Fantasy Handcuffing Is Dumb. Here’s Why.
If you’re a fantasy player, you’ve done it. I know you have. You draft a running back who has “an injury history,” so in the later rounds of your draft you pick up a player you assume will be his primary backup. In the event your star gets injured, you’ve already got the “next man up” who takes his spot, bingo bango problem solved.
Right?
Ah, the great Mr. Corso. Thank you, sir.
So no, I don’t believe this procedure, known in the fantasy world as “handcuffing,” is something serious and knowledgeable fantasy players should participate in. “But Zach,” you’re exclaiming, “why wouldn’t I take out an insurance policy against my player being hurt, because he’s been hurt in the past?” Frankly, you, because hedging your bets against future failures isn’t something you should be doing if you want to win your league. Here’s a few reasons why:
Handcuffs Are Backups For A Reason
Let’s take Alfred Blue, everyone’s favorite handcuff over the last two years. Arian Foster‘s main backup, Blue had a reasonable season last year subbing for Foster, to the tune of 169 carries for 528 yards in three starts while Foster was recovering for injury. Do the math, though: that’s 3.1 yards per carry, and Blue only scored two touchdowns. One of the most inefficient runners in the league, Blue was not immediately named the bell cow in Houston following “The Groin Rip” to Foster last week (as I will forever name it), and the offseason signing of Chris Polk to this backfield mean the Houston coaching staff isn’t exactly enamored with Blue’s ability to make up for Foster’s workload.
A bell-cow running back’s backup is just that; a backup. Not a change-of-pace guy (like a James Starks to Eddie Lacy), not a third-down guy with value of his own (like Roy Helu to Latavius Murray). A backup. A man with lesser skills and ability who is a “use in case of emergency” tool. Knile Davis, the Registered Handcuff for Jamaal Charles, has a career 3.5 yards per carry average in two seasons, over two starts. Suffice it to say, if these guys had fantasy starter talent, they’d be starters on a different team.
Sorry, Toby Gerhart and Ben Tate.
No One Else Is Drafting The Handcuff
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Unless your league includes this guy, no one will be drafting Knile Davis except the player who owns Charles. What I mean by that is this:
Player A (Charles owner): Oh, man! Jamaal is hurt! I need to pick up Knile Davis, his backup!
Player B (Asshole): Haha, sorry man, I drafted him. What’ll you give me for him?
See? Holding fantasy players for ransom is not cool, bros and gals. Not cool at all. If this happens to you, you should probably kick that owner out of your league; if you can’t, focus on my next point.
The Handcuff Has Zero Value Until…
That’s Stepfan Taylor. “Who?” I know, I know. He was the backup to Andre Ellington last year and started four games while Ellington was injured. What was his yards-per-carry average, you ask?
Three. Point. Three.
Noticing a trend?
If you draft Ellington, then spend a next-to-kickers-round pick on Taylor, you’re essentially saying that draft pick is worthless until Ellington hits the bench, in which case it’s almost worthless due to the putrid level of production Taylor gives you.
If your bench is so poorly stocked that you don’t have a better running back option, then perhaps you deserve the Mendoza line of backs while you make your playoff push. I, however, will have smartly drafted those later rounds for players with upside who can make splashes; if they don’t hit, I can simply drop them.
If you waste a bench spot for an entire season on a player who will never get more than three or four touches per game unless his starter gets hurt? You don’t deserve to make the playoffs, and you have no one to blame but yourself.
Let’s look at some of the players being drafted in the later rounds, based on ESPN’s average draft position (ADP):
Danny Woodhead (141.9)
Roy Helu (170)
Fred Jackson (128.8)
Reggie Bush (131.9)
Wouldn’t you rather have any of those guys over Taylor, Davis or Blue? I sure as heck would. Even in a standard league, I’d trust these guys (who have starting-caliber talent) to fill in for their teams as the lead back before the guys who are ostensibly rostered for that specific purpose.
Assuming A Player Will Be Injured Is Silly
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“Adrian Peterson tore his ACL!” you’ll say. “Why wouldn’t I want to pick up Matt Asiata or Jerick McKinnon, they were pretty good combined last year.”
First of all, you’re just…wow. Peterson’s ACL tear happened in 2011. He came back in the 2012 season and rushed for 2,097 yards, and started all 16 games. In 2013, he missed only two games, and still broke 1,200 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. By your logic, every single NFL player should be handcuffed because they’ve all had an injury at some point in their career.
Adrian Peterson is not “injury-prone.” Neither is Sam Bradford, for that matter, as much as we all make fun of him. Injuries are completely random, and for a single player to have multiple injuries in a short period of time is no one’s fault but Lady Fate’s, no matter what your owner says. That logic is short-sighted and dangerous, not to mention offensive to these men, who spend essentially their entire calendar year doing things designed to prevent injury.
Besides, fantasy football at its root is nothing more than gambling with skill; why would you bet on your own player to fail, when you can bet on him to succeed? What kind of person are you? You jerk. It may sound a bit hokey, but there’s a difference between mitigating risk and maintaining a positive outlook.
If you’re planning to draft Jamaal Charles, and you’re worried he might be dinged up a bit (which is a valid concern as an NFL running back, not just because he’s Jamaal Charles), perhaps grab an extra starting-talent back in the middle rounds rather than that stud rookie wide receiver you were targeting in the fifth round. If you’re taking a chance on Bradford, don’t waste a spot on Mark Sanchez as a handcuff because no one else is drafting him and should Bradford go down, you’re savvy enough to pick him up, and if you can’t, you’ve built your roster with the strength to survive without a clear QB1 while you deal with a Joe Flacco start or two.
Trust me, ladies and gentlemen. I’m a professional.
[…] out of as many players on your roster as possible. Injuries, of course, can’t be helped (as I’ve written before), but with a little know-how you can avoid guys I like to call land mines, or dumpster fires as the […]