Daily Slop – 1 Jun 25 – Bill Croskey-Merritt, Chris Rodriguez, Jeremy McNichols: which running back(s) make Commanders roster in ‘25?

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, and a sprinkling of other stuff

Commanders links

Articles

Riggo’s Rag

Chris Rodriguez Jr. must defy the odds again to make Commanders’ roster

Rodriguez was in a similar position entering last season, and even initially didn’t make Washington’s 53-man roster as the team placed him on the practice squad. However, as Robinson and Ekeler both missed a handful of games due to injuries, he was elevated for much of the second half of the campaign. He also accumulated offensive snaps in seven different contests.

His best performance was against the Tennessee Titans in Week 13, rushing for 94 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Rodriguez also found the end zone in Washington’s playoff-sealing Week 17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. But opportunities were limited.

In addition to Robinson and Ekeler, Rodriguez was also slotted behind veteran Jeremy McNichols on Washington’s depth chart for most of 2024. He also re-signed with the Commanders for 2025, which will only make the third-year pro’s work that much harder.

Only one of McNichols, Croskey-Merritt, and Rodriguez will likely make Washington’s opening 53-man roster.

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Commanders Wire

Which UDFA is a player to watch for Commanders?

After the 2025 NFL draft, the Commanders signed former Florida State cornerback Fentrell Cypress II as an undrafted free agent.

CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso thinks that could be a sneaky good move for Washington.

Fentrell Cypress II is a man-coverage specialist with the athletic attributes to play that role in the NFL. While not ridiculously long, the former Florida State star is 6-foot-1 and 181 pounds with 4.43-second speed in the 40-yard dash, a 38-inch vertical jump and tremendous agility illustrated by his 6.84-second time in the three-cone drill at the Seminole pro day.

Sometimes that natural talent is all a cornerback needs to impress coaches enough to go from undrafted to on the roster in Year 1.

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Hogs Haven

Running Late: The Success of Mason-Brennan RBs

Roughly two-thirds of Mason Brennan candidates failed to meet their preseason Hype! with a third of those flaming out spectacularly.

As the first Mason-Brennan back of the Peters’ era, some may contend Bill is a different animal, but the history of late round backs can’t be denied. For every Alfred Morris there are multiple players that never log a regular season stat. As mentioned in the [linked] Chris Rodriguez article, just about every season there does seem to be one late round running back that surprises the league so fans may continue to hope that is JCM this year.

Setting the bar too high makes it almost impossible for the nominee to have any chance of clearing it.

How are we doing with tempering expectations for Jacory Croskey-Merritt so far?

Based on a recent interview with the 7th Round back on a podcast quoted by SI… not well.

Making the team, going out there and producing, helping the team win a Super Bowl—that’s my rookie goal,” he said. “I feel like if we go out there and do that, then the other stuff will come. Rookie Player of the Year and all the other stuff, you feel me? So I feel like just going out there and winning and helping, and just letting the other goals fall into place.”

Bill’s not interested in managing the Hype! any more than the fans. So for now, we can sit back and enjoy the preseason excitement and wait to see if he adds yet another rating to the Hype! Meter. Rookie Player of the Year.

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Podcasts & videos

Locked on Commanders: Deatrich Wise Jr. Talks Commanders FIT, LEADERSHIP & Run Defense FIX

This is a very good 20-minute one-on-one interview with Washington’s DE Deatrich Wise — a great chance to learn about the former Patriot and current Commander (and brother of former Washington player, Daniel Wise)

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NFC East links

Pro Football Focus

2025 NFL Roster Rankings: Strengths, weaknesses and X-factors for every starting lineup

1. Philadelphia Eagles

Biggest strength in 2024: Defense

So much went right for the Eagles during their incredible championship run. Chief among their accomplishments is that their defense led the NFL in PFF overall grade and PFF coverage grade while placing second in PFF pass-rush grade and PFF run-defense grade. Philadelphia lost a handful of key contributors this offseason but should still boast an elite defensive unit under Vic Fangio in 2025.

Biggest weakness in 2024: Passing game

Though their defense and running game were elite, the Eagles’ passing attack wasn’t as consistent as it could’ve been last season. Much of that burden falls on quarterback Jalen Hurts, who ranked 23rd among qualifiers in PFF passing grade despite an outstanding final two games of the season. The biggest drop-off came in the dropback game, where Hurts posted a 64.6 non-play-action PFF passing grade, tied for 27th in the NFL.

X-factor for 2025: EDGE Nolan Smith

Rookie to watch: LB Jihaad Campbell

11. Washington Commanders

Biggest strength in 2024: Jayden Daniels

Daniels was the centerpiece of Washington’s miraculous run to the NFC Championship game last season after going second overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Daniels’ dynamic dual-threat ability allowed him to rank fifth among qualified quarterbacks with a 90.6 PFF overall grade. He posted a league-best 1.5% turnover-worthy play rate and led all quarterbacks with 52 missed tackles forced.

Biggest weakness in 2024: Defensive line

The Commanders’ defensive line ranked 31st in the NFL in PFF grade last season, largely because of poor run defense (39.1 PFF run-defense grade). Edge defender Dorance Armstrong was the only qualified player within the unit who earned at least a 65.0 PFF overall grade. Washington didn’t make a ton of defensive line acquisitions, either, so the unit could struggle once again when facing the league’s elite offensive lines, namely Philadelphia’s.

X-factor for 2025: CB Marshon Lattimore

Rookie to watch: T Josh Conerly Jr.

15. Dallas Cowboys

Biggest strength in 2024: Pass rush

Dallas ranked fourth in the NFL in PFF pass-rush grade despite Micah Parsons missing four games due to injury. Of course, Parsons did his part when healthy, posting an elite 91.6 PFF pass-rush grade that ranked third among qualified edge defenders. The other big contributor was defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, who placed among the league’s top interior defenders with 60 pressures and a 78.5 PFF pass-rush grade.

Biggest weakness in 2024: Run defense

Dallas’ performance in run defense was among the NFL’s worst. Only Carolina posted a lower PFF run-defense grade. Linebacker Eric Kendricks and safety Malik Hooker were the Cowboys’ only qualified players to earn at least a 70.0 PFF run-defense grade. New defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus needs to make the team’s run defense a priority if this team is going to compete with the likes of Philadelphia and Washington.

X-factor for 2025: QB Dak Prescott

Rookie to watch: G Tyler Booker

27. New York Giants

Biggest strength in 2024: Defensive line

Led by standouts Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, the Giants’ defensive line ranked 11th in the NFL in PFF pass-rush grade last season. They likely would’ve placed higher had Lawrence’s season not been cut short in Week 13 due to injury. The additions of talented rookies Abdul Carter and Darius Alexander could make this one of the most dangerous units in the NFL in 2025.

Biggest weakness in 2024: Quarterback

The Giants’ passing game simply couldn’t function consistently in 2024 with Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Tommy Devito and Tim Boyle throwing passes. The team ranked 30th in the NFL in PFF passing grade while accumulating just 15 big-time throws and 24 turnover-worthy plays. Luckily, they’ve overhauled their quarterback room by adding veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, along with first-round pick Jaxson Dart, who led the FBS with a 91.9 PFF passing grade in 2024

X-factor for 2025: S Jevon Holland

Rookie to watch: EDGE Abdul Carter

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Over the Cap

Eagles Do Something Different with a Rookie Contract

[T]he Eagles guaranteed [6th round draft pick Cameron] Williams $475,000 of his salary, bringing his total guarantee to $676,568 rather than the $201,568 that would normally come from the slot. The guarantee is split as $375,000 in 2025 and $125,000 in 2026. There is also a small salary increase in the first two years of the contract.

In return for the salary guarantee the Eagles have a split salary in the 3rd year of the contract, which is not typical of drafted player contracts. A split salary brings a player’s salary down if he lands on a reserve list.

Why would the Eagles want to do this? You can’t rework a rookie’s contract until year 4 so if a player has an injury history you cant modify the deal to account for that. Philly has often done this with their players in year 4 if the situation calls for it so it would make sense if they are attempting to get it covered for year 3 as well by including it in their rookie deals.

The additional guarantee to the Eagles is almost meaningless. A $375,000 guarantee in 2025 is not much higher than a Practice Squad salary so most of the salary is covered. Plus the odds are against cutting a 6th round pick that early, and even if they did the guarantee would then transfer. A $125K guarantee in 2026 is really only meaningful if he is out of the league next year.

There is more Williams could have pushed for. He could have maxed out his contract value in 2026 and 2027 the way the picks in the first three rounds maximize their contract value. He could have pushed all of the guarantee to 2026 or 2027 which would have been more meaningful since those are years more likely to be released and potentially not land back on an active roster.

A pretty minor development but considering how many teams are giving UDFA’s big P5 bonuses this could end up being a strategy other teams besides the Eagles use moving forward to try to get more injury protection on the back end of a rookie contract.

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Bleeding Green Nation

Philadelphia Eagles will open significant salary cap space this weekend

Cap space from the Darius Slay and James Bradberry cuts will be available by Monday morning.

Darius Slay has a whopping $22.75 million in dead money incurred from his release, with $9.44 million slated to be paid in 2025 and another $13.26 million in 2026. James Bradberry has $10.81 million in dead money remaining, with $3.1 million set to be paid this season and another $7.72 million in 2026. That’s a total of nearly $21 million in dead cap that must be paid next season.

This is simply the cost of doing business for the Eagles, who are one of the most aggressive teams in the NFL at deferring salary cap to future years using signing bonuses, option bonuses, and void years to limit the cap hit in the early seasons of the deal. Philadelphia is currently third in the NFL in total dead money, and could climb even higher once these two post-June 1st releases hit the books.

Obviously the strategy has worked extremely well for Philadelphia in recent years, but look no further than another NFC team for an example of how things can go horribly wrong: the New Orleans Saints.

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NFL league links

Articles

Pro Football Focus

Will someone call the Dolphins after June 1 about a trade for Tyreek Hill?

When Dolphins G.M. Chris Grier was asked in April about a potential trade of receiver Tyreek Hill, Grier didn’t shoot it down.

“If someone wants to come and give me two first round picks then we’d consider it,” Grier said. “But, as of right now, it’s not something we’re considering.”

That could change in a couple of days. Given the realities of Hill’s contract (re-done in 2024), it makes sense for the Dolphins to hold Hill until June 2 or later. That’s when the cap consequences can be spread over two years.

For now, Hill has $28.296 million in unallocated bonus money that will hit the cap. A pre-June 1 trade means all of it lands in 2025. A post-June 1 trade limits the 2025 dead money to $12.728 million, with the remaining $15.568 million landing on the cap in 2026.

The same dynamic has always meant cornerback Jalen Ramsey won’t be traded until after June 1. And it means that any potential trade of Hill wouldn’t happen until after June 1, too.

It all comes down to whether a team is waiting for the calendar to migrate past May before making the call. And, more broadly, to whether another team is interested in taking on Hill’s contract, which pays out $25.85 million fully guaranteed in 2025.

While no one will offer a pair of first-round picks for Hill, Grier’s comment from mid-April operates as an invitation to make an offer. Although Grier has disputed that the Dolphins are in a rebuilding year, the sudden interest in moving Ramsey suggests they are at least refocusing.

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The Athletic (paywall)

A renovated Arrowhead or a dome in Kansas? Inside the Chiefs’ looming stadium decision

The Chiefs’ stadium question is about to reach a couple of key checkpoints. By the end of June, the franchise hopes to decide which side of the Missouri-Kansas state line the team will play its home games after the 2030 season. With that timeframe in mind, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has called the general assembly back for a Tuesday special session, in part to discuss the stadium tax-incentive program.

The most ambitious option for the Chiefs — who are considering renovating Arrowhead Stadium or building a state-of-the-art venue — involves the construction of a dome in Kansas that would cost an estimated $3 billion.

That option has already led Hunt and team president Mark Donovan to answer the question of whether a dome in Kansas would guarantee higher profits for the Chiefs and lead to more lucrative, alluring opportunities for the region.

“Yes,” Donovan said at the league meeting. “It’s definitely part of the conversations in Kansas. This is one of the reasons you do this.”

“Both options are very much in play,” Hunt said of renovating Arrowhead or building a dome in Kansas. “Really, our timeline is driven more by having enough time to do the renovation work or the construction so that we can be in the new or renovated building in the summer of 2031. To really comfortably stay on schedule, it would be best to have some direction by the summer.”

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Terry McLaurin’s agent took out an ad

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All aTwitter

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