Chris Rodriguez injury: What status means for Week 17 vs. Cowboys

The Washington Commanders are playing out the string, but plenty of their key offensive players will be in action when they host the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day in Week 17. However, a last minute update could cost them running back Chris Rodriguez, Jr. We break down the latest on his injury status heading into the game.

Game status: Chris Rodriguez is INACTIVE for Week 17 vs. the Cowboys. The illness apparently is too much and he will NOT play. Jacory Croskey-Merritt will get the start and this is a solid matchup against a Cowboys defense that ranks 26th in fantasy points allowed to running backs.

The Commanders posted on social media on Thursday morning that they had added Rodriguez to the injury report with an illness. They listed him as questionable. He had not appeared on the injury report prior to that this week. The announcement came at 9:07 a.m. ET, which was just under four hours prior to kickoff.

It’s not clear what caused the illness, so it’s also unclear what this means for his availability. The team will announce inactives at 11:30 a.m. ET. Even if he’s active, an illness is concerning in terms of whether it might pop back up during the game. It wouldn’t be the first time that a player has been active and then ended up playing very little or having to leave the game.

If Rodriguez is active, you should probably plan on starting him. If you’ve got a clear better option, then go with that, but if you were planning on starting Rodriguez, you should stick with him.

If Rodriguez ends up active, Jacory Croskey-Merritt would get bumped into the starting lineup and would be worth a start as a low end RB2 or RB3. And if Rodriguez is active and you’re in a particularly deep league, Croskey-Merritt could offer a little bit of upside if you want to roll the dice.