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6 hours ago
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The Washington Commanders may have just signaled a change in their RB pecking order.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt, "Bill," has been the starter since Austin Ekeler went down for the season with an injury.
That has left occasional work for both Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols.
For Week 10, though, something has changed.
The Commanders named Rodriguez one of their captains, a change that may mean nothing but could tell us a lot.
Local radio host Grant Paulsen thinks this points to some more Rodriguez usage:
"Chris Rodriguez was named a captain for this week. I expect to see a lot of him early on against the Lions. After running just 9 times over four games before last week, he tallied 11 rushing attempts against the Seahawks. Feels like the Commanders will be giving him more work."
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Rodriguez found the end zone late against Seattle, and he's a powerful rusher with the real potential to make a difference.
The Commanders will be looking for a spark this week. Jayden Daniels is out after dislocating his elbow, so Marcus Mariota is the starting quarterback.
JCM came with a weird amount of hype for a seventh-round rookie, but he hasn't been very effective the past few weeks after starting pretty strong.
The Commanders may have just decided it's time to give Rodriguez some love, too, and the locker room is clearly a fan of him to give him a captain nod.
Croskey-Merritt could still see plenty of work, but this is at least a nudge in the Rodriguez direction.
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