The Washington Commanders may have lost their seventh game in succession. But this time, there were arguably more positives than negatives to take from the contest.
After weeks of blowouts and avoidable losses to subpar teams, this one stings because the Commanders put forth their best effort against a quality opponent, and it still wasn't enough. To paraphrase Bart Simpson, they really tried this time.
On the bright side for Washington, this isn't grade school, and the Commanders' efforts were not unnoticed. One player in particular who made an impact — who has been making an impact every time his number has been called this season — can no longer be ignored.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. is making the Commanders' RB1 spot his own
Entering training camp, no one expected Chris Rodriguez Jr. to make the Commanders' roster. Washington featured a returning one-two punch of Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler, offseason darling seventh-round pick Jacory Croskey-Merritt, and veteran third-down back Jeremy McNichols.
At least one, if not more, was fated to be cut. Rodriguez was the easiest candidate. Since being taken in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, he's bounced between Washington's active roster and practice squad. He appeared in only 22 games during his first two seasons, playing primarily on special teams.
He was firmly on the outside looking in. Then, things started to change.
This year, Rodriguez has been a different player. He earned an opportunity to make the cut when Robinson was traded before the regular season, and slid into a bigger role when Ekeler tore his Achilles in Week 2. Croskey-Merritt was expected to emerge as the leading back, but Washington has elected to roll with the hot hand on a week-to-week basis.
In recent weeks, that hot hand has been Rodriguez.
The former Kentucky standout has a touchdown in three of his past four games, and in the fourth, he rushed for 79 yards against the Miami Dolphins in Madrid. Rodriguez is still not much of a pass-catching threat out of the backfield, but he makes up for it with a powerful style of running that makes him hard to tackle.
The Commanders haven't had many feel-good stories this season, but Rodriguez's emergence has been one of them. He's gone from an unknown commodity to a player you might want to look at picking up off the waiver wire for your fantasy football playoffs.
Rodriguez has had to fight tooth and nail for his opportunities, and he's making the most of them.