The Commanders sent a strong message with the latest move regarding RB Brian Robinson Jr, and it was heard loud and clear

Monday night showed us everything we needed to see with the RB room.

Josh Taylor — Washington Commanders News Writer
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The latest saga between the Washington Commanders and RB Brian Robinson Jr. came out of nowhere, but it’s been developing at a high rate even since the news got out.

On Monday night, Robinson Jr. was held out of the preseason game and wasn’t even present at the stadium. The move I expected to happen signaled a couple of messages from the Commanders, and the writing is on the wall for the outcome.

Robinson Jr’s time is coming to an end

Once the news came out that Robinson Jr. wasn’t even at the stadium for the preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, we all knew that he was headed out of Washington. Commanders HC Dan Quinn said after the game that they spoke to Robinson Jr. on Saturday and let him know their decision, and also addressed the team about what was going on.

If you’re getting trade offers for a player, you aren’t putting them on the field to get injured, but Robinson Jr, not even being with the team, spoke volumes about what’s to come. There are a handful of teams that could likely reach out for Robinson Jr, and things could happen quickly, as they already have been.

Adam Peters has shown in his short time here that if you don’t fit the future plans of the team, he has no hesitation in making a move that may be bold to those on the outside. He also drafted his guy in the seventh round of the draft this offseason, in Bill Croskey-Merritt, and the hype has been real before the season even started. Croskey-Merritt sure helped his case on Monday night, too.

Commanders’ running game will be fine without Robinson Jr.

The team wouldn’t move on from Robinson Jr. if they believed they needed him to be the lead back on the offense, and we got our first look at the running game on Monday night. Deebo Samuel got things started with a 19-yard jet sweep, showing his vintage speed and ability as a runner.

Then the running backs decided to take over, and Chris Rodriguez broke off a 40-yard gain up the C-gap, which set up Jayden Daniels’ 14-yard touchdown scramble. Croskey-Merrit took his second carry of the game to the house for a 27-yard touchdown on a GT counter to the right, and it felt like the turning of a page of what’s to come.

The offensive line is improved, they found the steal of the draft in Croskey-Merritt, and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has more weapons to open up the playbook and actually run the ball effectively this season. Life after Robinson Jr. might not be as bad as fans might expect it to be.

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