Chris Rodriguez Jr. — Week 1: Two Short-Yardage Carries, One Converted
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Rodriguez took a direct snap on third and one from the Jacksonville thirty-seven and got two yards for the first down, then was stopped a yard short on third and two at the Cleveland thirty on the same drive, and Cameron Little kicked a forty-seven-yard field goal. Six carries for twenty-three yards, longest eight, no targets, against Bhayshul Tuten's fifteen in a 34–10 win over the Browns.
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The full episode, in writing
Chris Rodriguez Jr. got the short-yardage carries on Sunday and split them. Second quarter, 14 oh seven left, third and one at the Jacksonville 37, Jaguars up 14 to nothing, Wyatt Milum reported in as an extra lineman: direct snap to Rodriguez, up the middle for two yards and the first down, worth +0.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Seven plays later on the same drive it was third and two at the Cleveland 30, nine 58 left: up the middle for one, Isaiah McGuire and Carson Schwesinger on the stop, −1.7 expected points, and Cameron Little kicked a 47-yard field goal for 17 to nothing.
The full line: six carries, 23 yards, no touchdowns, longest run eight, three of the six successful, one first down, −0.8 in total, no targets. Five of the six carries came before halftime, one after — eight yards up the middle on first and 10 from the Jacksonville 41 with six 29 left in the third. The carry nearest the end zone was five yards on first and nine from the Cleveland nine with two 28 left in the first quarter, to the four, and Josh Cameron caught the touchdown on the next snap. That was the only running-back carry Jacksonville had in the red zone all day.
The backfield split was Bhayshul Tuten 15, Rodriguez six, Ameer Abdullah four for 32 — including runs of 11, nine and 12 — and one apiece to Jakobi Meyers and Travis Hunter, with Trevor Lawrence carrying twice and Mullens kneeling three times. After halftime Jacksonville ran 15 times and threw five, and Rodriguez had one of the 15; Tuten had nine. The pattern of the day was Tuten between the twenties and Rodriguez on the downs where a yard or two settled it.
Back in June the preview's read on Rodriguez was a back who had never found sustained volume — 40-fifth among backs across 12 games — and whose telling number was availability, about 55 percent of games across his career. Sunday he was available, and the volume was six carries with a specific job attached. One game says nothing about whether the six holds or the job does; it says the first week's version of the split was clear. Jacksonville is at the Broncos on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Chris Rodriguez Jr.'s week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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