There's been some discussion here recently about handcuffs, whether they're worth it or not. It's been on my mind recently as well, in part due to a couple of recent situations in my two dynasty leagues: acquisitions I made, and ones I didn't.

In the first league, I have C.J. Anderson, and I recently dropped Seattle rookie Thomas Rawls to pick up Juwan Thompson. Thompson has just a one-in-three chance to back up Anderson this year, but he has a number of points in his favor.

  1. He's young and looked good when he played last preseason and last season.
  2. He was praised last week by new coach Gary Kubiak as "a perfect fit for what we do."
  3. He's not Montee Ball, who looked bad last year in limited action, or Ronnie Hillman, who has had plenty of chances but never really taken those and done much with them.
  4. He costs nothing more than a roster spot.

Rawls, who could also be said to have a one-in-three chance to back up Marshawn Lynch in Seattle, meets some of the criteria above. He's young, and he drew some praise from beat writers at OTAs. And he costs nothing more than a roster spot.

On the other hand, I haven't personally seen anything noteworthy out of him in an actual game. Christine Michael, unlike Ball or Hillman, has not yet done anything to make me say, He's never going to be a starter in this league, so Rawls seems to have longer odds to be the backup.

Both players have relatively low risk and low cost, but Thompson's odds look better of contributing and being a starter, and his upside is thus a little bit higher.

In the second league, I have DeMarco Murray, and on a regular basis the guy who has Ryan Mathews offers him to me in trades. Now, Mathews meets some of the criteria. A lot of upside if Murray gets hurt, and he did have some strong stretches of play and one great season in San Diego.

Then again...

  1. He turns 28 in October.
  2. If he starts, he'll definitely lose work to Darren Sproles in passing situations, and we know that Chip Kelly is pretty fickle when it comes to, well, basically any and all of his players. (Remember him saying Nick Foles would be his starting quarterback for 50 years?)
  3. He usually gets hurt.
  4. He would cost me a decent player to acquire.

So in Mathews' case, there's some upside, but there's also cost, risk and the fact that his upside is short-term -- he's not going to suddenly emerge as a franchise back over the next 4-5 years. With Thompson and even Rawls, at least the possibility is there.

There will be an interesting case study this year with DeAngelo Williams. Personally, if I draft LeVeon Bell, I may use a last-round pick on Williams, if he's there. But there are some things working against him in handcuff land.

  1. The only two games he'll definitely start are against New England and San Francisco, and I'm not sure I'll want to use him in either of those games anyway.
  2. He's old.
  3. He always gets hurt or disappoints me.
  4. His upside is pretty low.

Bottom line, I like handcuffs, but only if they meet all the criteria I'm looking for. These things vary slightly in re-draft leagues versus dynasty, but in general I'm looking for low cost, low risk, and high upside if the guy actually wins the backup job. Yes to Thompson, maybe (in dynasty) for Rawls, maybe (but probably not) in re-draft for Mathews.

DeAngelo? If he's cheap and I already have Bell, maybe. But probably not.