Commanders Hit With Brutal Injury News Right Before 49ers Game

The Washington Commanders have stumbled through the first five weeks of the NFL season, heading into their Week 6 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers at 1-3-1.

Washington opened with a narrow loss to the Philadelphia Eagles before following it with a 37-20 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys. They briefly turned things around by edging out the Seattle Seahawks 33-31, but then fell 30-13 to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4. Even their 27-27 overtime tie with the New York Giants last weekend felt like a loss with how the game ended.

The team desperately needs to regain momentum against San Francisco on Monday night. Unfortunately, they'll need to do it without one of their best offensive players. According to NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, the Commanders plan to rule out running back Jacory-Croskey-Merritt for the 49ers game due to a groin injury.

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Croskey-Merritt first suffered a groin injury in preseason, but reinjured it during Washington's tie with the Giants last weekend. He finished with 82 rushing yards and one touchdown on just 11 carries, averaging 7.5 yards per carry and putting together his best game of the season. But he didn't practice on Thursday or Friday with the injury, which immediately put his availability for Monday's game in doubt.

There's no confirmed return date yet, but groin injuries have a tendency to linger if not properly managed, so this will be a situation to monitor after the 49ers game. Luckily, Washington will have a bye in Week 7, giving Croskey-Merritt two weeks to recover before the Commanders' next game, a divisional showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

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With Croskey-Merritt out for the 49ers game, carries would go to Rachaad White and Austin Ekeler. Unfortunately, both of those players are listed as questionable with injuries of their own: White with a shoulder injury and Ekeler with a chest injury. Both practiced in limited capacity on Friday.

Jeremy McNichols is the only Commanders running back to have practiced in full on Friday while recovering from a quad injury on injured reserve. Washington would still need to activate him ahead of Monday night, but given all of the injuries to the other running backs, there's a good chance that will happen.