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My Guys At Pick 100 Or Later



By Doug Orth | 8/22/25 |


My Draft Plan

Last week on the "Football Diehards" podcast that I co-host with JJ Wenner, I laid out my draft plan for early (1-4), middle (5-8) and late (9-12) draft slots. We spent about 30-40 minutes talking about each area of the draft. Please check it out.

"My Guys" At Pick 100 or Later

RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, WAS - ACTIVATE THE BILL CROSKEY-MERRITT HIVE!! (Or whatever the kids say nowadays.) He debuted at No. 200 on last week's PPR Big Board because I knew he had to be on my board. I also had a great feeling he would emerge as the starting running back for the Commanders, but there did not appear to be a realistic path to it happening before Week 1. The stunner was the news over the weekend that Washington is listening to trade offers for Brian Robinson Jr. It is not so much the notion that Robinson is on the block that should get folks excited; it is the fact that Washington made it public that he is available and Croskey-Merritt is having a great camp. So why the buzz about a seventh-round draft pick? Because he should never have been available that late.

The primary reason Croskey-Merritt was still available until late in the 2025 draft was a ridiculous jersey number confusion issue during his time at Alabama State and being part of a deep draft class at running back. The NCAA determined that his 2019 season at Alabama State was not a redshirt year as originally classified, making him ineligible for the 2024 season with Arizona, which led to him sitting out all but one game in his final year. He did not land on my radar until I saw him at the East-West Shrine Game. To say he played at a different speed than everyone else in that game might be an understatement. Bringing it back to this summer, it now seems clear he has convinced the Commanders that he gives them an explosive element that Robinson cannot. There is a very real possibility that this ranking is too low if/when Robinson is traded/waived. If Robinson is jettisoned over the next two weeks, it feels relatively safe to project JCM for Robinson's early-down workload (but do more with it) with Chris Rodriguez mixing in on occasion every third series or so. Austin Ekeler will continue to handle most of the passing-down work.

Demario Douglas

WR Demario Douglas, NE - As I noted earlier with Hunter Henry, the offensive environment in New England last year was awful. Like every Patriot, Douglas was sucked into the black hole. While his statistics improved in 2024 (66-621-3 versus 49-561-0 as a rookie in 2023), there was little rhyme or reason to when Douglas was worth starting in fantasy. The consistency of his targets seemed to get better once Drake Maye took over, but former OC Alex Van Pelt never quite figured out how to utilize his talents consistently. That should not be a problem under new OC Josh McDaniels, who has made a living of peppering his slot receivers with targets.

It does not say here that Douglas is the next Wes Welker, Julian Edelman or Jakobi Meyers. What it will say here is that "Pop" is nearly impossible to cover one-on-one when he gets a free release, which is something he is almost guaranteed to see as the primary slot option in New England. Expect McDaniels to take advantage of Douglas' quickness in a way Van Pelt could not, in part because of how much better New England's offensive line should be this season. Stefon Diggs will undoubtedly steal some of Douglas' snaps inside, but I doubt it will be enough to keep Douglas from setting career highs across the board. He may never be much of a red zone threat, but 80-catch upside - even if it comes the way Wan'Dale Robinson delivered it last year - usually plays in PPR leagues.

RB Trey Benson, ARI - As a player I ranked as my RB56 on my final PPR draft board last summer, I did not have many shares of Benson in his rookie year. (It's not personal, it's just business.) Lo and behold, I guess I went from a hater to a … lover? Here's the thing: HC Jonathan Gannon and James Conner both expect Benson to see more work than last year. Kyler Murray believes Benson is primed for a big year. OK, fine. That is what coaches and players are supposed to say about a teammate. The fact of the matter is that he was quite efficient after the first month of last season when he actually saw the ball. He just did not see the ball a lot because Conner was playing so well. However, that is not the main reason why I have him ranked so highly.

Much like Jordan Mason above, Benson is a powerful runner operating as the primary handcuff behind an aging running back. The thing about Conner is that he has never played a full season and typically misses at least three games. The Cardinals want to run the ball as much as possible and Benson is the only back on the roster after Conner who can handle a heavy workload. Yes, Benson's vision and anticipation need to improve. With that said, he brings more explosiveness to the table than Conner. Benson is worth drafting based on his handcuff value alone, but the likelihood that he will also give his fantasy managers at least 8-10 touches per week this year is worth more than a 12th-round selection in fantasy drafts.

QB J.J. McCarthy, MIN - The easiest argument to make for McCarthy is that HC Kevin O'Connell has made career backups Nick Mullens and Josh Dobbs look good at times and oversaw an almost unthinkable season from Sam Darnold last year. Before that, he had Kirk Cousins on a career-best track before the latter suffered an Achilles tear midway through the 2023 season. Each of O'Connell's three offenses in Minnesota has ranked no worse than sixth in the league in passing yards or passing touchdowns. While we should expect O'Connell to rely more heavily on the rushing attack than any of his previous Vikings' teams to ease McCarthy's transition into the NFL, I doubt Minnesota will dip much lower than last year's 548 pass attempts. With the weapons McCarthy has at his disposal, it would be shocking if he did not play well almost immediately.

The thing that most casual fantasy football managers are missing with McCarthy is his athletic ability. He can run. He rushed for at least 50 yards five times in his college career. I would not be surprised if he pushed for 400 yards on the ground as soon as this season. That kind of rushing floor puts him in the same class as Brock Purdy last year. Purdy finished as the overall QB12 in 2024 despite missing two games and attempting just 455 passes in part because he was highly efficient and ran for 323 yards and five touchdowns. With a better supporting cast and similar athleticism, it would not surprise me if McCarthy has a similar year.

RB Braelon Allen, NYJ - I will not claim to know what the Jets have in store regarding their backfield usage. Is Breece Hall in a committee or is it all the talk about it just a ruse? I am not sure I care. What I do know is that New York has the personnel to play smash-mouth football. Last season, the Eagles led the league with a whopping 621 rush attempts. Next was Baltimore with 554 and Detroit with 534. I mention the Lions in part because new Jets OC Tanner Engstrand was in Detroit pre-Dan Campbell. It is also worth mentioning that Engstrand's most prominent coaching influences have been Jim Harbaugh and Campbell. He will want to run the ball as much as possible, and it seems likely he will do it by committee. Even if Hall is in a committee, the odds are strong that he will see at least 225 carries, which would be a career high. Assuming New York runs as often as some of the most run-heavy teams from 2024, it leaves about 300 carries for Justin Fields and the rest of the offense to split.

Enter Allen, who reportedly looks like a new man in camp this summer. The thought coming out of New York for months is that Hall will play the Jahmyr Gibbs role in Engstrand's offense while Allen will be utilized somewhat like David Montgomery. There are obvious differences in the two situations (Gibbs is special and Montgomery is annually underrated, Engstrand probably is not Ben Johnson and Fields is not Jared Goff, etc.), but the point to be made here is that even if Fields takes 100 carries for himself, it leaves another 200 for Allen and/or Isaiah Davis. While the latter is not going away anytime soon, it seems clear that the new regime is set on trying to replicate the Detroit model with its backfield. The Jets are highly unlikely to score a lot this season, but there should be ample opportunity for multiple mouths to be fed in the running game. Allen figures to be one of those mouths.

RB Kyle Monangai, CHI - Were it not for the fact that Monangai was the best early-down running back in an up-and-coming offense led by new HC Ben Johnson, I might look the other way. Monangai is not necessarily a special talent, but he is the best pure running back on the roster at the moment. That alone means something when we consider the likelihood that Chicago will score a full touchdown per game more than it did last year (18.2 point-per-game average). Two of the most likely reasons for my confidence in saying that: the play calls will be more creative and the offensive line play should be exponentially better after the Bears overhauled their interior line during free agency. Drew Dalman is a top-five center in the league, Joe Thuney is probably still a top-five option at guard and Jonah Jackson is certainly better than his predecessor at right guard (Nate Davis).

Among the other reasons I am confident in Monangai: he does not fumble, possesses excellent contact balance and is a tone-setter. It was not long ago that Ben Johnson entered a season expected to feature D'Andre Swift and instead gave a similar back (to Monangai) 262 carries during a 17-touchdown season. That was Jamaal Williams in 2022. I am not predicting a similar season for Monangai, but it is hard for me to wrap my mind around the possibility of Roschon Johnson blocking the rookie from significant playing time after failing to beat out Khalil Herbert or D'Onta Foreman as a rookie and averaging 2.7 yards last season. Monangai is going to play a role in this offense. The question is how long Ben Johnson is willing to feature an undisciplined runner like Swift before Monangai plays a huge role.


Doug Orth has served as an analyst for FF Today since 2006 and joined the Fantasy Points team before the start of the 2024 season. He is also a highly successful high-stakes player who has not experienced a losing money season in any of his 25 years in this hobby. Please check him out on "The Football Diehards" podcast - courtesy of Full Time Fantasy - on Wednesday nights with co-host JJ Wenner.





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