Fantasy Football fallout: Commanders trade Brian Robinson Jr. to the 49ers; here's what to know before drafts

The Commanders traded Brian Robinson Jr. to the 49ers on Friday in exchange for a sixth-round pick, and we have a new backup running back for Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco. We can also now play the guessing game for the best running back in Washington out of Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Austin Ekeler and Chris Rodriguez.

Let's start with the 49ers, who needed running back depth behind McCaffrey. Isaac Guerendo and Jordan James, the primary backups before Friday, have missed practice time due to injury, with James (finger) still out.

Robinson will now challenge Guerendo to be No. 2 on the depth chart, and I expect Robinson to eventually win that job. He should be the running back to handcuff to McCaffrey on Draft Day in the majority of leagues.

That said, should McCaffrey miss time due to an injury -- he was limited to four games in 2024 with Achilles and knee problems -- then Robinson and Guerendo will likely share touches. It could be messy, so the earliest I would draft Robinson is Round 10, with Guerendo still worth a late-round flier in deeper leagues.

As for McCaffrey, I'm not worried about his workload at all because Robinson was acquired. I'm still drafting McCaffrey as a top-three running back in all leagues with a top-five overall selection. The only running backs I would draft ahead of McCaffrey are Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs.

In Washington, we now have to figure out how the Commanders will use Croskey-Merritt, Ekeler and Rodriguez. Most likely, Ekeler will stay locked into his role on passing downs and be a change-of-pace running back.

Ekeler is probably the safest of Washington's running backs, even at 30, but he doesn't offer the most upside. That will hopefully be Croskey-Merritt, who should emerge as the leader of this backfield sooner rather than later.

The buzz at training camp has been all about Croskey-Merritt, and we saw his explosiveness in the Commanders second preseason game against the Bengals with a 27-yard touchdown run. It shouldn't take long before he's getting the majority of carries for Washington ahead of Rodriguez.

Now, Rodriguez might be the starter in Week 1 as the veteran, and he had a 40-yard run against Cincinnati. Dan Quinn even alluded to Rodriguez being the goal-line running back to the media Thursday.

It's not a bad idea to draft Rodriguez with a late-round pick in the majority of leagues. But I'm going to target Croskey-Merritt on Draft Day, and he's worth a pick as early as Round 8 in most formats. And Ekeler, in PPR, is worth drafting as early as Round 9.

We'll see how this all plays out during the season following Robinson's trade to San Francisco. But, on Draft Day, to sum it all up, give me McCaffrey in Round 1, Croskey-Merritt in Round 8, Ekeler in Round 9 and Robinson in Round 10. And I'll take late-round fliers on Rodriguez and Guerendo just in case they emerge as significant contributors at some point this year.