Seventh-round draft picks rarely develop reputations – they’re more likely to fade into obscurity. It’s not uncommon for them to fail to make the final 53-man roster, and they rarely ever earn a starting job.
The Washington Commanders hope that Jacory Croskey-Merritt is different.
“He only had the real limited number of snaps in 2024, but we felt confident with the athlete and with the skillset that he was going to bring to us and we had seen over the course of two or three seasons what he was capable of doing for us,” Commanders Assistant GM Lance Newmark said the night Croskey-Merritt was drafted.
At 5-11, 208 pounds, 24-year-old Croskey-Merritt – known as “Bill” – followed an unconventional path. He did four years at Alabama State, one at New Mexico, and one at Arizona.
Washington’s new back only got to play one game at his final school before he was ruled ineligible for the rest of the season. The NCAA found that during a season at Alabama State that he claimed he red-shirted and gave his jersey number to a teammate, the number was still registered in his name
In Croskey-Merritt’s one game with the Wildcats, ironically, against the school he’d just left, New Mexico, he carried the ball 13 times for 106 yards and a touchdown.
“My mindset was like ‘What’s next?’” Croskey-Merritt said about the premature end to his senior season. “I knew I had the talent to play at this level. I just wanted to keep working at my craft every day, going to practice, being in meetings, and lifting weights… it all paid off.”
The lack of playing time left a shadow hanging over the young back’s draft profile. He finished his career with 2,549 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 4.6 yards per carry, fairly uninspiring numbers for a six-year player.
He wouldn’t get to showcase his talents again until he was invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl, an annual All-Star game in January for NFL hopefuls.
“That’s tough, bro,” Croskey-Merritt said during an appearance on the Come On Na’ Podcast. “It was my senior year. I mean, I feel like that was gonna be one of the ones right there.”
The Shrine Bowl is where the rookie’s story started to turn from tragedy to triumph. He carried the ball 11 times for 97 yards and scored two touchdowns, for which he was rewarded with the game’s offensive MVP honor.
In an impressive showing, his sharp instincts and one-cut burst resembled Day One or Day Two picks more than a seventh-rounder.
Fitting for his journey, Croskey-Merritt still had to wait 245 picks in the Draft until he received a call from Commanders General Manager Adam Peters.
That’s when he heard the magic words, to which he repeatedly emphasized “Y’all got a good one.”
Croskey-Merritt’s role in the Commanders’ depth chart is unclear. The lack of an elite starting talent means there is room for competition – at the same time, the logjam of serviceable options, including Brian Robinson Jr., Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols, and Chris Rodriguez, means that the rookie could struggle to get onto the field.
The rookie also doesn’t fit the mold of a typical seventh-rounder. His instincts when bursting through the line, contact balance, and desire to finish runs are more in the mold of a bell cow like Robinson Jr. than a “scat back” like Ekeler.
“He’s a quick processor with adequate size and impressive cut quickness to find yards in a crowded workspace,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote about Croskey-Merritt before the Draft. “He has one-cut talent and the ability to break runs sharply across the grain when necessary. He finishes runs with purpose, too.”
As much as the Commanders’ offense impressed during their run to the NFC Championship Game a year ago, their backfield could’ve been better. Quarterback Jayden Daniels led the team with 891 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and was second with six rushing touchdowns, which played a major role in them finishing fourth in EPA per rush.
Incumbent starter Robinson Jr. led all Commanders running backs with 799 yards (57.1 per game; 4.3 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns. Ekeler, McNichols, and Rodriguez were between 173 and 367 yards and combined for 10 touchdowns.
All four running backs are entering the final years of their contract and have everything to prove – but they’re also replaceable.
Robinson Jr. is the favorite to begin the year as the starter. He rushed for 797, 733, and 799 yards in three years in the NFL, improving his season average from 3.9 to 4.1 and 4.3 yards per carry.
The recent additions of first-round selection Josh Conerly Jr. and five-time Pro Bowler Laremy Tunsil should create more holes for all running backs to take advantage of. However, there is still concern that Robinson Jr.’s consistent inability to rip off chunk plays will limit the Commanders’ ceiling.
The Alabama product was only 22nd in carries of 20+ yards (four) and 37th in yards per carry.
He averaged 43 yards per game and 3.6 yards per carry in the playoffs, a stage that the Commanders hope to reach again in 2025. He also averaged 41.3 yards per game and 3.2 yards per carry against teams with winning records.
Despite those numbers, Head Coach Dan Quinn remains confident in his abilities.
“Yeah, he looks, number one, really healthy,” Quinn said ahead of Thursday’s minicamp practice. “There was a cut, specifically yesterday, on a run where he was able to cut, plant, and downhill as fast as you could see. You feel his urgency and intensity for it.”
Proof of the team’s belief in Robinson Jr. was evident in their lack of offseason activity at the position. They chose not to draft Ohio State phenom TreVeyon Henderson, now of the New England Patriots, at the end of the first round, or put in offers for free agents such as Nick Chubb (who signed with the Houston Texans) and J.K. Dobbins (Denver Broncos).
That doesn’t mean that Croskey-Merritt’s time isn’t coming. The Commanders’ new regime has preached the importance of internal competition since they arrived and will be sure to monitor how “Bill” performs during the offseason.
“I’m happy where I ended up landing,” Croskey-Merritt said on the Come on Na’ Podcast. “It all worked out pretty fine.”
Renowned ESPN draft analyst Field Yates highlighted the Commanders’ back as one of his favorite picks of the draft, writing “[Croskey-Merritt] has a very intriguing combination of size, speed and overall footwork” who is “a moldable player for the Commanders to develop.”
