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Daily Slop – 5 May 25 – Film study of Commanders rookie RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt; President Trump expected to announce DC as host of ‘27 draft this afternoon

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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

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Washington Post (paywall)

Washington will host the 2027 NFL draft

The 2027 draft is the next one available; the NFL previously awarded next year’s draft to Pittsburgh.

[Per NBC Sports, the 2027 will be hosted by Washington, D.C. The current plan is to conduct the event on the National Mall. The official announcement will be made on Monday, by President Trump and Commanders owner Josh Harris.]

The 2027 draft is the next available one; the NFL previously awarded the 2026 draft to Pittsburgh.

The league, according to the emails, proposed having the main stage for the draft on Fourth Street between Madison and Jefferson drives, near the National Gallery of Art and the National Air and Space Museum. A portion also could be held on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, where attendees could flow to the Mall. It’s not clear whether the plans have changed since [they were made public last year].

Other NFL team owners spoke during the Commanders’ sale process of the importance to the league of having a successful franchise in Washington. The stadium deal and the awarding of the draft serve as exclamation points to the success of that restoration project.

Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)

What RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt brings to the Washington Commanders

The first thing that stands out with Croskey-Merritt when watching him is his quickness and cutting ability. He doesn’t have elite speed, but he has a great burst and quickness that helps him accelerate to his top speed quicker than others. He combines that burst with a sharp cutting ability to make elusive jump cuts that make defenders miss as he accelerates quickly after the cut.

That sharp cutting ability combined with his burst and acceleration stood out at the Shrine Bowl too.

This time, the offense looks to work downhill with the right guard and center combining to double team the nose tackle up to the linebacker. The right tackle works up to the other linebacker while the tight end pulls and blocks the defensive end. Croskey-Merritt takes the snap inside initially, looking to run behind the double team from the right guard and center. But the defensive end on the outside crashes down the line before the pulling tight end can get to him, so Croskey-Merritt is forced to make an early cut to bounce his run outside.

As he makes that cut, Croskey-Merritt finds that the linebacker that was meant to be picked up by the double team read the play well and worked around the double team quickly to fill the lane. He also finds that the right tackle is struggling to block the other linebacker, leaving two linebackers unblocked in the area that he’s looking to bounce his run. So after a few steps outside towards the edge, Croskey-Merritt makes another incredibly sharp cut back inside to get vertical. He changes direction so fluidly without losing momentum that the unblocked linebackers are left in his dust.

Croskey-Merritt bursts through the line of scrimmage untouched but is met by the safety trying to work across from the back side. He feels that safety coming and spins out of the tackle, picking up even more yards before finally being brought down by the deep safety. It was a broken play that shouldn’t really have had much success, but Croskey-Merritt made two sharp cuts, first to bounce the run and then to slash back inside and get vertical, before spinning out of a tackle to fully maximize the yards on offer.

That is the type of runner Croskey-Merritt is, at least in my eyes. I think there’s a bit of a misconception about him among the Commanders fan base. I think lots of fans believe him to be a power back that runs over defenders and powers his way to extra yards, but he’s not really that. He’s much more elusive and while he doesn’t have great top end speed, he has fantastic burst and acceleration as well as a great jump cut to find his way through the smallest holes and accelerate out of them.

Commanders Wire

What draft experts said about new Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt

The Commanders liked Croskey-Merritt, having met with him multiple times in the pre-draft process. Despite playing only one game for Arizona last season due to a bogus eligibility issue, Croskey-Merritt was the offensive MVP in the East-West Shrine Bowl.

How much will Croskey-Merritt play this season? All four of the Commanders’ top running backs are in the final year of their respective contracts. Washington will likely lean heavily on Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler in 2025, but keep an eye on Croskey-Merritt.

Here’s what some expert draft analysts had to say about Croskey-Merritt during the pre-draft process and what Commanders fans can expect to see:

The Draft Network

His downhill attacking style will mesh well in inside zone and gap-rushing offenses that look to get upfield quickly. However, his limitations on third down and as an overall athlete cap his ceiling in the NFL. He has upside as a first- and second-down change-of-pace back behind an offensive line that can keep him clean behind the line of scrimmage.”

The Athletic (paywall)

Commanders mailbag: Are the O-line, CB upgrades enough to catch the Eagles?

Not only are cornerback and tackle two of football’s primary positions, but Washington’s options were severely limited. Tunsil and Conerly will likely start, replacing Brandon Coleman and Andrew Wylie, thus raising the ceiling for the group tasked with protecting Jayden Daniels.

The Commanders made roster decisions based on what’s best for their team, but it would be naive not to consider those Eagles (and Giants and Cowboys) matchups. The convenient part is that all three foes have similar strengths on the defensive line and at wide receiver.

Washington is now better suited when tangling with Philadelphia’s deep defensive front and the Brown-DeVonta Smith combo at receiver, not to mention Micah Parsons in Dallas, Brian Burns and No. 3 pick Abdul Carter with New York, and several other edge or interior enforcers within the division.

As for whether the Commanders have closed the gap with the Super Bowl champions, we can accurately claim that Daniels and the offense appear to be improved, even over last season’s high-scoring standard. We’ll see about a defense whose primary help occurred on the margins, and the most notable lineup change involved a tackle swap with free-agent signee Javon Kinlaw replacing longtime starter Jonathan Allen.

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Blogging the Boys

Number one goal for Brian Schottenheimer is clear as team passes on WR in draft

How much do you think the Cowboys are going to regret not drafting a wide receiver?

The Cowboys front office has never wavered in wanting to use the draft as their main source of talent acquisition. Although this wasn’t expected to change under Schottenheimer at all, the team had to do more than sit on their hands and let players get away in free agency without signing new players themselves, and did so while also being active on the trade market. In their estimation, this was enough to go into the draft with a clearer focus on targeting the best players available, regardless of positional need, through all seven rounds. The Cowboys still showed preferences for the things their new head coach is seeking, like improved line of scrimmage play by spending the 12th overall pick on guard Tyler Booker and 44rd pick in the second round on defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku. They continued to target high character prospects from blue chip programs like Texas, Florida, and Oregon on day three with running back Jaydon Blue, linebacker Shemar James, and offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, here we are again, talking about the Cowboys not being good enough at the wide receiver position. The more things change, the more they really do stay the same, because a lack of dynamic skill at WR has been an off-and-on problem for the Cowboys through multiple head coaches, offensive coordinators, and even quarterbacks now. Even with it being a position they’ve shown a willingness to step outside their perceived comfort zone and address with in-season trades, like for Amari Cooper in 2018 and Jonathan Mingo last year, the Cowboys are regularly behind the best of the best in the NFL when it comes to making enough big plays on the outside to truly contend in the postseason.

Through all of the changes mentioned above in personnel and coaches, the Cowboys have had a major lack of creativity in their offensive play-calling and ability to scheme receivers open. They do not help quarterback Dak Prescott in the ways that other passers around the league, all of which currently make less than the Cowboys leader who became the highest paid at the position prior to week one a year ago, are lifted by play-calling that always seems to allow for easy completions and yards after the catch. The Cowboys making a basic 10 to 15 yard gain in the passing game last season, admittedly without Prescott on the field, felt so incredibly laborious if not borderline miraculous. Meanwhile, the bread and butter for other teams that reached the postseason was to rattle off these types of plays with ease by creating space for their skill players to run.

Any realistic discussion about how the Cowboys can actually get the most out of young players with untapped potential like Jalen Tolbert, Brooks, Mingo, Flournoy, or even their full-time punt/kick returner Turpin has to start with how the brain trust of Schottenheimer as play-caller and Klayton Adams as OC will help these players create separation and access to routes with their scheme.

The Cowboys have used every point of the offseason so far to gradually show how serious they are about being a better running team again, but the viability of the passing offense to at least keep them in the playoff picture remains a serious question following the draft.

Pro Football Talk

Brian Schottenheimer moves Cowboys’ lockers, with Dak Prescott now next to Micah Parsons

One of the first changes Cowboys players became aware of when they arrived for offseason work was a reorganized locker room.

Among the moves are that Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons now has his locker right next to quarterback Dak Prescott’s, in an effort to join two top players and team leaders. First-year Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer says the players have no say in where their lockers are, and he and the staff made the changes.

“We moved some guys around,” Schottenheimer said. “This year, I did, along with the help of the staff. They don’t really get a say in that, but there’s a method to the madness. I think when the guys went into the team room for the first time, I made them all stand up after they sat down, I let them sit down and I had them stand up and move seats. Why? It’s a new year. It’s 2025. We’ll do that in 2026, we’ll do that in 2027 and beyond. When you start a new year, do something different. Change something up. It’s something that’s talked about, thought about, but there’s a method to the madness at times.”

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Washington Post (paywall)

The tush push got a reprieve, but a ban could be coming this month

The owners are scheduled to meet this month and are expected to consider a revised proposal that would prohibit a teammate from pushing or pulling a ballcarrier anywhere on the field, a person familiar with the situation said.

The reworked proposal, if ratified by the owners, would serve to ban the push-the-quarterback sneak that became the signature play of the Philadelphia Eagles in recent seasons and remained their effective short-yardage staple as they won the Super Bowl title in February. But it would go further than that and also prohibit offensive linemen from running down the field to shove a ballcarrier forward for extra yards in a pileup at the end of a play.

The owners are scheduled to meet May 20 and 21 in the Minneapolis area at their regular quarterly meeting. The proposal would have to be approved by at least 24 of the 32 owners. Ratification of the revised proposal is not certain.

It was believed that 16 teams were in favor of the original proposal, made by the Green Bay Packers, when the owners discussed the issue during the annual league meeting in late March and early April in Palm Beach, Florida. That means supporters of the proposed ban must secure eight more votes for it to be enacted. The owners tabled the proposal for possible revisions and reconsideration at the May meeting.

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