Jacory Croskey-Merritt authored one of the more improbable rookie stories in recent memory, going from the very last running back drafted to a genuine fantasy sensation almost overnight. Those highs, however, came with some very long stretches of nothing in between. The Washington Commanders reshaped their backfield this offseason, adding competition at every turn. Should fantasy football managers trust Croskey-Merritt to hold down a featured role in 2026?
Should You Draft Jacory Croskey-Merritt in Fantasy Football?
Croskey-Merritt’s path to relevance is one of the best stories in the league. He was the 245th overall pick in 2025, the very last running back selected in the entire draft. He arrived in Washington after a winding college career that took him through Alabama State, New Mexico, and Arizona. Fans fell for him immediately, nickname and all. If you are not familiar, Croskey-Merritt goes by “Bill,” a childhood nickname earned because his shaved head once resembled the cartoon character Little Bill.
The on-field production was legitimately good in spots. Bill rushed for 804 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie, the latter figure leading all first-year backs. He runs with real juice, pairing a strong 4.6 yards per carry with a seventh-place finish in the league in evaded tackles per touch. There is genuine playmaking ability here.
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Dig a layer deeper, though, and the profile thins out fast. For all those evaded tackles, JCM did surprisingly little after making defenders miss, generating just 3.09 yards created per touch, which ranked 35th. More damaging is his near-total absence from the passing game. A 3.0% target share is about as close to zero as it gets for a starting-caliber back.
His rookie season also exposed how hard it was for him to hold a job. Croskey-Merritt was handed the first crack at the lead role once Austin Ekeler went down, and he could not keep it. He lost the gig to Chris Rodriguez, and the only reason he got it back was a stroke of pure luck, as Rodriguez came down with an illness right before their Week 17 game.
Croskey-Merritt’s Redraft Fantasy Football Value
Here is the stat that captures his rookie year better than any other. Croskey-Merritt broke out in Week 5 with a monster 27.0 fantasy points, and then he failed to top 5.1 points in any of the next eight games. That is two full months of nothing. He resurfaced for 15.6 points in Week 15 and 22.5 in Week 17, but that means from Weeks 6 through 17, JCM delivered a grand total of two usable fantasy weeks. Two.
The backfield around him is considerably more crowded now. Washington let Ekeler and Rodriguez walk, then brought in Rachaad White and Jerome Ford while spending a sixth-round pick on rookie Kaytron Allen.
This is a coaching staff that has shown no real allegiance to any back. Should Croskey-Merritt struggle the way he did for long stretches last season, he could lose the job entirely all over again.
The projected roles are why I am lukewarm. In theory, Croskey-Merritt is the lead runner and primary goal-line back, with White operating as the receiving option in the role Ekeler filled back in 2024. The trouble is that I am very much in on White this year, and I expect him to siphon off more early-down and goal-line work than people anticipate. Ford is mostly a depth and special teams body, but Allen could carve out a role if he outperforms his draft slot.
So where does that leave Croskey-Merritt? He is shaping up as a two-down back who does not catch passes and handles most, but not all, of the goal-line work. How exactly is he supposed to score fantasy points? He profiles as a touchdown-or-bust RB2 in the best case, and more realistically a touchdown-or-bust RB3. That is simply not an archetype I enjoy investing in.
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To be clear, this is not a major disagreement on price. His ADP is RB40, and I have him slightly higher at RB38, so I am not calling him a wild overdraft. I just would rather roster his teammate. Given the choice between these two backs in the same offense, White is the one I want.
Croskey-Merritt’s Dynasty Fantasy Football Value
Dynasty is where I get off the train completely. We have Croskey-Merritt at RB36 in our consensus dynasty rankings, a notch higher than his redraft value because the raw upside genuinely exists. A back who can rip off explosive runs and find the end zone will always carry a little long-term appeal.
I am not buying it, and the reasons are straightforward. Croskey-Merritt is a seventh-round pick who is already 25 years old, which is neither the age nor the pedigree you want to bet on for a multi-year asset. Backs with this profile tend to have very short shelf lives once the situation turns against them.
Honestly, there is a better chance Bill is out of the league in two years than there is that he develops into a reliable weekly starter.
The magic of his rookie season was a blast to watch, but it was built on a tiny handful of games. I could not be less interested in Croskey-Merritt as a dynasty investment. Whether you play redraft, dynasty, or anything in between, he is a sell.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.