Washington CommandersOur read
Written Sun 12:01 am Central, for week 6
McNichols is on injured reserve on Sunday's report, so he does not play Monday night at the 49ers in week 6 of 2026, and he hasn't logged a game all season after missing weeks 1 through 5. Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White and Kaytron Allen all sit ahead of him in Washington's backfield, so there's no path to work here even once he's healthy. He checks in at RB103 in our rest-of-season order. Keep him off your lineup this week, and if you need the roster spot, drop him for a back who can take the field.
Written Oct 18, from his facts through last season
The IR listing decides this one. He has missed weeks 1 through 5 of 2026, and he went on the list before week 3, so this is not a two-week thing. The board ranks him below every available running back while he sits there, and he scores nothing until he comes off. Our preseason number, 15 points for the whole season, assumed 3 games, and we are already past that without a snap.
Even before this, the production never arrived. Last season across 16 games he averaged 4.4 points, RB58 among 159 qualifying backs, and his best week was 13.8 in week 3 of 2025. He cleared our 15-point bar zero times. The pass-game work was real, a 7.2% target share and RB35 in receiving yards, but the scoring work was not: 7 red-zone touches, RB72, and a 9.3% red-zone share of his own touches, RB113. Only 3 of his touches came inside the ten, RB73 among 148, and his average depth of target was minus 0.7 yards. That kind of profile has cost backs like him when the touchdowns do not come.
There was one real gain worth naming. His yards per touch climbed from 4.5 in 2024 to 6 in 2025, and his target share went from 2.4% to 7.2% across those seasons. He also played 16 of 17 in 2025 without an injury list, so last year he was durable. But none of that mattered for a back on IR.
He is also 30.7, in his tenth year, and fourth on the depth chart behind Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White and Kaytron Allen, with a bye in week 7 of 2026 still ahead. If he somehow fills a roster spot for you, the move is to spend that spot on a back who can actually dress on Sunday.