Fantasy Football Week 12 Waiver Wire Debate: Jaleel McLaughlin vs Chris Rodriguez Jr.

Jaleel McLaughlin and Chris Rodriguez Jr. have both risen on their depth charts. One has much higher value to be added to your Fantasy Football roster.

Nov 16, 2025; Madrid, Spain; Washington Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. (36) carries the ball against the Miami Dolphins in the second quarter during the 2025 NFL Madrid Game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Tuesday Waiver Wire is in full effect this week. Many of you are scrambling to reenter your league's playoff race and you must find upside wherever it can be found. Luckily for you, I am putting in the work to find you the best possible players to add. Today, we look at the Running Back position. We will analyze both Jaleel McLaughlin and Chris Rodriguez Jr.

The Case for Jaleel McLaughlin

As JK Dobbins has gone out injured, RJ Harvey was meant to takeover as the lead back in Denver. We had expected Harvey to have 60-75% of Rushing Attempts, but that appears to have been an overestimation.

In Week 11, the Broncos ran out Harvey, McLaughlin, and Tyler Badie. The split went:

• Harvey - (11) - 53%
• McLaughlin - (6) - 29%
• Badie - (0) - 0%

This sample size is very minimal, so we do take it with a grain of salt. The Broncos ran just (21) Attempts in the entire game. Harvey did also outsnap McLaughlin 61-13% . McLaughlin did score the sole team Rushing Touchdown, but again, we take it with a grain of salt.

#Broncos Week 11 RB Usage

- RJ Harvey: 61% snaps, 11 carries, 21 routes, 3 targets (50 yds)
- Jaleel McLaughlin: 13% snaps, 6 carries, 2 routes, 1 target (14 yds, TD)

Didn't get the TD, but got to like to usage for Harvey

— Michael F. Florio (@MichaelFFlorio) November 17, 2025

Given the snap counts, it does appear that Harvey will still be the leadback. I would speculate his split to tick up to 60-65% . That will devalue McLaughlin a bit, although his ceiling does remain high.

I would expect McLaughlin to range from 20-35% of Rushing Attempts. At his very best, he could hit 40-50%, but I am not so sure about that. This projected share would give him anywhere from (4) to (10) Attempts per Game.

The Case for Chris Rodriguez Jr.

RB Chris Rodriguez: The JCM “Bill” experiment may be over. 16 touches for CRod to 10 for JCM to 6 for McNichols. Rodriguez had 85 total yards in WK11 and gets a bye in WK12. Weeks 15-17: NYG, PHI, DAL. He’s a nice pickup. pic.twitter.com/91iQunQEnQ

— Joshua Cho (@jbchoknows) November 18, 2025

It appears that the Commanders have made some adjustments in their rushing attack. Over the past three games, Rodriguez Jr. has (33) Rushing Attempts to Croskey-Merritt's (34) Rushing Attempts. In Week 11, Rodriguez Jr. out-rushed Croskey-Merritt 15-to-12.

In Week 11, Rodriguez Jr. also led this backfield in snaps at 45%. Croskey-Merritt had 27% and McNichols had 25%.

It is also noteworthy to see the season long Red Zone trends of the Commanders. Rodriguez Jr. leads the team with (17) Red Zone Attempts. Croskey-Merritt lies with (14) and McNichols with (5).

What we see here is a clear trend in recent weeks that puts Rodriguez Jr. as the RB1 over Croskey-Merritt. Of all three Running Backs, Croskey-Merritt has been the worst performer with 4.4 Yards per Attempt. Rodriguez Jr. had 4.7 Yards per Attempt and McNichols leads at 7.0 Yards per Attempt, although with a lower, dynamic sample size.

Waiver Wire Debate: Jaleel McLaughlin vs Chris Rodriguez Jr.

This is a very clear decision to make. McLaughlin has upside, but he is the minority RB2 on this Broncos depth chart.

Rodriguez Jr. is splitting carries between three Running Backs, but it appear that he is the RB1. At worst, he is on par with Croskey-Merritt for RB1. Rodriguez Jr. does own a hefty amount of Red Zone touches, averaging (1.7) Red Zone Attempts per Game.

Pickup Chris Rodriguez Jr. for much higher and proven opportunity.