Who Should I Start? Saquon Barkley or Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Sunday, October 26, 5:27 PM

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (groin) "seems confident" that he'll be able to play in the team's next game during Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, according to Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com. Barkley injured his groin on the final play of the third quarter during Sunday's Week 8 win over the New York Giants. He didn't return to the game, but the decision to hold him out may have been precautionary since Philadelphia led by three scores at the time. The Eagles have a Week 9 bye, so Barkley will get 15 days to rest and recover before facing the Packers. His 174 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns on Sunday will vault him back into RB1 territory going forward.

Wednesday, November 5, 6:39 PM

Washington Commanders rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt (mouth) was wearing a non-contact jersey on Wednesday and was listed as a limited practice participant after having dental work done, according to John Keim of ESPN. Croskey-Merritt should be available to play on Sunday against the visiting Detroit Lions, but the better question is whether he'll lose any playing time to Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez Jr. after stumbling the last few weeks. The 24-year-old seventh-rounder has been the team's lead back since Austin Ekeler suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 2, but Bill hasn't scored since Oct. 5 and is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry for 157 yards on 51 rushing attempts in the last four games. Expect defenses to load the box more to stop the run against Washington now, with quarterback Jayden Daniels (elbow) out for the foreseeable future. JCM is trending down as an RB3/flex play heading into this weekend.