Hogs Haven
Adam Peters’ retool of Washington’s offensive line has been widely discussed this offseason, as the addition of Laremy Tunsil and Josh Conerly, along with the transition of Brandon Coleman to guard, represent a significant upgrade to the protection of franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels. Less discussed is how these athletic additions enable Kliff Kingsbury and Anthony Lynn to execute their preferred run schemes and their commitment to improving the run game this season. This may seem like an odd goal considering the Commanders offense ranked third in rushing in 2024 and did not spend significant resources in either free agency or the draft to upgrade the running back room this offseason. Adam Peters re-signed Jeremy McNichols on a minimum contract and tendered restricted free agent Chris Rodriguez while drafting Bill Merritt in the 7th round of a deep running back class.
However, the trade of last year’s starting running back, Brian Robinson, signals the coaching staff wants the running back room to maximize the blocking afforded by their revamped offensive line and recently extended John Bates. Brian Robinson was first on the team in rushing attempts last year with 187, and a number of those carries will be distributed across last year’s returning players and roster additions. So which player will lead the Washington Commanders in rushing this season?
While many decry fantasy football as irrelevant to actual football games, at its heart fantasy football analysts work to project statistics and production based on changing team rosters and coordinators. It would seem beneficial to include their insight in any evaluation of projected stats, so I will be using ESPN Fantasy Football to guide our look at Washington’s potential rushing leader in 2025. ESPN projected stats will be listed next to each player’s name reviewed below:
Readers will note the headline specifically says “player” instead of “running back.” The reason is no conversation of Washington’s rushing attack is complete without discussing their quarterback. While the rushing total looks good, I don’t believe the coaching staff would be happy with this number of attempts. Jayden recorded one more attempt than this last year, and I think the goal is to reduce the number in 2025 by leaning on the running back room. As one of his best assets, they still want Daniels to utilize his legs but may visualize his number of attempts reduced to a Josh Allen range (102 carries in 2024). Jayden averaged 6.0 yards per attempt last season, so this reduced number would still put him right around 600 yards for the season.
The preseason hype is in full swing, and the expectations for Bill Merritt’s rookie season keep growing following Brian Robinson’s departure from the team. Not surprisingly, these numbers seem lofty to me for a college player with only limited college production and almost no experience in the passing game. I expect Bill to be worked in slowly as...
