By definition, “handcuff” is a term with negative connotations. It inhibits your freedom, limits your options, curtails your possible escape plans.
This isn’t a new idea — the Madman has addressed it before. Yet, some feel the need to engage in such practices as a way to accommodate lack of running back depth. But it also restricts your ability to draft better options.
The Madman has narrow criteria for handcuff options. We need a bona fide bellcow running back who has an identifiable backup who would inherit a similar workload. Think: Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams a few seasons ago.
Those situations don’t happen as often as some want to believe. More often, an injury to a starter gives way to a significantly less productive backup, or a committee, or a backup yet undetermined — think Tom Hightower for Mark Ingram two seasons ago, or when the Seahawks ran through a host of RBs last season: from, in no particular order, Eddie Lacy to Thomas Rawls to Chris Carson to C.J. Prosise, etc. Or the season before, when they ran through Rawls and Christine Michael and Prosise and Alex Collins, etc. Or Rob Kelley’s breakout for Washington in 2016. And on and on.
The unpredictable nature of properly identifying handcuffs, and when they actually will be productive, undermines the strategic idea of drafting them. We would rather invest in a usable RB whose production doesn’t rely on an injury to a starter than a backup to a starter who might or might not be the go-to in event of injury or be productive if he is. Too many questions.
Additionally, any two backs we consider as handcuffable must have average draft positions that, combined, don’t require disproportionate draft capital. For example, last season we were not on board with cuffing Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman because, to do so, you had to spend a pick in the top two rounds on Freeman then a fifth- or sixth-rounder on Coleman. That is two of your top five or six picks tied up in one position: Falcons RB. That made such a plan too expensive.
This season, Coleman’s draft stock is much lower, making it one of the few viable cuff options the Madman might entertain on draft day.
Instead of cuffing, in general, we prefer to draft a variety of backs who can contribute weekly. We’ll take the hit at the third or fourth wide receiver to draft a third running back early. We can make up for that more easily, considering how deep the WR position is. We can wait on other positions and load up on at least four RBs in the first seven or eight rounds, still get quality WRs, and then turn our attention to quarterback and tight end for a round or two before filling out the end of our RB and WR bench.
The cuffs options we would consider in a basic 12-team PPR league is short:
- Dalvin Cook-Latavius Murray (Vikings)
- Devonta Freeman-Tevin Coleman (Falcons)
- Ezekiel Elliott-Rod Smith (Cowboys)
- Kareem Hunt-Spencer Ware (Chiefs)
- Joe Mixon-Giovani Bernard (Bengals)
- Royce Freeman-Devontae Booker (Broncos)
- LeSean McCoy-Chris Ivory (Bills)
This year’s list is longer than those in the past, but still fairly short, particularly in comparison to cuff proponents. And don’t forget the more basic overview: playable RBs are better than cuffed RBs who require injury to become playable.
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