Commanders
Commanders RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt enters his rookie season after being a seventh-round pick. Croskey-Merritt said he’s receiving a lot of guidance from fellow RBs Brian Robinson Jr., Austin Ekeler and Jeremy McNichols.
“I’m learning a lot, day by day,” Croskey-Merritt said, via Zach Selby of the team’s site. “Those guys are telling me just small details of the game like what I can work on or what we can do better to improve as a running back room. It’s a dream come true just to have big brothers in a room that can help me elevate my game.”
Commanders RBs coach Anthony Lynn said Croskey-Merritt is proving his work ethic.
“He’s working, man. I love the kid. He’s already a young professional. He gets this business. He worked his way up from Alabama State to get to this level, and that says a lot about his work ethic right there. But he’s looking good. Usually by that third week of training camp, I’ll know exactly what we have in him, but he’s learning right now. He’s growing up like a weed every day. So, I’m pleased with where he is at.”
Croskey-Merritt wants to prove himself to his coaches.
“They know what’s coming, but they really don’t,” Croskey-Merritt said. “I just want to go out there and show them. That’s the bottom line.”
Cowboys
Coming off an injury-filled 2024, Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson has loved the energy and couldn’t hide his excitement for the upcoming season under HC Brian Schottenheimer.
“I’m really excited, you can feel the energy… especially at practice,” Ferguson said, via Tommy Yarrish of the team’s website. “It’s every tiny little detail is almost elevated and it’s contagious, you can feel it in the room, you can feel it across positions and it just makes me excited to get the ball rolling and get it going.”
Ferguson spoke on his natural chemistry with QB Dak Prescott, citing their consistent work ethic together as they continue to improve together.
“That’s been going back since I got here. I love the seam ball, he loves throwing it. We just happened to have that play called today, but we’ve been repping that daily, routes on air, stuff like that. That’s been a connection that’s been building continuously.”
After trading for WR George Pickens, Ferguson loves the amount of weapons their offense has in the pass game.
“You can’t cover everybody. I mean, having [Pickens], [CeeDee Lamb], Jalen [Tolbert], some of the young guys, myself, Brevyn [Spann-Ford], [Luke Schoonmaker], you physically cannot cover everybody. I think it’s going to be really hard in the pass game, but then also we can run the ball too.”
Giants
The Giants added OT James Hudson and fifth-round OT Marcus Mbow for some insurance at the tackle position. New York GM Joe Schoen knows they need a plan in case LT Andrew Thomas misses time, as he’s played just 16 games over the last two seasons, including six in 2024.
“Yeah, that’s why we signed (James) Hudson in the offseason. We drafted (Marcus) Mbow, so we have some depth there. So you know, we’re happy with our third and fourth tackle,” Schoen said, via the Bleav in Giants podcast. “So again, like you hate to have to do that, you would really love [Andrew Thomas] to be out there, all 17 games, but you do have to protect yourself. And so, you know, that’s another area where we added some depth.”
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