Fantasy Football, Handcuffs Worth Having

(Photo Courtesy of SI.com)

One of the hardest things in fantasy football is deciding which players to handcuff. Often it is hard to handcuff a player, Because, you have to give up a starting player to get your particular players backup. For most positions handcuffing is silly, but, when it comes to running backs, sometimes a handcuff is the difference between a winning season and a losing season. In this piece we are going to breakdown the players that should be handcuffed and the players that should be handcuffed to them.

Ryan Mathews

Durability is a concern to DeMarco Murray owners, year in and year out. More often than not if you handcuffed him, you received good usage out of his back up. This season, the DeMarco Murray Handcuff is quite expensive.
If you want to handcuff Murray this season, you have to pay a considerable price for the services of Ryan Mathews. So the question that immediately comes to mind is, is it worth drafting Ryan Mathews to handcuff Murray?
I say yes, this one is pretty easy, even if DeMarco Murray stays upright the entire season, Ryan Mathews is going to put in work. With Murray healthy, I can see Mathews getting 10 to 15 Pts per game.

Now, should Murray get hurt this year, the sky is the limit for Ryan Mathews, in this RB friendly offense. If that happens, we will finally learn if Matthews can truly tap into his, often talked about potential.

Roy Helu

While Latavius Murray is going to be the man in Oakland, he has an upright running style which usually results in him taking some pretty big hits. Many would think Trent Richardson would be the handcuff to Murray, but, he is not. In fact, I am not even sure Trent will make the squad.

Roy Helu will be the Murray handcuff this season. Watching Trent Richardson in the early stages of the preseason is enough to give you a headache. Whenever I see Trent Richardson run, I can’t help but feel he isn’t smart enough to recognize blocking patterns or defensive schemes.

Furthermore, Roy Helu should see some action in the passing game, even with Murray in the lineup. Now this is the Raiders we are talking about, they aren’t an offensive juggernaut. To expect a back up running back on the raiders to produce every week isn’t realistic.

Should Murray go down though, Roy Helu is going to be the guy the coaches look to keep there ground game moving. The Raiders spent good money to bring Helu into Oakland, I’m sure they want him to do more than sit on their bench.

Knile Davis

He has been one of the most sort after handcuffs over the past few years. Jamaal Charles always brings the durability concerns to the table. We even saw Charles get a reduced workload last season, as he averaged just 16 touches per game.

Davis is actually taking the next step as far as being a backup goes, he can be considered more than a handcuff as Andy Reid will try to keep Charles fresh and healthy.
That’s makes Knile Davis the best kind of handcuff. As far as talent is concerned, he has it. We should see him get in the game and create opportunities for himself, even with Charles healthy.

Should Charles go down don’t sleep on Knile Davis, he is one of the few handcuffs that brings true breakout potential to the table.

Khiry Robinson

Mark Ingram seems to have his share of run-ins with the injury bug. With a fancy gadget player like C.J Spiller in town, it’s easy to over look the handcuff in this situation.

Make no mistake, if Ingram were to go down, we wouldn’t see Spiller shouldering the load in this running game. He is best used as a situational plug-in player, he also fares much better in the passing game than he does in the running game.

Khiry Robinson is the handcuff here. He is more equipped to run the style of running that Ingram runs. That is valuable, because one thing that makes an injury harder to overcome in this league, is when you have to adapt your game plan to your backup running back.
Robinson can come in and they can run all the same plays that they will run with Ingram.

David Johnson

Andre Ellington is another one of those high talent undersized RBs, while we like his talent the reality is, he is a little man in a giants world. One big hit and everyone will learn the name David Johnson.

David Johnson is one of the more Talented players you will see on this list. He has that rare combination of size, speed and athleticism, that we see come into the league every once in a while.

If he went to a bigger school he would be in the conversation with the Todd Gurley’s of the world. I’m not overly concerned about Chris Johnson, he doesn’t scare me away in this situation.

Also keep in mind Andre Ellington didn’t exactly impress last season, come to think of it, Chris Johnson, hasn’t impressed in years. While it’s a small chance, David Johnson, just might be able to steal this job. He is worth the late pick you would have to invest in him. Keep an eye on his injury status, the only concerns I do have about the CJ signing, is that it could mean that Johnson’s injury is more serious than they are letting on.

Ameer Abdullah

Now this is one of the tougher guys to call and handcuff, in some cases, he is going higher than Joique Bell. I still believe when push comes to shove, Joique is going to be the day 1 starter.

However, we have already seen Joique battle with injuries and his YPC over the past few years isn’t impressive. If you end up with Joique, it is imperative that you also bite the bullet and spend the high price tag on Ameer Abdullah.

James Starks

I wouldn’t call Eddie Lacy an injury prone RB. However, his up the middle, physical running style, makes him a high concussion threat. If you are going to invest a top 5 pick in Eddie Lacy this season, you should protect yourself and invest a late pick in James Starks as well.
Of the handcuffs, few guys step into a better situation than Starks. Getting to be the RB, on an Aaron Rodgers ran offense, means you will never see a full box. Defenses are going to back up to defend the pass.

Furthermore, whenever he has gotten the opportunity, he has shown up and
Played some solid ball. Starks is a very nice handcuff this season.

Dan Herron

If you are going to take the shot at the ageless wonder Frank Gore, you should take a shot on his handcuff as well. Dan Herron is a fine RB with lots of upside.To get Gore, you are going to have to invest an early pick in him. You should protect yourself and handcuff him to Dan Boom Herron. Gore is putting up a good fight with Father Time and to this point, he proved all the people who said he was too old, wrong.

He still has a ton of mileage and we all know, in the NFL, all it takes is one big hit. No man is exempt from the physicality that is the NFL.

Cameron Artis-Payne

I love how everyone is willing to embrace J Stew now. We want to talk about how strong he was at the close of last season. We want to talk about how he is going get a big workload, which should lead to a career year. But,we aren’t hearing the whole truth about J Stew.
We don’t hear too much talk about the fact that he is the most injury prone RB in the league. Chances of him staying healthy all season are about the same as me scoring a date with Jenna Jamison. I would bet on me getting my date over J Stew staying healthy.

I’ve seen Payne outside of the top 200 picks in some rankings. Don’t be stupid, spend the late pick on Payne and protect yourself from Jonathan Stewart‘s Durability

Furthermore, Cameron Artis-Payne brings and excellent skill set to the table. He will eat if given the opportunity.

Bilal Powell

I don’t buy into the fact that the Jets are trying to pass off their backfield as a camp battle. Chris Ivory is clearly the best back in this backfield. Barring an injury, he should remain in that RB1 spot for the Jets, all season.
One of the things that is clear watching the jets in camp, is that, Bilal Powell is the 2nd best running back on the team. Yes, Zac Stacy is getting ready to lose yet another position battle.

Furthermore, when you get Bilal Powell, you get his 3rd down work as well. In a PPR, some weeks, he can contribute to your team, even when Ivory is healthy. At this point it is too early to grade out Ridley as it is unclear when he will be fully recovered from his serious injury, so for me the ever-present Bilal Powell is my choice for the #2 spot.

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