What's The Austin Ekeler Injury Mean For Washington's Backfield?

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

Through close to two full games to open this season, Ekeler:

• Played 52% of Washington's offensive snaps
• Ran a route on 45% of the pass plays
• Handled 37% of the designed rush attempts
• Drew a 9.7% target share

Ekeler's absence leaves the backfield to Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Jeremy McNichols, and Chris Rodriguez.

Expect Croskey-Merritt to soak up most of Ekeler's early-down work. But he's unlikely to gain much playing time in passing situations. JCM totaled 34 catches across three college seasons, including just seven in his big 2023 campaign at New Mexico. He's catch-less on two targets through his first two NFL games.

We saw the impact that the lack of pass-catching can have on Croskey-Merritt in the Week 2 loss to the Packers. With Washington playing from behind for most of the game, JCM played just 23% of the offensive snaps, finishing with four carries and one target.

Ekeler's absence will certainly help Croskey-Merritt's role, but he still looks like a game-script-dependent fantasy play for now.

McNichols is the favorite to take over most of Ekeler's passing-down action. He notably played every snap after Ekeler went down in Week 2. We don't expect McNichols to get enough work to be a reliable fantasy option, although you can consider stashing him in deeper PPR leagues as we wait to see exactly what this backfield will look like.

Rodriguez has been a healthy scratch in Washington's first two games but figures to join the backfield committee going forward. He's an early-down back that could siphon some work from Croskey-Merritt, particularly in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Like McNichols, Rodriguez could be worth a stash. But we'd bet against him emerging as a bankable fantasy play, especially in PPR leagues.

WR Deebo Samuel could also pick up a little more rushing and short-range passing action with Ekeler out.