The Washington Commanders will kick off a highly anticipated 2025 season on Sunday afternoon at home against their NFC East divisional rivals, the New York Giants. Washington is hoping to build off the momentum that they built last year, when they made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game after an epic rookie season from quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Ahead of Sunday's tilt with the Giants, Washington released its first gameday injury report of the season, and there was one designation there that had some fans puzzled.
“#Commanders RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a healthy inactive,” reported Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team on X, formerly Twitter. “Get ready for some Bill Croskey-Merritt,” he added.
Bill Croskey-Merritt was a seventh-round pick by the Commanders this past spring out of Arizona and has garnered some growing buzz from fantasy football managers everywhere about how much he will get the chance to contribute to Washington this year and what he might be able to do when he is on the field.
Evidently, that opportunity will come earlier than expected with Sunday's injury designation.
A huge year for the Commanders
As previously mentioned, the Washington Commanders are coming off of their most successful season in decades and are hoping that the success doesn't stall out on them this year.
Jayden Daniels put together arguably the best rookie season for a quarterback in NFL history last year in leading Washington to the NFL's version of the final four, but it remains to be seen how the Commanders will react now that they've dealt with some prosperity and will no longer be taken lightly by any opponents heading into this year.
The Commanders' first test of the season will be an interesting one against a Giants squad that has quietly put together one of the better defensive lines in the league and also upgraded its quarterback position with Russell Wilson and Jaxson Dart this offseason.
In any case, the Commanders and Giants are slated to kick things off at 1:00 PM ET from Landover on Sunday afternoon.
