Welcome to the Week 14 Fantasy Football Running Back Handcuff Report! As we head into fantasy football playoff season and some season-long waiver wires close, it’s important that you act now and try to add as many RB handcuffs to your rosters as you can. You don’t want to find yourself in a position in which your fantasy football playoff run stalls because of an injury to your primary RB. 

In a perfect world, you’re already rostering your primary fantasy football RB's handcuff, but at this time of year, any RB with a direct link to a role as a lead fantasy football RB has fantasy value. I’m not recommending that you drop a player that will sacrifice your fantasy team’s depth in other positions just to pick up an RB, but with the volatility associated with the position, you need to make sure that your fantasy team’s roster is equipped to deal with the unexpected.

As we head into the NFL’s Week 14, keep an eye on Kenneth Walker’s status. He unexpectedly appeared on the Seattle Seahawks’ injury report with a glute injury. If he’s unavailable, expect Zach Charbonnet, who seems to vulture a TD away from Walker III on a weekly basis as his RB handcuff, to be the Seahawks’ lead back against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 14.

It should also be noted that Baltimore Ravens RB Keaton Mitchell secured his role as Derrick Henry’s RB handcuff with Justice Hill being placed on IR this past week.

Last week, we saw former New Orleans Saints RB handcuff Devin Neal take over as the team’s lead back. He played 81.9% of the Saints’ offensive snaps in Week 13 and had modest PPR fantasy production. We might actually have another RB handcuff who may blossom into a lead back ahead of Week 14. We’ll talk about him and a few other NFL fantasy football backfields that you need to keep tabs on ahead of Week 14’s kickoff. 

 

 

 

Fantasy Football NFL Week 14 Running Back Handcuff Report

Minnesota Vikings

Aaron Jones is dealing with a shoulder injury that may sideline him in Week 14. He’s been described as being day-to-day and limited in early practices. Should he be inactive, Jordan Mason, his RB handcuff, would almost certainly take over as the Vikings’ lead back in Week 14. As the Vikings’ potential lead back, Mason has a good matchup against the Washington Commanders, who have given up the fourth most PPR fantasy points per game for the season and 4.80 YPC to fantasy football RBs over their last four games. The Vikings have also designated Ty Chandler eligible to return from IR. He’s been limited at practice but could steal some third-down snaps from either Jones Sr. or Mason in Week 14.

Los Angeles Chargers

As this article is being written, it seems that Omarion Hampton might play on Monday night, but there’s been no official confirmation as to his Week 14 status. If you roster Kimani Vidal, who ended up as Hampton’s RB handcuff and has been the Chargers’ lead back in their last seven games, you’re looking good. You can simply wait until Monday and decide who to start. If you don’t roster Vidal, you’ve already had to get by without Hampton since Week 5, so you probably already have a backup plan. Hassan Haskins (hamstring) has been designated to return from the IR and returned to practice this week, but he won’t move the needle when it comes to fantasy production in the short term.

New England Patriots

It looks like the Patriots have pulled the rug out from under us yet again! Based on their Week 13 backfield usage, it looks like we might see a 50/50 split between Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson moving forward. Stevenson had been the Pats’ lead back, but Henderson filled that role with Stevenson (toe) inactive from Weeks 9 through 11. Stevenson played 31% of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 12 and 58.5% in Week 13. Henderson still had a significant role in Week 13 (49.2% snaps played) and was more effective at running the ball (6.1 YPC compared to 3.3 for Stevenson) than Stevenson. The Pats have a bye in Week 14, and who knows how they’ll use their RBs moving forward. With the fantasy football playoffs looming, the Pats picked a bad time to change things up on us.

 

 

 

Carolina Panthers

Rico Dowdle has been the Panthers’ lead back for the past several weeks, and Chuba Hubbard has been his RB handcuff. However, in Week 13, Hubbard played 59.4% of the team’s offensive snaps compared to 42.2% for Dowdle. Hubbard scored more PPR fantasy points than Dowdle in Week 13, and while it appears that Hubbard’s uptick in playing time may have been due to the Panthers using a hot hand approach, we might be seeing Hubbard and Dowdle’s usage become a bit more balanced moving forward. If you read between the lines, head coach Dave Canales seems to suggest that the hot-hand, share the load approach to using his RBs will continue, which isn’t great news for fantasy football managers. Hubbard’s claim that he may have been trying to do too much too soon after coming back from his injury seems correct. In Hubbard’s first three games back, he averaged just 2.6 YPC. He’s averaging 5.0 YPC in his last four games. 

Los Angeles Rams

So, the Rams are more concerned about their own playoff run than yours! That’s pretty selfish if you ask me! Kyren Williams has had 14 or fewer carries in eight of his last nine games, and according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the Rams will continue to limit Williams' workload. Since Week 7, Blake Corum, Williams’ RB handcuff, has played between 27 and 34% of the Rams’ offensive snaps. During that time frame, Williams has averaged 14.48 PPR fantasy points per game, but his individual game PPR fantasy points have fluctuated between 5.8 and 22.4. Williams suffered an ankle injury during Week 13’s game against the Panthers and has been limited in practice, so it’s possible that we may see Corum steal some more snaps from him in Week 14. 

Arizona Cardinals

As this article is being written, Trey Benson hasn’t practiced this week. The Cardinals’ backfield had been one to avoid in the past, but Zonovan “Bam” Knight seems to have settled in as their lead back, and he’s scored a TD in three straight games. Don’t be surprised if Benson is inactive in Week 14 and misses the rest of the season. Emari Demercado has been limited in practice this week, and his potential return to game action could put a wrinkle in the Cardinals’ Week 14 depth chart, but for now, consider Knight as their primary back. Michael Carter has actually played a higher percentage of snaps for the Cardinals as their third-down back and has some fantasy value in PPR fantasy football leagues.