Why Commanders are using Chris Rodriguez Jr., not Jacory Croskey-Merritt at RB

It seemed so obvious.

Austin Ekeler out for the season had to mean Jacory 'Bill' Croskey-Merritt would be the lead running back for the Washington Commanders.

Well, maybe not.

The opening drive of Week 3 for the Commanders didn't feature any JCM. Instead, Chris Rodriguez Jr. got four carries (and Marcus Mariota capped it off with a rushing TD).

Rodriguez was a healthy scratch the first two weeks.

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Why is Chris Rodriguez playing over Jacory Croskey-Merritt?

The summary here: No one knows.

Rodriguez didn't play in either of the first two weeks.

The Commanders had Ekeler, JCM and Jeremy McNichols all active over Rodriguez for two weeks.

Now, Rodriguez is getting the early work.

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Croskey-Merritt was getting less than half the snaps with Ekeler healthy, and maybe his workload won't change even without Ekeler.

It's definitely an early Week 3 surprise.

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