Who Should I Start? Tahj Brooks or Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Saturday, September 6, 11:53 AM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Tahj Brooks was selected in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft after a lengthy collegiate career at Texas Tech. While he didn't do much in his two preseason contests, he reportedly looked good throughout training camp. With that in mind, Chase Brown is the undisputed No. 1 option out of the backfield. Samaje Perine is back in the mix after signing a two-year deal in the offseason. That leaves little room for Brooks, who will likely get the residual scraps left over by Brown and Perine in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns. That arrangement will likely extend moving forward. Unfortunately, that won't him a viable option in any format on Sunday and beyond, so he shouldn't be starting in any fantasy lineup.

Wednesday, September 10, 2:49 PM

Washington Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt could be in line for more touches in Week 2 against the Packers after an exciting debut. His 82 rushing yards were the most among the rookie running backs in Week 1, and he had the highest PFF rushing grade in the league. The seventh rounder was hyper-efficient on his touches, with a 50% success rate as a runner and ran for over 10 yards on a league high 30% of his touches. His role in the offense should expand a bit as the season goes along, but it will likely look pretty similar to Week 1. Austin Ekeler will continue to handle the majority of the pass-down reps, and a third back in either Jeremy McNichols or Chris Rodriguez Jr., will have complementary roles as well. Croskey-Merritt likely won't catch many passes and will need to find the end zone to have an impactful game for fantasy, putting him in FLEX territory for now.