Daily Slop – 30 Aug 25 – What is Jayden Daniels’ Kryptonite?

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How a ‘Bill’ Becomes a Phenom: Meet Commanders Rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt

After his stints at Alabama State and New Mexico, Croskey-Merritt transferred to Arizona last year. But he played only one game, rushing for 106 yards and a touchdown against his former Lobos teammates, before being suspended for an eligiblity issue. It’s a little complicated. He played four games in his first year at Alabama State, the most a player can play and still redshirt, but the NCAA ruled that he had played more. Croskey-Merritt said another player later wore his number, but the NCAA wouldn’t accept the explanation.

“The compliance officer at the SWAC wrote a letter saying they did have to [share] uniforms,” said Danny Gonzales, his head coach at New Mexico and now the defensive coordinator at Arizona. “There were numerous kids wearing 21 throughout the season. You can see, some of them have long hair, some of them have short, some wore tights, some don’t. We went through game by game. … We never got a full ruling.”

The Commanders were impressed by Croskey-Merritt’s reaction to his suspension. Most players, told their season was over after one game, would simply walk away, train on their own and prepare for the draft. But Croskey-Merritt stayed with Arizona football, practicing and working on the scout team, helping to prepare his teammates for the backs they’d face on Saturdays.

“That’s the biggest testament to his maturity,” Gonzales said. “Every time a scout came through and watched him busting his tail on scout team, in the situation he’s in, they saw he approached it like a pro.”

[S]aid Robinson Jr., who spent 11 years in the NFL as a linebacker: “It’s fun watching him play, because you know how hard he wanted to get there. I’ll tell kids, ‘You have to do A,B,C and D.’ He was one of the kids who did A,B,C and D. That’s not a guarantee it’s going to work, but it put him in position, and now he’s taking advantage of the opportunity.”

Once the Commanders’ 53-man roster was set, Croskey-Merritt traded out his preseason jersey number for a new one — No. 22 — and he doesn’t have to worry about anyone else taking that number this season. Teammates, coaches and fans already know what to call him, another huge change from his humble beginnings in college football.

“He’s been called Bill his entire life,” Gonzales said. “I call him Jacory. His mom and dad call him Jacory, but everybody else calls him Bill. Always smiling, but ultra, ultra competitive, wants to be the best at everything he does. 

“He’s going to do wonderful things in D.C.”

Pro Football Focus

Quarterback Kryptonite: Biggest weaknesses for every NFL starting QB

Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels

Biggest Weakness: Moving left or backward

Daniels’ rookie season is arguably one of the best we’ve ever seen from a quarterback. His 91.3 PFF overall grade ranks second among all rookie passers in the PFF era (since 2006), and he led his team to the brink of a Super Bowl appearance.

While there were few areas in which he struggled, he did have some issues when teams forced him to move in the pocket to the left or backward. Daniels posted a 46.9 PFF overall grade in those situations, and he took a sack a league-high 37% of the time. If he moved up or right, Daniels earned an 87.7 PFF overall grade and generated positive EPA 58.2% of the time. It’s clear he has a movement preference, but can defensive coordinators force him back and left?

Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts

Biggest Weakness: Third down

Hurts’ 54.0 third-down PFF passing grade in 2024 ranked second to last among returning starting quarterbacks. He had just three outings where his third-down PFF passing grade surpassed 80.0, though one was the NFC Championship game.

New York Giants: Russell Wilson

Biggest Weakness: Generating positive plays

Wilson produced a positive play last season at the lowest rate (19.6%) of the 32 projected starting quarterbacks in 2025. While he can still unleash a beauty of a big-time throw (6.1%, tied for fifth in the NFL), living off the big play isn’t a winning recipe in the NFL.

Washington Post (paywall)

Commanders’ tough 2025 schedule is the price for last year

This year’s slate is filled with high-profile matchups, including five games in prime time. It won’t be easy recreating a 12-5 regular season.

The Commanders, who are looking to prove that last year’s unexpected run to the NFC championship game was no fluke, will be at a 13-day net rest disadvantage over the course of the season and face the eighth-toughest schedule based on opponent winning percentage. Such is the price of success in the NFL.

Week 1: Sept. 7 vs. New York Giants

1 p.m., Fox

The Commanders swept the Giants for the second time in four seasons in 2024 and will be favored to do so again. Quarterback Russell Wilson, who is on his fourth team in five years, is New York’s Week 1 starter, but rookie first-round pick and preseason standout Jaxson Dart is lurking. The Giants could have one of the best defensive lines in the NFL — bolstered by No. 3 draft pick Abdul Carter — but outside of that overhauled quarterback room, they did little to improve an offense that ranked next-to-last in points per game last year (16.1).

The Athletic (paywall)

Cowboys trading Micah Parsons has ramifications for Eagles, Giants and Commanders

How the deal affects the Commanders

Congrats to the Commanders’ offensive line and quarterback Jayden Daniels, two of the biggest beneficiaries of this trade.

No player gave Washington more trouble over the last four years than Parsons; his 10.5 sacks are the most by any Commanders opponent during that span. He collected two in his first meeting with Washington, blitzing both times to take down Taylor Heinicke. He strip-sacked the QB in the final minute of the first quarter, then did it again only 46 seconds into the second quarter. Light work.

In Parsons’ most recent meeting with Washington, in Week 18 last season, he sacked Daniels on the game’s opening snap — then did it again on the third snap.

Riggo’s Rag

Commanders’ wide receiver pursuit could be bad news for Luke McCaffrey

Time will tell on that. However, it doesn’t exactly bode well for Luke McCaffrey’s chances of carving out a bigger role for himself in Year 2 of his professional journey.

McCaffrey flashed promise once again this summer without quite having the consistency needed. The No. 100 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft is still a work in progress. He also seems lower down the pecking order than ever, at least from the outside looking in.

Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel Sr., and Noah Brown are the projected starting trio. Rookie fourth-rounder Jaylin Lane’s seamless transition this summer hints that a bigger role than expected could be in his immediate future. If Bourne also comes into the fold, that might plunge McCaffrey to the No. 6 option.

This won’t be lost on McCaffrey. He’ll play a key role on special teams, but fans were expecting more. At the same time, the Commanders cannot wait around after their seismic shift into a win-now club with grand ambitions to reach the Super Bowl.

The gauntlet has been laid down to McCaffrey. He needs to maximize every opportunity coming his way. They might be fleeting once again, especially if Bourne signs on the dotted line, but the Commanders have no room for passengers. Anyone not pulling their weight will be sent to the fringes.

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Bleeding Green Nation

Eagles placing Willie Lampkin on injured reserve among 5 roster moves

The Eagles claimed Lampkin off waivers from the Los Angeles Rams earlier this week. Lampkin was cut by the Rams with a “waived/injured” designation due to the knee injury he suffered in the preseason. Lampkin reportedly indicated that his injury isn’t too serious and that he’ll be able to be “back soon.”

By going on IR, Lampkin is automatically ineligible to play in the Eagles’ first four games. He can be activated as early as Week 5, if the Eagles choose to use one of their seven remaining designated for return slots on him. We’ll eventually see if that’s the case.

Lampkin to IR notably opens up a roster spot for the Eagles. The recently re-signed Marcus Epps stands out as the top candidate for that opening since the team currently only has three safeties on the active roster and one of them (Andrew Mukuba) is dealing with a hamstring injury. Britain Covey is another candidate to be signed but it seems like the Eagles can probably get away with temporarily elevating him to be the punt returner for a few weeks before later adding him to the roster, if so desired.

Sports Illustrated

Breer: Inside Look at How Micah Parsons Trade to Packers Came Together

[E]verything on Parsons’s end—from his disinterested demeanor in sweats on the sidelines at camp, to carrying nachos into AT&T Stadium, then laying on a training table in-game last Thursday—was taken as intentional.

Martin, Lamb and Prescott are/were very popular in the locker room. That’s not the case with Parsons, who has rankled teammates in different ways, seen by some as egotistical and self-centered. His podcast has created issues, too, that go all the way up to quarterback Dak Prescott.

Previous defensive staffs had trouble with him at times because he would play out of structure in an effort to make big plays, which led to the run-defense issues Jerry and Stephen Jones kept referencing at their press conference.

That does happen with great pass rushers—it was just too common with Parsons and, again, he was too smart a football player for these to be a string of honest mistakes. Was it worth it for the game-changing plays he made? Yes, it was. Again, this sort of problem with a pass rusher wasn’t the first one a coaching staff had to confront. Also, Dallas was clearly willing to do that with its initial offer to Parsons in April.

The Cowboys didn’t come to a flashpoint where they pivoted, but they did start to wrap their heads around the idea of letting Parsons go, getting more affordable talent on the roster through a raft of high draft picks, and being able to re-sign young players such as Tyler Smith, Daron Bland and Sam Williams (and maybe even George Pickens). Also, in looking back at recent Super Bowl champions, only one was built around a great edge rusher—and the 2015 Broncos won it all while Von Miller was still on his rookie contract.

There was then a marked difference in how he carried himself at practice, when cameras were on, and when ownership was around, which gave everyone the feeling that he was very much trying to send a message to the bosses.

Last night, Parsons told NFL Network’s Jane Slater that he and agent David Mulugheta went back to Jones, as trade interest ramped up again, to try to restart talks on a long-term extension. The Cowboys’ response, per Parsons, was to “play on the fifth-year option or leave.” Jones himself confirmed Parsons’s claim at his presser—“That is correct,” he said emphatically—which shows to which point the relationship, and trust, had frayed.

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