Who Should I Start? James Conner or Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Saturday, September 13, 9:41 AM

Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner salvaged his fantasy week against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1 with a four-yard receiving touchdown in the second quarter. Outside of that, he saw 12 carries for only 39 yards while Trey Benson took eight carries for 69 yards. We may have finally hit the timeline where Benson takes more and more touches away from Conner. The good news, for both backs, is that they're going up against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. They just gave up 143 yards to Travis Etienne and 200 rushing yards overall. So, even though Benson will likely get some more opportunities, Conner remains an RB2 given that he sticks as the number-one guy in the backfield.

Thursday, September 18, 1:07 PM

Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said the challenge for rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt will be "playing without the ball." "Every time he's touched it, good things happen," but Kingsbury stressed that pass protection or just running his routes properly is a "big deal." However, the OC said he's "impressed by his work ethic." Washington's top pass-catching back, veteran Austin Ekeler, is out for the year after tearing his Achilles in the Week 2 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Croskey-Merritt has averaged an impressive 7.1 yards per carry on his 14 rushing attempts in his first two NFL games, but he's failed to reel in his two pass-game targets, and it sounds like he has work to do before being trusted in obvious passing situations going forward. Chris Rodriguez Jr. will have a role with Ekeler out, but it might be Jeremy McNichols who gets the first shot in passing situations, starting in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders.