Jacory Croskey-Merritt looked like anything but a credible lead running back through four games of the 2026 season, but a Week 5 game against the New York Giants is the perfect moment for the Washington Commanders' should-be workhorse to break out again.
'Bill' had two of his best games against the Giants during his banner rookie campaign in 2025. The Commanders need another of those games to help protect returning quarterback Jayden Daniels from a suddenly swarming pass rush led by two true game-wreckers at linebacker.
The G-Men's defense is turning up the heat on pass-pockets with personnel and scheme, but there's still a vulnerability on the ground. A vulnerability Croskey-Merritt and a backfield controversially reshaped around veteran talent recently can exploit.
Commanders need more from Jacory Croskey-Merritt against the Giants
Croskey-Merritt has a strong history against the Giants. He announced himself as a seventh-round draft pick turned likely starter against the same opposition in Week 1 last season.
Croskey-Merritt carried 10 times for 82 rushing yards and his first NFL touchdown in the opening week. No. 22 added 18 more rushing attempts for 96 yards and another score in the Week 14 return matchup.
Bill's first TD as a Commander 💸 pic.twitter.com/3Y7pV6Sk8i
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 10, 2026
He can repeat that success against the Giants. Even though this isn't the first time he's been counted on to punish an NFC East rival this season and hasn't quite delivered.
Commanders' offensive coordinator David Blough can still use Croskey-Merritt to attack the Giants' surprising soft spot in the run defense.
The Giants are strong against inside runs because of their size at the heart of the front seven. It starts with 335-pound veteran nose tackle D.J. Reader, who's tasked with keeping blockers off inside linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and rookie Arvell Reese.
Each member of this duo stands 6-foot-4 and weighs more than 240 pounds. Reese and Edmunds are the heavy hitters inside, so the Commanders will need to run to the edges.
Commanders can use Jacory Croskey-Merritt off the edges successfully in Week 5
The same approach worked early for the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4. Head coach John Harbaugh admitted the Giants had to make a schematic shift:
"We were playing a little more for inside runs, probably, and we changed it up and we got a little more secure on the edge runs, the D-gap runs, the outside runs. That was a good changeup by (Defensive Coordinator) Dennard (Wilson).
"I thought the coaches did a great job with that, (Outside Linebackers coach) Charlie (Bullen) and those guys, (Defensive Line Coach) Dennis (Johnson). But mainly, our DB's got up in there a little tighter on some of those crack splits. They got up in there and played those blocks a little bit better. So, probably all those things contributed to it, I would say."
Making the adjustment is to the Giants' credit, but the Commanders have the personnel to beat up on defensive backs trying to collapse the edges against outside runs. Specifically, blocking tight ends John Bates and Ben Sinnott, along with big-bodied wide receiver Treylon Burks.
The latter is in line for more catches given the injuries at the top of the wideout depth chart, but Burks' greater value should be as a blocker in this game. Putting the wideout into stacked alignments and using his 6-foot-2, 225-pound frame on crack-back blocks will be a good way for the Commanders to collapse the edges.
Combining Burks' movement with wrap-around blocks by Sinnott and Bates will flatten Giants' defensive backs in space. Giving Croskey-Merritt free lanes on outside-zone runs can keep the Commanders ahead of the sticks and produce big plays in the running game.
Against the Cardinals, the Giants pressured Jacoby Brissett on 38.5 percent of his throws, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, citing Next Gen Stats.
Reese and roving outside linebacker Abdul Carter did most of the blitzing. He's generating pressures in bunches, so the Commanders need to reduce Carter's pass-rush snaps.
The best way to do that is to let Croskey-Merritt tote the rock 20-25 times. And hopefully, his production will surge along the way.
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