Top Five Handcuffs
Draft Ron Dayne. Seriously.
I survived New Orleans this weekend, but the less said about it the better. On an extremely quiet news morning, let's continue to answer some questions from the mailbag.
Frequent commenter Matthew Dibble writes,
How would you define a handcuff? Are they the same as a regular contributer? Is the handcuff the guy who gets less carries, even if you're talking about Jones and Barber? Or is it the guy who will rarely play in a single back system but you must have him in case your guy goes down? is there any in between? and who's the most important one to have this year?
I define a handcuff as a backup running back who has extra value to your team because you own the starter. It's the type of guy that is rarely going to play unless an injury strikes, but will clearly have the job if that happens.
Jones and Barber aren't really a handcuff situation. They have value independent of one another. In fact, I wouldn't recommend trying to get both players because it's going to cost you two mid-round picks. At this point, I'd rather draft Jones in the sixth-round then spend a fourth-round pick on his backup, Barber.
We include a handcuff article with a ranking for all 32 backfields in our magazines and online draft guide (on sale this week!)
The best kind of handcuffs are ones that don't cost much and have great job security as a backup. It doesn't hurt if the starter is a question mark because of injuries. Here are five I like this year.
Ron Dayne, HOU - Playing behind an injury-prone starter in Houston. He may get goal-line carries and proved he can be successful for a short period with the Texans last year.
Michael Pittman, TB - Does it every year, no matter how many times the Bucs try to replace him. Pittman is a must-get for Cadillac Williams owners because Caddy is an injury risk. Pittman often performs better than Williams, so you lose nothing if an injury strikes. He has some stand-alone value in PPR leagues, but most of his fantasy value comes as insurance.
Brian Leonard, Rams - Any starter for the Rams at running back is going to be valuable. If you are going to spend a top-five pick on Steven Jackson, insure it with his clear (and talented) backup.
Mike Bell, Broncos - Travis Henry has struggled with durability issues in the past and Bell has proven he can be competent in Denver's system. Bell is the rare handcuff I'd reach out of the final three rounds to grab.
Michael Turner, Chargers - Turner would be an obvious every-week starter if LaDainian Tomlinson ever got hurt, which makes him the best kind of handcuff. Unfortunately, everyone knows this. How early do you want to draft someone that hopefully stays on the bench this year? We have Turner graded as a tenth-round value, but I suspect he'll get taken earlier in most leagues.
Comments
I'm in the middle of a 12 hour timer draft...what do you guys think of the team thus far. It is a 12 team, ppr league and rewards 4 pts for TD under 35, 5 for 35-50, and 6 for 50+..plus basic poitns for yardage:
QB: Romo
RB: Westbrook, Ronnie Brown, Cedric Benson, Brandon Jacobs, Vernand Morency, LenDale White
WR: Reggie Brown, Chris Chambers, Greg Jennings
TE: None yet
K: None yet
D: None yet
start 1 QB, 2RB, 3WR, TE, K, D....obviously weak at WR and I won't have a really good TE but I feel as if the draft is going well..with all these Rb's I should be able to find some great trades a couple weeks into the season
Posted by: J | July 2, 2007 02:14 PM
j,
pretty solid. that rb stable is stacked for only starting two of them.
who's left at tight end and wr that you're thinking bout taking?
gotta get another qb too, romo can be risky without an insurance policy.
Posted by: Dibble | July 2, 2007 03:01 PM
Your going way too skimpy on your WR's. I'm assuming your supposed to start 3, and Chambers/Jennings should not be starters. Brown, whom I really like, is a WR2 at best. Romo is not even a T5QB. Shore up your WR if any of value are still available. Then if a top TE is still available, go for him. Try to get a QB with tons of potential, like Cutler/Leinart.
Posted by: bomi3ster | July 2, 2007 07:49 PM
I think Chambers, Brown, and Jennings are all adequate #2 or #3 WR's at worst with a lot of upside. As for TE's I think there are a ton of TE's that are perfectely fine outside of the top 4 or so. Since my last post I added Curry, Bruce, and Williamson and I have 2 of the next 6 picks
Posted by: J | July 3, 2007 11:13 AM
You know, Greg Jennings is one of the biggest mysteries in the NFL for me this year. I like his talent, and I know that Brett Favre likes him as well, but is Green Bay ready to put the ball in the air enough for both he and Driver to have a huge impact?
Maybe: With an aging Favre and a youthful backfield, I want to think Brett's going to go down swinging.
Maybe not: With an aging Favre, is he going to have the passion and the arm left to get the ball downfield to get the long YPA's and the td's?
I like Reggie Brown and (like alot of people)think he's a good sleeper.
Chris Chambers is on his way out of the league. We keep waiting on him to jump back into the fold, and I just don't think it's going to happen. I hope it does, but I don't think it will.
You're certainly deep at wr, as Curry is going to be a number 1 target for the youngster in Oaktown, and Williamson apparently didn't realize that he couldn't see for 22 years.
So, that might pan out for you. I'll bet there's no clear cut one there and you play the matchups all season. But it's ok, cause I always say wr's are the spot I'd rather be thin at (contrary to a lot of sites saying wr's importance is growing due to a diluted rb pool). i'll wait and see that happen before i get off of the "2 rounds - 2 running backs" train.
who's your backup qb and your starting te?
Posted by: Dibble | July 3, 2007 04:12 PM
My thoughts on Chambers: He had just shy 800 total yards (including the 97 rushing) and 4 TD's with a horrible QB situation last year. Green is a definite upgrade at QB, and it seems they are going to concentrate on getting him the ball. This should lead to at least 900-1000 yards and 6+ TDs.
As for the TE I just grabbed Ben Watson and I also grapped Philly's D...I normally don't take a D till the very end but as all the other D's were getting nabbed and Philly (who I think will be a good fantasy D) kept falling. My biggest concern at the moment is that I have so many players from a team I dont really like all that much haha (Eagles)
No backup QB yet, although I really like Romo. He was a top 7 per game average QB in pretty much every league.
Posted by: J | July 3, 2007 05:27 PM
I'm curious as to why you didn't mention Ladell Betts. I'm in a Contract league (we can sign players for a max three years) and I've got Jackson and Portis. I am thinking of grabbing Ladell Betts fairly quickly.
Posted by: Dave | July 4, 2007 06:23 AM