Welcome to the Week 15 Fantasy Football Running Back Handcuff Report! As we head into the first week of the fantasy football playoffs, injuries to fantasy football RBs continue to be a thorn in the side of fantasy football managers. 

The Baltimore Ravens can breathe a sigh of relief. Keaton Mitchell, Derrick Henry’s RB handcuff and an explosive RB in his own right, should be active in Week 15  against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Aaron Jones is still dealing with a shoulder injury. It looked like he might be inactive in Week 14, but he played through his injury. He’s been limited in practice this week. Keep an eye on the Minnesota Vikings’ injury report. If he’s inactive in Week 15, Jordan Mason, Jones’ RB handcuff, will likely play the majority of the team’s snaps against the Dallas Cowboys.

It seems that Green Bay Packers RB Josh Jacobs has been banged up all season long, and his knee is acting up again. Should he be inactive in Week 15, Emanuel Wilson, who had a tremendous Week 12 when Jacobs was out, would once again be the Packers’ lead back.

Fantasy football managers received some definitive news about the future of an RB who started the season as his team’s RB handcuff and was eventually placed on IR.  

The Browns' RB depth chart has been tweaked due to an injury to their main passing-down back. We have a new RB handcuff for the Dolphins, and injuries could cause the Houston Texans to turn to a new RB handcuff as well. 

Injuries aren’t the only thing fantasy football managers have to deal with in Week 15, as there are still NFL teams using a hot hand approach to managing their backfields.

Before their Week 14 bye, the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots went back to using a split backfield/hot hand approach to using their RBs. The Chicago Bears have also been splitting their RB carries pretty evenly between Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift.

As you can see, we’ve got lots of news to cover this week, and we’ll also identify a few NFL fantasy football backfields that you need to keep tabs on ahead of Week 15’s kickoff in this week’s RB handcuff report.

 

 

 

Fantasy Football NFL Week 15 Running Back Handcuff Report

Arizona Cardinals

Trey Benson, who was placed on IR due to a knee injury back on October 1st, will not be activated before his 21-day practice window expires, which will end his 2025 season. That likely leaves Zonovan “Bam” Knight as the team’s primary back for now. It looked like we were seeing some signs of life from Knight in Week 13 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he, along with the rest of the Cardinals' offense, fell flat on his face against the Rams in Week 14. Unless Emari Demercado (ankle) is active for the Cards’ Week 15 matchup against the Houston Texans, Michael Carter will be Knight’s RB handcuff. The Cardinals’ backfield should continue to be avoided in fantasy football.

Los Angeles Chargers

Omarion Hampton (ankle) made his triumphant return to action on Monday night and basically split carries with Kimani Vidal (13 for Hampton, 14 for Vidal), who was the Chargers’ lead back while Hampton was unavailable. Vidal played 68.9% of the Chargers’ offensive snaps compared to just 31.1% for Hampton in Week 14. Hampton looked good, and while it’s likely that we’ll see a gradual uptick in his usage as the season progresses, head coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t committing to naming either RB as his starter. It’s a smart strategic move, but it obviously doesn’t help us fantasy football managers. It’s probably safe to start Hampton on a weekly basis moving forward if you haven’t already, but you should probably keep your short-term expectations in check. 

Houston Texans

Woody Marks is dealing with an ankle injury that forced him to miss Wednesday’s practice. He was back at practice on Thursday, but with Nick Chubb missing both Wednesday and Thursday’s practice due to a rib injury, Dare Ogunbowale might end up being Marks’ RB handcuff for Week 15. Ogunbowale is more of a pass-catching back, but he did fill in for Marks when he temporarily exited his Week 14 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, and he promptly scored a TD. The fact that Marks is back at practice is a good sign, but monitor the Texans’ injury report just in case he suffers a setback. British Brooks and Cody Schrader round out the rest of the Texans’ RB depth pieces.

 

 

 

Miami Dolphins

De’Von Achane (ribs) has been limited in practice this week. He’s practicing and will probably play, but if he’s unavailable for his Week 15 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jaylen Wright might be the RB that will take his place.  Maybe the Dolphins went with the hot hand, but after Achane was forced out of Sunday’s matchup against the New York Jets, Wright took over as the team’s lead back. Gordon appeared to be Achane’s RB handcuff for most of the season. Perhaps he still is, and with the Dolphins' Week 14 victory virtually assured, they used the RB (Wright) that they considered to be more expendable. In any case, if Wright is available on your season-long league’s waiver wire, he’d make a nice depth piece for your fantasy football team’s roster.

Cleveland Browns

Dylan Sampson, who is Quinshon Judkins’ RB handcuff, has missed practice this week due to calf/hand injuries. This comes after the Browns already placed Jerome Ford on IR, effectively ending his season. Should Sampson be inactive in Week 15, Raheim Sanders and Trayveon Williams could see an increased role playing behind Judkins in the Browns’ matchup against the Chicago Bears.