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The Washington Commanders will begin their preseason schedule with a road matchup against the New England Patriots. Here are three players to watch Friday night.
Croskey-Merritt, also known as “Bill,” flashed at several points during the first two weeks of training camp. The seventh-round pick showed impressive vision and quickness in earlier practices, which led to several explosive runs. He’s caught his teammates and coaches’ eyes, and both offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and Jayden Daniels said they were looking forward to seeing how he would perform against the Patriots.
Croskey-Merritt had a mostly quiet joint practice on Thursday. The quickness and vision were still there but didn’t lead to any highlight plays. Croskey-Merritt also fumbled a handoff from Daniels, showing that while he is an exciting prospect, he still has room to grow.
Expect Croskey-Merritt to get a healthy amount of touches in the preseason game against the Patriots with Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler receiving little, if any time on the field. Other than the East-West Shrine Bowl, this will be Croskey-Merritt’s first game in almost a year. It will be a chance for him show off his ability to navigate through traffic in a game scenario, and if he can do that, he can tighten his hold on a potential roster spot.