Washington Commanders’ seventh-round rookie Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt has been a hot topic on Twitter for the past three weeks. He has been lighting up training camp, taking many reps with the ones. This has led many to push him as a deep sleeper with the potential to play valuable snaps within this high-powered offense.
Croskey-Merritt’s hype train has only magnified tenfold within the past few days. It all started with speculation that the Commanders are looking to move on from their top back, Brian Robinson. This would only be good for Croskey-Merritt, as his path to touches becomes easier. He capitalized on this opportunity, scoring a 27-yard touchdown in the first quarter of their preseason game vs. the Bengals.
Croskey-Merritt did not fall to the seventh round because of a poor season last year…
Croskey-Merritt fell because he wasn’t even allowed to play! Outside of one game at Arizona and the Shrine Bowl, NFL teams didn’t get to see much out of him in his final season in college. In the Shrine Bowl, he was the MVP as he took 11 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns.
Croskey-Merritt is not a typical seventh-rounder by just his college circumstances, however. He is also unique when it comes to coachspeak.
It is not normal for coaches to talk like this about seventh-round rookies! The Washington coaches clearly like Croskey-Merritt. This, combined with beat reporters talking up his play, may indicate that he could be one of the rare seventh-rounder rookies early on.
Washington’s offense lit the league on fire in 2024. They were fifth in the NFL in points per game, averaging 28.5. Since then, they have only gotten better.
The Commanders acquired star left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
Jayden Daniels gets another season to mature and get better.
Players are getting more familiar in their second year under Kliff Kingsbury.
The one question is Terry McLaurin, with his pending trade request. All signs point to him coming back; however, with Jayden Daniels even saying, “He’ll be coming through that door soon…”
Needless to say, if Croskey-Merritt has a role in this offense that moves the ball well and scores lots of points, he will be a part of that. That was the case on Monday with his 27-yard touchdown run.
Brian Robinson averaged only 10 fantasy points per game last year. Which is not very good. He still had eight touchdowns and 799 yards in his 14 games of work. Robinson wasn’t efficient last year, and this impacted his numbers negatively.
Croskey-Merritt, on the other hand, seems to be a better fit for Kingsbury’s scheme. He excels in finding open holes and in the screen game that Kingsbury loves to run. If he can get Robinson’s vacant touches, he will be a great value.
Croskey-Merritt’s story is one of the most interesting this offseason. This has led to his Twitter hype train being fairly extreme, with a lot of it being warranted. Many want to calm down the hype, as he is still fifth on the depth chart and was a late draft pick. I find myself somewhere in the middle. I am optimistic that Bill could play and be valuable, but I won’t truly believe it until I see it.
I will be rooting for Croskey-Merritt, although largely because I picked him up in my fantasy league a month ago.
Croskey-Merritt’s fanbase is growing by the day, and he certainly deserves this. He got screwed over by the NCAA and still was able to make a name for himself in the NFL.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
