It only took a breakout preseason and one week into the 2025 NFL regular season for Jacory Croskey-Merritt, aka Bill, to look like an absolute steal from the seventh round of April’s draft.
The Washington Commanders’ rookie RB already has grabbed a lot of public notoriety, and for good reason: The dude can play.
So how did he last that long?
It stems from a bizarre NCAA decision that meant Croskey-Merritt could play only a single game in his final college season. And with no tape, it was hard to impress NFL scouts.
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Why did Jacory ‘Bill’ Croskey-Merritt fall to the 7th round of NFL Draft?
Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt looked to transfer away from New Mexico to a bigger program for his final college season in 2024.
He originally chose Arizona, changed his mind to Ole Miss, and changed it back to Arizona.
Then he encountered an eligibility problem.
The NCAA issue stemmed from his 2019 redshirt season at Alabama State. That year, a different player appeared in a game in JCM’s No. 21, which caused the NCAA to rule he didn’t have full eligibility for the 2024 season because it had already been “used” in 2019, even though it wasn’t actually him out on the field.
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Croskey-Merritt only got to play in one game for the Wildcats in 2024, rushing for 106 yards and a touchdown. He then played in the East-West Shrine Bowl, where he had 97 yards and two touchdowns.
But he had very little film for teams to go on, and they were limited in their chances to scout him in person, too.
After the season, he ran a 4.45-second 40-yard dash and vertical leaped 41.5 inches. He clearly is a great athlete, and anytime he was on a college field, he was really good.
The NCAA just held him back in 2024, and it may have hurt his draft stock.
Now, Croskey-Merritt has proven he belongs. He looks like he’ll get plenty of chances to keep proving himself, too.
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