With teams now solidifying their Week 1 rosters for the 2025 NFL season, the Commanders are making a significant subtraction from their backfield.
Washington is trading running back Brian Robinson to the 49ers, according to Adam Schefter, after prior reports indicated that the team was planning to move forward with other options at the position. With the Commanders having explored trades involving Robinson during the preseason, the 49ers have now added him to their backfield behind star Christian McCaffrey.
Robinson, 26, was a third-round pick in 2022 and has been a consistent part of Washington’s offense, posting three straight seasons of 700-plus rushing yards to start his career.
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Here are the full details from the Robinson trade, a look at his stats and an explainer on how the move affects both the Commanders' and 49ers' backfields.
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Brian Robinson trade details
Commanders receive: 2026 sixth-round pick
49ers receive: RB Brian Robinson
While Robinson has been a productive player over the last few seasons, he's also become less of a clear-cut RB1 and more of an option in a talented offense. The emergence of quarterback Jayden Daniels didn't just add another rushing component to the Commanders' unit in 2024, but it also meant the team could choose to prioritize speed around its star passer to highlight his strengths.
Robinson isn't exactly known as a fast back, and Washington is also known to value the other members of its backfield like Austin Ekeler, Chris Rodriguez and Jacory Croskey-Merritt. Robinson has been most valuable for the Commanders as a power/goal line back, and that's a role that can certainly be filled by other players in 2025.
Crosky-Merritt has drawn attention in training camp as a seventh-round pick out of Arizona. He scored a touchdown in a preseason game against the Bengals, and with reports that Washington was exploring trades involving Robinson, Crosky-Merritt emerged as the leading candidate for a larger role if Robinson were moved.
BILL 💸
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— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) August 19, 2025
As Washington transitions into an even quicker offense with the additions of Deebo Samuel and Crosky-Merritt, San Fransisco lands a running back in Robinson who has been fairly consistent in his career so far. Following a career-high eight touchdowns in 2024, Robinson will bring some up-the-middle running to the 49ers as an alternative to McCaffrey in the backfield.
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49ers RB depth chart
Rank Player
1 Christian McCaffrey
2 Brian Robinson
3 Isaac Guerendo
4 Jordan James
The addition of Robinson will be more about insurance, depth and an added component to the offense for San Fransisco, rather than acquiring its next surefire RB1.
McCaffrey, a three-time Pro Bowler, certainly has the 49ers' top rushing role locked down. He rushed for a career-high 1,459 yards in 2023, leading to MVP consideration before injuries held him back for a majority of 2024. That's where having Robinson will be beneficial, as head coach Kyle Shanahan has added the security of a talented running back behind McCaffrey for 2025, should the former All-Pro have to miss any time.
When McCaffrey and Robinson are both healthy, they'll likely both see the field but in differing roles. McCaffrey's pass-catching skills are elite out of the backfield, while Robinson will likely get short-range and goal line work as an alternative to the former Offensive Player of the Year.
Behind McCaffrey and Robinson are Guerendo and James, who will be taking on backup roles in 2025 with two starting-level options now ahead of them on the depth chart.
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Brian Robinson stats
Robinson has proven both durable and consistent since being drafted in 2022. He's finished just below 800 rushing yards in two of his NFL seasons, and he often capped drives for Washington in 2024 with a career-high eight touchdowns.
Here's a look at Robinson's career numbers:
Season Games Carries Rushing Yards YPC Rushing TDs Receptions Receiving Yards Receiving TDs
2022 12 205 797 3.9 2 9 60 1
2023 15 178 733 4.1 5 36 368 4
2024 14 187 799 4.3 8 20 159 0
Career: 41 570 2,329 4.1 15 65 587 5
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Brian Robinson contract
Robinson is set to be a free agent after the 2025 season. He's currently playing on his rookie deal, a four-year, $5.044 million contract he signed in 2022.
The running back has a cap hit of $3,618,255 in 2025, per Spotrac.
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Commanders RB depth chart
Rank Player
1 Austin Ekeler
2 Jacory Crosky-Merritt
3 Jeremy McNichols
4 Chris Rodriguez Jr.
Even with Robinson departing, the Commanders can't be considered thin at running back. They have a plethora of options that offer various skill sets, although it remains to be seen which back will pull away with the highest usage moving forward, if there is one.
Ekeler is sure to see playing time as a multi-skilled veteran. He's not the same player that used to rack up 1,400 scrimmage yards every season with the Chargers, but the 30-year-old is still an excellent receiving back and should get additional goal line work in 2025 after four touchdowns last season.
Crosky-Merritt appears to be the largest wild card, and also perhaps the reason that Washington even had interest in parting ways with Robinson. The rookie was a training camp standout and is also an older first-year player at 24, having spent six seasons in college.
While Crosky-Merritt appeared in just one college game in 2024 due to eligibility issues, he had 1,190 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns at New Mexico in 2023 and also excelled throughout the draft process. If any player is going to wind up taking a larger share of the snaps in the Commanders' backfield, it appears to be Crosky-Merritt.
McNichols, in his second year with Washington as a journeyman, and Rodriguez, entering his third year with the Commanders as a speedy option, also both have paths to playing time in what appears to be a timeshare backfield, at least for now.