What Does Commanders’ Trade of RB Brian Robinson, Jr. Mean for NY Giants?

The NY Giants' Week 1 opponents sent their top running back to the 49ers this week. Why that's potentially good news for Big Blue.

The Commanders tradong of running back Brian Robinson Jr. potentially weakens the Washington rushing attack, which shoudl help the Giants' run defense. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the New York Giants’ Week 1 clash against the Washington Commanders less than three weeks away, the Commanders traded running back Brian Robinson, Jr. to the San Francisco 49ers (who face the Giants in Week 9) in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round draft pick.

For the Giants, whose run defense is still something of a question mark, this trade could represent good news for a run defense that is looking to get off to a fast start.. 

Last season, Robinson, who played in the first game but missed the second against the Giants, gained 133 yards on 17 carries (6.1 average), including six first-down runs while forcing seven missed tackles and only having a 29% stuff rate, according to data from Pro Football Focus.

Over his career (five games) against the Giants’ run defense, Robinson has averaged 5.5 yards per carry (414 yards on 75 carries) with 26 first downs.

The Giants, whose run defense last year ranked 27th in average rushing yards per game allowed (136.2) and 24th in average rushing yards allowed per play (4.6), made a conscious effort this past offseason to upgrade the run defense. 

In addition to getting back a healthy Dexter Lawrence, the team is projected to be fielding a rotation that will include free-agent signee Roy Robertson-Harris and third-round draft pick Darius Alexander.

They will join 2024 holdover Rakeem Nunez-Roches in trying to better plug the interior lanes between the tackles and force running backs to the edges, where their outside guys (Chauncey Golston, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns) hope to string out rushing attempts to limit the impact per rush. 

Barring any additions made between now and the Week 1 meeting at Northwest Stadium, the Commanders' running game projects Austin Ekeler, who came over from the Los Angeles Chargers as their lead running back, with Chris Rodriguez Jr. and rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt projected to round out the Commanders' rushing attack. 

Second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels can also provide a running threat for the Commanders. Last season, in two games against the Giants, he recorded 79 rushing attempts on 18 carries with a long of 16 yards and notched five rushing first downs.

What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.