefit of the doubt as a 7th round pick. He may very well have to earn the right to be their feature back via regular season games as opposed to a day-1 or day-2 pick, who typically gets gifted the starting job (more or less).

There’s no way I’d start JCM week 1 unless there’s direct evidence he’s been annointed the starter.

That's the same as me. I own JCM in 6 dynasty leagues where I drafted him late in rookie drafts and I'm not starting him anywhere this week.

Funny, I did 8 redraft drafts over the past two weeks and I didn't take JCM in any, his price was just a round or two too high, but I ended up taking CRod in 7 of them because he was so cheap. I'm ok no matter what happens.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Just to verify the Commanders depth chart posted above, here it is on the team website: https://www.commanders.com/news/commanders-release-2025-week-1-depth-chart

I don't think it has anything to do with who's going to play and how much on Sunday.

Sure hope not because I’ve now invested in JCM 3x.

At least now I can blame @rockaction if my seasons go to hell because of it, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[ffmail4me]

Patience grasshoppers, Mr. Bill's time is coming, and its going to be glorious.

 

[GreenNGold]

He was 2nd (behind Ekeler) in QB-RB practice today, for what that is worth.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

He was 2nd (behind Ekeler) in QB-RB practice today, for what that is worth.

That’s the rotation I expect.

 

[ffmail4me]

He was 2nd (behind Ekeler) in QB-RB practice today, for what that is worth.

That’s the rotation I expect.

Me too and there were a bunch of games were both Ekler and Robinson both had double digit points. I think both will be good flex starters with Bill having even greater upside as he takes over the backfield IMO.

 

[barackdhouse]

I took the bait. I drafted CMJ in the 7th round of a Gorilla draft. Hells Bells.

I took him 8.01 as my RB3 in a Big Gorilla draft last night

What the hell is a gorilla draft?

It's a $350 entry big national redraft contest. $1 million grand prize. It used to go by a different name with different backers. I took 3rd place overall in the thing in 2019 and won $15k. I usually take at least a dozen shots at it each year.

 

[3 hour lunch]

His o/u on Underdog is currently 24.5 yards rushing. Pretty good long shot at a TD as well

 

[barackdhouse]

Was available in just one of my Big Gorilla waiver runs last night and went for 739/1000. I bid somewhere in the mid 500s and was only 3rd highest.

Was available in two of my dynasty squads on waivers and went for 970/1000 and 1000/1000. I think it was the same guy that won him for 970 that also put in a bid of 970 in the other league but 1000 got her done. This is FFPC and there is no first come first serve waivers, you can only pick up FAs with minimum bids of $1. They will not be able to pick up another single player until the May rookie draft, other than thru trade. But they're punting on 2025 anyway so whatever.

 

[VaTerp]

Interesting...

Kliff Kingsbury on the attentinon Croskey-Merrit has received: "It's been interesting. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for his journey no doubt. ... We'll see how it all goes but it's a big hype train for old Bill."

https://x.com/john_keim/status/1963635277122965795

 

[rockaction]

Interesting...

Kliff Kingsbury on the attentinon Croskey-Merrit has received: "It's been interesting. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for his journey no doubt. ... We'll see how it all goes but it's a big hype train for old Bill."

https://x.com/john_keim/status/1963635277122965795

Parsing that one will give his fantasy GMs total fits. Donovan Edwards is on the practice squad, fellas! Maybe a speculative add?

 

[ffmail4me]

Interesting...

Kliff Kingsbury on the attentinon Croskey-Merrit has received: "It's been interesting. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for his journey no doubt. ... We'll see how it all goes but it's a big hype train for old Bill."

https://x.com/john_keim/status/1963635277122965795

WTF does that mean???

 

[houston]

Will they keep all 4 RBs active on gameday?

 

[VaTerp]

Interesting...

Kliff Kingsbury on the attentinon Croskey-Merrit has received: "It's been interesting. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for his journey no doubt. ... We'll see how it all goes but it's a big hype train for old Bill."

https://x.com/john_keim/status/1963635277122965795

WTF does that mean???

Who really knows....It's a bit cryptic. Sounds to me like they like Bill but they also like the other RBs. The hype that he is going to just take over the lead role is a bit unrealistic at the moment.

Will they keep all 4 RBs active on gameday?

Last year, they typically only had 3 active.

Ekeler will be active as long as he's healthy. McNichols and CRod both play special teams so I see at least one of them being active every week.

The coaches have mentioned CRod's potential role in short yardage and goaline so its hard to see him being inactive. But I also think they really value McNichols on special teams.

IDK. As I've stated before, I really like Bill from a real life standpoint. From an FF perspective I believe he's being overhyped as I don't know how consistent his role will be.

 

[King of the Jungle]

Interesting...

Kliff Kingsbury on the attentinon Croskey-Merrit has received: "It's been interesting. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for his journey no doubt. ... We'll see how it all goes but it's a big hype train for old Bill."

https://x.com/john_keim/status/1963635277122965795

WTF does that mean???

Who really knows....It's a bit cryptic. Sounds to me like they like Bill but they also like the other RBs. The hype that he is going to just take over the lead role is a bit unrealistic at the moment.

Will they keep all 4 RBs active on gameday?

Last year, they typically only had 3 active.

Ekeler will be active as long as he's healthy. McNichols and CRod both play special teams so I see at least one of them being active every week.

The coaches have mentioned CRod's potential role in short yardage and goaline so its hard to see him being inactive. But I also think they really value McNichols on special teams.

IDK. As I've stated before, I really like Bill from a real life standpoint. From an FF perspective I believe he's being overhyped as I don't know how consistent his role will be.

Your avatar and your post are not on the same page here.

 

[barackdhouse]

that quote is edited out of context. if you see the entire clip he is very enthusiastic about him.

 

[hooptd]

So let me understand... they trade away there starting RB of the last few years and plan on going with that guys back ups, Before Bill?maybe... just maybe, the coaches are toying with folks knowing they have something in Bill. Going to be difficult to trust the coaching staff going forward if that isn't the case

 

[rockaction]

that quote is edited out of context. if you see the entire clip he is very enthusiastic about him.

I saw the clip and didn't take that away at all. I thought you could take it that he knew about fantasy and how batshit crazy people are and it amused him. I mean, some of the younger guys know. It's all over the place. Fantasy drives media coverage now. I didn't get surefire enthusiasm. I think there were a couple of different ways you could take that.

Personally, I think either Bill or Rodriguez doesn't dress. Four RBs is awfully tough.

I hope he gets a bunch of carries for y'all. I've got my own Tuten in Jax that stems from Bill to worry about with a similar dilemma of four backs for three spots. None of those Jax RBs play special teams.