Fantasy Handcuffs, When and Why?

~Zach Jacobson

I recently came across a thread on my favorite fantasy football forum (The Fantasy Football Guys) asking about specific running backs and when-or even if-to draft their backup as a handcuff.

Sure, drafting Anthony Dixon in the 12th round may seem like a great idea at the time, but you'll be regretting it if #1-#2 round pick Frank Gore misses little to no time.  And yes, if it's the last round and you want to take a flier, knock yourself out.  Hell I don't care if you draft punter Chris Kluwe.  Maybe the starting kicker goes down and he has to take over the role.  The bottom line is, you NEVER pick a handcuff before the last round or two unless he's a player that you would normally draft!

Here's a quote from one of The Fantasy Football Guys' forum members on the topic of handcuffs (don't worry he's been notified on the quote):

"By and large, I don't believe handcuffs are worth anything - if the guy behind 'the guy' in those situations was that good in the first place, there would be an RBBC situation.  That's sort of how those came about in the first place.....and it's a waste of a roster spot in the first place.

I'd much rather take a flier on a rookie or a guy who always seemed to have potential in a new situation where he may have a chance to blow up."

 So I give some actual fantasy analysis, here's a list of running backs I would handcuff (BEFORE THE LAST ROUND)...out of the top 10 RBs, based off my pre-training camp top 150 fantasy rankings:

1.  Arian Foster--Rank:  #3 Overall

     Handcuff:  Bent Tate--Rank:  #134 Overall

2.  Jamaal Charles--Rank:  #4 Overall

     Handcuff:  Thomas Jones--Rank:  #117 Overall

3.  Maurice Jones-Drew--Rank:  #7 Overall

     Handcuff:  Rashad Jennings--Rank:  #143 Overall

Like I mentioned before, this is simply a list of running backs that I would handcuff before the last round of my draft.  Feel free to draft whomever you'd like in the final round.

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