Fantasy Football 2016: Guide to This Season's Top Handcuff RBs

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We can define insurance as protection against a possible eventuality. In fantasy football, the most common form of insurance employed is the practice of "handcuffing" running backs. This investing strategy is the practice of acquiring the direct backup, or the handcuff in fantasy vernacular, to a starting running back.

Accuracy guru John Paulsen of 4for4.com efficiently details the intricacies of handcuffing tailbacks:

Handcuffing RBs is not an exact science. The importance of a handcuff depends on several factors, including the value of the starter in question, the durability of the starter, the talent (and price) of the handcuff, the overall clarity of the backfield situation and the roster size of your league. Generally, it’s a good idea to handcuff your top 1-2 backs provided the aforementioned factors don't make it difficult or wasteful to do so. Running back is the most injury-prone position in fantasy football, and it makes sense to buy insurance if the handcuff meets the necessary criteria. 

We're in agreement with Paulsen that the pursuit of insurance is entirely contextual and shouldn't be unilaterally applied to each depth chart scenario. There are only a handful of cases around the league we project a clear inheritance path for touches. On many depth charts we're likely to witness the workload splinter among a variety of early-down and change-of-pace specialists. FantasyPros provides us with a helpful overview of tailback depth charts around the league. 

This practice of handcuffing was born when running backs entirely ruled the early rounds in draftswhich is no longer the case in this rich new era of superstar wideoutsyet it still persists in many leagues. If the pursuit of drafting in fantasy football aims to maximize the output of each selection, then consolidating resources into competing and often defeating backfield shares isn't ideal. There are, as we've mentioned, scenarios that prove worthy of consideration for insurance, which we canvas in this piece. 

Maximizing shares of opportunity among several different backfields is often our favorite practice, as opposed to purely seeking the cost certainty of consolidation. Which is to say, going after high-upside backups is a fine practice, but don't pay an overt premium to simply protect your top picks at the position. It's fine to poach your competitors, while seeking to avoid overpaying for opportunities around the league.  

We witnessed just last season how important the Pittsburgh Steelers' DeAngelo Williams proved in replacing an injured Le'Veon Bell. On the doorstep of the 2016 campaign, investors must decide if paying the premium for Williams and Bell proves worthy.

The theme of handcuffing is truly appreciating context, which largely focuses on the pricing of potential found on a specific depth chart. Join us in discussing the most fantasy-relevant handcuff situations around the NFL

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