There’s a lot of debate about whether or not you should own your running back handcuffs or another team’s handcuffs in order to diversify and block them. There’s also questions about whether or not you should own “true handcuffs” at all because they have no real value on your bench and you want to save those spots on your bench for breakouts and guys who you could spot start in case of injuries or the coming bye weeks. I am generally of the opnion that you don’t need to overdraft your own handcuffs with just a few exceptions and you should instead spend those spots on breakouts and wait for whoever drafted them to drop them for the new hotness as the weeks pass and just bank on no injuries. These are the guys who should be drafted though because they would inherit a workhorse workload with league winning upside should the starter go down. (Only guys who are true handcuffs will appear on this list, not guys like Zach Charbonnet or Elijah Mitchell who should see plenty of work on a weekly basis).
Jaylen Warren – Pit
I think that once again we are seeing Najee Harris being wildly over drafted. He is coming off the board as the RB12 in PPR leagues according to ESPN ADP. But, one thing is pretty clear after seasons of 381 and 313 touches and that is that the Steelers are going to ride one back and ride him straight into the ground.
Jaylen Warren was arguably better in his opportunities in 2022, but when Harris was healthy he gets a workhorse role. This means that Warren isn’t going to have much of a week to week value, but if Harris were to go down then Warren is going to feast. There is no one in this backfield behind Warren which means it won’t be a timeshare and Warren should walk into close to 20 carries a game.
Zamir White – LV
As of this writing we still do not have a resolution to the Josh Jacobs franchise tag situation which means that at the very least until that happens White should be drafted in every league. Once Jacobs does decide to play, White will still have strong value as injury insurance especially with Jacobs probably not having a ton of motivation to play through an injury especially once this team starts to fall behind in the standings. Let’s also not forget that last season there was a decent amount of hype around White. It ultimately didn’t pan out into anything as he took just 17 carries for 70 yards on the season behind the rushing champ.
White would slide into a workhorse role behind a good offensive line in an offense that is going to rely on the run whether Jacobs is back there or not. The biggest concern about White in the case of Jacobs sitting out or being injured is that there is probably a very significant chance that the Raiders sign a Fournette, Hunt, or Zeke to help.
Tyjae Spears – TEN
Spears is behind Derrick Henry on the Titans roster after being selected 81st overall in this year’s NFL Draft. There is no chance that he takes this role while Henry is on the field, but Henry is reaching some important milestones in regards to durability. He will be 30 in January, is entering his 8th season, and has taken 1,750 carries in his career and gone over 300 carries in three of the last four seasons. Henry could prove us all wrong and once again be his dominate self, I certainly am not betting against him, but if he goes down they are still going to lean very heavily on the ground as they did when he missed time in 2021 and the guy who will inherit the lead role is Spears.
Chase Brown – CIN
Chase Brown slides into the backup role following the Bengals letting Perine walk in free agency. There are concerns that Brown isn’t big enough (5’9″ 215 lbs) to take on a 3 down role if Mixon were to go down, but he is going to be given a shot to be the guy. There is also an outside chance that he carves out a small role for himself in this offense as the Bengals have consistently used the backup running back. If you are in a 12 team league or bigger than Chase Brown should be rostered because he is one injury away from taking over a huge role in a monster offense.
Deon Jackson – IND
Jonathan Taylor is suddenly in danger of sitting out or being traded, though owner Jim Irsay says that is not happening. It is clear that Taylor is not happy with his contract and concerned about the lack of a market for running backs. The fines are pretty harsh and unsustainable for holding out, but Taylor is certainly in danger of not starting Week 1 and could be off this roster. That would be a huge move and it would launch the Deon Jackson hype train. In relief duty of time missed for Jonathan Taylor in 2022, Jackson was less than stellar on the ground posting rushing lines of 12/42/1 and 11/23/0. However, in the first game he had 10 receptions for 79 yards which was week winning.
Jackson is not uber talented, but he is alone behind Taylor and would be thrust into the starting spot if he were to sit out though I think there’s about zero chance they don’t being in someone like Zeke if he does in order to protect Anthony Richardson.