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Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington Commanders
Chris Rodriguez Jr. returns to the Commanders: Washington’s starting running back had missed last week due to a groin injury.
Rodriguez has spent the second half of the season as the Commanders' starting running back when healthy, while Jacory Croskey-Merritt has been the backup, and Jeremy McNichols has been the third-down back. Rodriguez missed last week, leading Washington to condense to a two-man backfield. Croskey-Merritt has his most successful game in over two months with 18 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Rodriguez was a full participant in practice all week, so there was no question that he would play. Chase Edmonds had signed with the team a week ago as a fourth running back, but he was a healthy inactive this week. The running back rotation was largely back to normal this week, as Rodriguez took the early-down snaps on the first two drives. Croskey-Merritt took over on the third drive and played most of the rest of the first half.
Neither running back was finding much success in the first half, outside of a Croskey-Merritt touchdown. Rodriguez started the third quarter and played the entire half. McNichols continued to be the third-down back throughout the entire game, regardless of who was the early-down back.
Rodriguez has been a top waiver-wire option for the last two months, primarily because of the Commanders' schedule during the fantasy playoffs. He missed last week, so Croskey-Merritt was able to take advantage of that matchup instead of Rodriguez. Their other favorable matchup is next week against the Dallas Cowboys, who have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs this season. Unless there are several running back injuries on Sunday, Rodriguez will be a top-three waiver wire option at running back.
Monitor Jaylin Lane’s health: The Commanders' backup wide receiver suffered an ankle injury on a first-quarter special teams play and didn’t return.
In Week 14 and the start of Week 15, the Commanders were the healthiest they had been at wide receiver since Week 2, as Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown were both back after missing most of the season. Brown, McLaurin and Deebo Samuel were the clear three starters, while Treylon Burks was the top backup. Lane had fallen to fifth on the depth chart.
Brown suffered a back injury early last week, resulting in larger roles for both Burks and Lane. Brown landed on injured reserve on Tuesday, resulting in the team bringing Chris Moore back from the practice squad. Moore had played significantly this season when McLaurin was out, but the team released him once their other receivers were healthy.
Lane started this week out of a four-wide receiver set. He didn’t play again on the first drive, and he was injured on special teams shortly thereafter. He was initially ruled questionable but was ruled out by halftime. This left the other four wide receivers all playing more than expected. Usually, the Commanders like to rotate their wide receivers more than most teams. Hence, an injury to a backup was much more noteworthy than if a backup wide receiver for the Eagles had been injured. Burks, in particular, had a larger role in the Commanders' offense of the season.
While the Commanders didn’t have much success in their passing game this week, they face the Cowboys next week. Dallas has allowed the most fantasy points to wide receivers this season. In Week 7, both Lane and Moore had over 50 receiving yards against Dallas while the Commanders' top three wide receivers were injured. McLaurin and Samuel should have more success against them next week if Marcus Mariota is healthy.
The Commanders' wide receiver room will be a position to watch this offseason, as Samuel, Brown, Burks and Moore are all slated to be free agents, leaving McLaurin, Lane, and Luke McCaffrey as the only remaining wide receivers on the roster.
Will Shipley takes on the third-down role:Saquon Barkley and Shipley had been sharing the third-down role since the bye week.
Barkley was an every-down back over the first eight weeks of the season, as Barkley played 79.1% of the offensive snaps. That included playing at least 70% of the early-down snaps, third downs, two-minute drills, short-yardage and goal-line snaps. Philadelphia made a notable change after its Week 9 bye, getting Shipley more involved in passing situations.
From Weeks 10-15, Barkley played 57.5% of the third downs and 60% of the two-minute-drill snaps, while Shipley played 32.9% of third downs and 40% of two-minute-drill snaps. The Eagles used that at an even larger extreme for this game, giving Shipley all of the third downs over the first 40 minutes, while the two split two-minute drill snaps. This could be a sign of things to come, or it could be related to Barkley’s health. He didn't practice on Tuesday due to a stinger but was able to practice in full the following day.
This has no impact on Barkley’s rushing production, as Barkley had his second-best day of the season in terms of rushing yards, and it was his third straight game with a rushing touchdown. However, he has only caught two passes in his last four games. The Eagles face the Buffalo Bills next week. That should be a team Barkley can take advantage of in the run game, but if the Bills manage an early lead, it could be a rough day for Barkley’s stat line.
Miscellaneous notes
- Philadelphia backup running back Tank Bigsby was limited on Tuesday due to an illness but was able to practice in full by Wednesday.
- Jalen Hurts only targeted A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in the first half. The last time any team targeted only two receivers in an entire first half was 2024 Week 16, when the Eagles faced the Commanders and targeted only Brown and Smith.
- Eagles wide receiver Jahan Dotson has been back to full strength the last two weeks after dealing with a toe injury. His playing time was notably limited in Weeks 12-14, but he was back to playing roughly 90% of the 11-personnel snaps each of the last two weeks.
- The Eagles activated tight end E.J. Jenkins from the practice squad for this game on Friday. He replaces backup Cameron Latu, who was inactive due to a stinger. The injury led Grant Calcaterra to see a slight increase in offensive snaps.
- Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels was ruled out due to a left elbow injury, his second straight absence. The Commanders do not plan on playing Daniels again this season but haven’t put him on injured reserve, so he can continue practicing with the team.
- Commanders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered a right hand injury in the third quarter and didn’t return. Josh Johnson took over at quarterback for the rest of the game.
- John Bates and Ben Sinnott split tight end snaps for Washington for a second straight week, since their starting tight end, Zach Ertz, landed on injured reserve. Their playing time split was very similar to last week, as Bates played a few more snaps. However, last week Bates ran slightly more routes, and this week, Sinnott ran notably more routes.
- Commanders' third-string tight end Colson Yankoff was ruled out Thursday due to an ankle injury. He didn't practice all week. The Commanders activated Lawrence Cager from the practice squad for this game on Friday to take Yankoff’s place.
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears
Coming soon!
Table notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.