Who Should I Start? Chris Rodriguez Jr. or Tahj Brooks

Wednesday, November 5, 12:11 AM

Washington Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. had his best game of the season in Sunday night's blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks, handling 12 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown. Rodriguez scored his second touchdown of the season, while the 12 carries and 65 yards were both the second-highest totals of his three-year career. The 25-year-old saw the same number of carries as rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt and could be working his way back into a timeshare on early downs, with the rookie struggling on the ground of late. Rodriguez is a physical, bruising back that will get the yardage that is blocked for him and adds a few more after contact as he's always falling forward. The Washington offense will be without star quarterback Jayden Daniels (elbow) for the foreseeable future, but Marcus Mariota is capable of running the same style of offense. Rodriguez offers waiver wire value in deeper leagues headed into Week 10.

Saturday, September 13, 3:20 PM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Tahj Brooks didn't log an offensive snap in the Week 1 win over the Browns. Most assumed the rookie would have at least a small role in the offense. However, that didn't happen in the AFC North clash with Cleveland, with Samaje Perine getting 13 snaps and Chase Brown leading the way with 39. Without question, Brown was expected to get most of the work out of the backfield for the Bengals this season. That likely won't change unless he goes down with an injury. Brooks should get some snaps moving forward, but he has a long way to go before earning a spot in redraft lineups, including for the Week 2 meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars. On the other hand, he's at least worth stashing on dynasty rosters.