It was sort of quiet signing, but Rachaad White leaving the Bucs for the Commanders merits discussion. White hasn't been a great NFL running back, but he's been a very good fantasy one.
Selected in the third round back in 2022, White has tended to be more receiver than runner. Looking at his starts (setting aside games where he was a No. 2), the last four years he's averaged just 52 rushing yards, but an additional 26 receiving yards. In his career, he has nearly as many receiving scores (11) as rushing (14). The very picture of a third-down running back, which worked well in a Tampa Bay offense that was a lot better passing it than running it in most of those years (2024, when it was top 5 in both, is the exception).
In PPR leagues the last four years, among running backs who started at least 30 games, White put up the 16th-best numbers at the position. The Bucs opted not to bring him back, but he gets a nice landing spot in Washington. The Commanders let Chris Rodriguez leave, so they've got just Jacory Croskey-Merritt (who was outplayed by Rodriguez the second half of last year) and White. He played with Jayden Daniels for two years at Arizona State, before Daniels achieved somewhat more fame with LSU.
Table shows running backs who started at least half the time the last four years. White shows up favorably for a guy generally in a committee (most of the guys ahead of him are elite, featured runners).
| RUNNING BACKS PER GAME, 2022-2025 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Run | No | Rec | Total | TD | PPR |
| Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 53 | 74.8 | 5.0 | 44.4 | 119.2 | .96 | 22.7 |
| Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 49 | 73.1 | 3.7 | 29.6 | 102.6 | 1.00 | 20.0 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 50 | 78.1 | 4.0 | 34.8 | 112.9 | .69 | 19.4 |
| DeVon Achane, Mia. | 33 | 68.4 | 4.4 | 32.7 | 101.1 | .73 | 18.9 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 50 | 91.6 | 2.1 | 15.0 | 106.6 | .89 | 18.1 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 44 | 82.8 | 2.3 | 15.2 | 98.0 | .96 | 17.9 |
| Saquon Barkley, Phi. | 62 | 87.4 | 2.7 | 18.9 | 106.3 | .74 | 17.8 |
| Austin Ekeler, Was. | 36 | 47.0 | 4.8 | 35.9 | 82.9 | .75 | 17.5 |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 67 | 92.9 | 1.4 | 14.3 | 107.1 | .88 | 17.4 |
| Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 62 | 76.1 | 2.6 | 21.3 | 97.4 | .77 | 17.0 |
| Joe Mixon, Hou. | 45 | 63.6 | 3.3 | 25.0 | 88.7 | .74 | 16.6 |
| James Cook, Buff. | 55 | 72.7 | 2.2 | 19.3 | 92.1 | .73 | 15.8 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 53 | 56.8 | 4.4 | 31.8 | 88.6 | .38 | 15.5 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 45 | 66.9 | 2.8 | 20.4 | 87.3 | .64 | 15.4 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 56 | 60.7 | 3.4 | 29.3 | 90.0 | .50 | 15.4 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 32 | 51.9 | 3.6 | 25.6 | 77.4 | .44 | 14.0 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 54 | 63.1 | 2.4 | 18.4 | 81.5 | .56 | 13.8 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 61 | 58.7 | 2.6 | 19.9 | 78.6 | .54 | 13.7 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 62 | 58.6 | 2.6 | 20.8 | 79.4 | .49 | 13.5 |
| Aaron Jones, Min. | 57 | 60.8 | 2.9 | 21.7 | 82.4 | .36 | 13.3 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 42 | 63.3 | 2.3 | 15.1 | 78.4 | .51 | 13.2 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 57 | 52.2 | 2.9 | 20.5 | 72.7 | .48 | 13.1 |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 61 | 54.2 | 1.8 | 15.8 | 70.0 | .64 | 12.7 |
| J.K. Dobbins, Den. | 32 | 69.3 | 1.6 | 7.7 | 77.1 | .53 | 12.5 |
| Javonte Williams, Dall. | 46 | 53.5 | 2.8 | 14.2 | 67.7 | .49 | 12.5 |
| Tony Pollard, Ten. | 50 | 63.3 | 2.6 | 15.1 | 78.4 | .33 | 12.4 |
| Devin Singletary, NYG | 32 | 57.6 | 2.5 | 17.3 | 74.9 | .41 | 12.4 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 51 | 61.0 | 2.1 | 13.4 | 74.4 | .47 | 12.3 |
| Brian Robinson, Was. | 40 | 57.7 | 1.6 | 14.7 | 72.4 | .51 | 11.9 |
| Isiah Pacheco, K.C. | 40 | 55.3 | 2.0 | 13.0 | 68.3 | .40 | 11.3 |
| Jaylen Warren (C), Pitt. | 32 | 40.5 | 3.1 | 21.3 | 61.7 | .16 | 10.2 |
| Tyjae Spears (C), Ten. | 41 | 23.2 | 3.0 | 21.1 | 44.3 | .24 | 8.9 |
| Zach Charbonnet (C), Sea. | 40 | 30.2 | 1.7 | 10.9 | 41.0 | .38 | 8.0 |
| Justice Hill (C), Balt. | 31 | 19.8 | 2.3 | 19.0 | 38.8 | .26 | 7.7 |
| Kenneth Gainwell (C), Pitt. | 47 | 19.7 | 2.5 | 16.7 | 36.4 | .26 | 7.7 |
| Kareem Hunt (C), K.C. | 49 | 28.0 | 1.4 | 8.9 | 36.9 | .41 | 7.6 |
| Tyler Allgeier (C), Atl. | 33 | 34.5 | .9 | 7.2 | 41.6 | .40 | 7.5 |
| Samaje Perine (C), Cin. | 32 | 19.4 | 2.1 | 16.9 | 36.3 | .13 | 6.5 |
| Jaleel McLaughlin (C), Den. | 31 | 29.1 | 1.7 | 7.8 | 36.9 | .16 | 6.4 |
| Ty Johnson (C), Buff. | 33 | 11.4 | 1.2 | 16.0 | 27.4 | .21 | 5.2 |
| Kyle Juszczyk (FB), S.F. | 33 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 12.1 | 13.7 | .15 | 3.4 |
One of the guys ahead of White on this list is Austin Ekeler, who did his best work with the Chargers. He got hurt each of his two years with the Commanders (an Achilles last year). But he caught 40 passes while making 8 starts for them. Should be White getting the vast majority of such looks in the offense.
I liked Jacory Croskey-Merritt a year ago; I have him on a dynasty roster. I'd like to see him emerge as a reliable starter for Washington. But he's a seventh-round pick who played behind Rodriguez for much of the second half, rushing for even 40 yards in just 2 of his final 11 games. They didn't use him in the passing game (9 receptions all season). Not a given he'll be the main runner (Washington might well draft someone), or even have much of a role at all.
We'll see, but White has the potential to be the most valuable running back on this roster. Certainly in PPR formats.
--Andy Richardson
