Chris Rodriguez or Jacory Croskey-Merritt? Week 11 Start or sit advice after Commanders RB update

Editorial Team

The Washington Commanders have a murky situation at the running back position with Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Chris Rodriguez going into Week 11.

Croskey-Merritt was expected to fully take the reins of the Commanders' backfield in the wake of the season-ending injury to Austin Ekeler, and while JCM has served as the lead back since then, he hasn't exactly gotten a monster workload.

However, Rodriguez has been creeping into the picture more in the last few weeks, which obviously threatens JCM's already shaky workload.

On Wednesday, we got an update on Rodriguez, both on his injury and Week 11 role. Here's the latest.

Chris Rodriguez injury update

Rodriguez is dealing with a shoulder injury, according to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe, but he is practicing on Wednesday.

Wolfe says that Rodriguez will play in Week 11 despite the issue, but that wasn't the only nugget he dropped.

Commanders RB update

Wolfe also adds that Rodriguez is expected to have a key role in the Commanders' backfield, which leads us to believe he's going to serve as Washington's lead back this week.

"RB Chris Rodriguez (shoulder) will play Sunday vs. Dolphins and have key role," Wolfe reported on Wednesday.

Chris Rodriguez start or sit advice

With Wolfe's report opening the door for a bigger role for Rodriguez this week, that puts him on the starting radar for Week 11.

Rodriguez has a favorable matchup against a Miami Dolphins defense ceding the 11th-most fantasy points per game to the position.

That said, Croskey-Merritt only ranks as RB31 overall as the team's lead back, so a bigger workload might not yield great results for Rodriguez.

Not to mention, we know Croskey-Merritt is still going to be involved, and the Commanders' offense will be more limited as a whole than usual because Marcus Mariota remains the starter as Jayden Daniels works his way back from injury.

With Mariota under center, scoring chances for Rodriguez may not be as plentiful as they otherwise could be with Daniels at quarterback.

And, if Washington's bad defense struggles against Miami, the Commanders might be forced to throw it more to keep up and that would be a bad game script for Rodriguez.

You're best off avoiding this situation if possible. But if you have to choose one Commanders running back, Rodriguez appears to be the better bet.

Verdict: Sit

Jacory Croskey-Merritt start or sit advice

Since his career-best game in Week 5, Croskey-Merritt ranks as RB53 overall over the last four. That's actually a worse ranking than both Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols, his backfield mates.

Based on that, we simply cannot suggest JCM as a starter under any circumstances until we see better production.