0:00Today I'm breaking down my five favorite
0:02late round handcuff running backs who
0:04are currently available outside the top
0:05150 picks over at ESPN and Sleeper.
0:09These are guys who are one injury away
0:11from being on the cover of every single
0:12waiver wire article in the fantasy
0:14football industry and accordingly make
0:16for fantastic bench stashes on your
0:19fantasy squads of all shapes and sizes.
0:21So, let's get after it. Up first we have
0:23Eagles RB2 Tank Bigsby who, don't look
0:26now guys, has kind of been one of the
0:28better running backs in the league over
0:29the past two seasons. If we want to use
0:31some of these advanced stats that again
0:33try to paint RB performance independent
0:35of their offensive line and scheme. So,
0:37not even using all that small of a
0:38sample size, 44 running backs have at
0:40least 200 rush attempts over the past
0:42two seasons. And hey, Bigsby RB1 yards
0:45after contact per carry, RB2 tackles
0:48avoided per carry, RB5 in explosive rush
0:50rate. In Jacksonville and Philly alike
0:52Tank really did make the most out of his
0:53opportunities on the ground, which is
0:55important because this is not someone we
0:57should be expecting to catch the
0:58football a lot. That's not really a big
1:00part of the Eagles offense to begin with
1:01and I would expect Will Shipley to be
1:03again garnering a lot of those pass down
1:05opportunities in the potential absence
1:07of Saquon Barkley. But hey, speaking of
1:09that Eagles offense should be a lot
1:11better than last year. I'm not trying to
1:13be the guy who says every single offense
1:15with new play caller is going to take a
1:17leap forward. It's July, everyone's got
1:19their rose colored glasses on, I get it.
1:20But come on, like all my Eagles fans out
1:23there watching. Thank you by the way.
1:25But you guys know, I mean the bar for
1:26the Kevin Patullo experience is so
1:28freaking low for Shawn McVay in the
1:30past. And even if the scheme isn't all
1:32that much better because maybe Jalen
1:33Hurts has too big of a say in what they
1:35want to be doing out there, should at a
1:37minimum be a healthier improved
1:39offensive line, which was a big reason
1:41why we saw Saquon Barkley and before him
1:43D'Andre Swift and before him Miles
1:45Sanders do really good things for us in
1:47fantasy land. So, again, don't want to
1:49wish an injury on anyone, but God forbid
1:51Saquon Barkley who's going to be hitting
1:53the big 30 in 2027 and also is coming
1:56off still 346 touches in 2025 after the
2:00even more monstrous workload in 2024.
2:03Again, it's a situation where if we did
2:05see a world where Saquon Barkley was out
2:07of the picture, it'll be very difficult
2:09not to rank Tank Bigsby as an immediate
2:11top 15 running back in fantasy land. Up
2:13next, we have Browns RB2 Dylan Sampson
2:15who, no, you probably didn't think had
2:18that amazing of a rookie season, and he
2:19didn't from a counting number
2:20perspective, but you do peel back the
2:22curtain a little bit and look what this
2:24guy was doing as a pass catcher, and
2:26that's where we can really be getting
2:27excited, particularly in full PPR
2:29formats. So, guys, Dylan Sampson last
2:31year, not even the smallest sample,
2:33okay? 27 running backs had at least 40
2:35targets. We're talking about RB1 in
2:38yards per route run, RB1 in targets per
2:40route run, top seven numbers in yards
2:42per target and passer rating when
2:43targeted, too, if you're not so much
2:45into the per route thing. So, again,
2:47very, very good stuff as a pass catcher,
2:49and perhaps untapped upside on the
2:51ground, as well. We are talking about
2:52the man who led the entire SEC in
2:54rushing yards back in 2024, after all.
2:57So, Sampson's not a huge guy or
2:59anything, but he's also kind of rocked
3:01up a little bit, all right? 5'8 200 lb,
3:03that is a 61st percentile BMI. We're not
3:06talking about like some 170-lb scat back
3:08here, okay? So, no, I don't think
3:10Quinshon Jenkins is going to be taking a
3:11backseat or losing his job, but he's
3:14coming back from a pretty freaking
3:15brutal, you know, fractured fibula
3:17dislocated ankle combo, and it has been
3:19mixed results seeing guys again re-reach
3:21their previous performance, even if they
3:23have been able to get back to the field
3:25relatively soon following that injury.
3:26So, new scheme with Todd Monken offense
3:29only has room to go up, you know, from a
3:31scoring perspective. I do think Sampson
3:33is someone who really profiles as a
3:34cheaper version of Tajae Spears and
3:36Kenneth Gainwell, with arguably more
3:38pure handcuff upside, considering what
3:40he can do on the ground. So, Dylan
3:42Sampson for me, prime pick in the later
3:44rounds, again, particularly in leagues
3:46that are giving you a full point per
3:48reception. Next up, I got Packers
3:50hopeful RB2.
3:52I can't believe I'm doing this again.
3:54Marshawn Lloyd, please don't turn off
3:55the video just yet. Hear me out, guys.
3:57All right? He's still only 25 years old.
4:00I know we've got freaking 10 regular
4:03season offensive snaps to go out of, but
4:05the man was comped to my boy Duke
4:07Johnson from the great Dane Brugler for
4:09a reason. This is someone capable of
4:11running between the tackles with the
4:13sort of explosive pass-catching upside
4:15that we want to be targeting in our
4:17backup running backs. And hey guys,
4:19who's to say he couldn't be a more of a
4:211B situation if he's actually healthy
4:23enough to be on the field for a change.
4:25When we do look back at Matt LaFleur's
4:27history from Dion Lewis and Derrick
4:29Henry from Jamal Williams and A.J.
4:31Dillon and Aaron Jones and even more
4:33recently Emanuel Wilson and Josh Jacobs,
4:36he has been more willing to feature two
4:38running backs in the offense that I
4:40think a lot of people have given credit
4:41for because we've seen Josh Jacobs more
4:43so be the guy in recent years. And don't
4:45get it twisted, as long as the legal
4:47stuff for Josh Jacobs shakes out okay, I
4:49don't think Lloyd's coming for his job
4:51or he's going to inhibit Jacobs or
4:52anything, but those ongoing legal issues
4:54do matter and that's why Josh Jacobs'
4:56price has been dropping in fantasy land.
4:59It is curious to me that Marshawn Lloyd
5:00and yes, the other running back Chris
5:02Brooks, have remained basically free at
5:04the end of drafts of most shapes and
5:06sizes. So, at the end of the day Lloyd
5:08is one of these guys where a lot of
5:09people are just going to balk at it and
5:11say he's just going to get hurt. And
5:13maybe he will, but I will say you look
5:15at the injury history, it's not like
5:16we're coming back from some brutal
5:18fractured leg or you know, a torn
5:20hamstring off the bone or a situation we
5:23have multiple, you know, CL tears going
5:25on in the knee.
5:26It's just been one annoying, very, very
5:29annoying injury after another. God
5:31forbid some of this off-season work he's
5:33been putting in to stay and remain
5:34healthy so far actually comes true. I do
5:37think Marshawn Lloyd could be looking
5:38good, guys, as the clear-cut number two,
5:41but prime handcuff for Josh Jacobs who's
5:43starting to get a little bit up there in
5:45age in a Packers offense that we
5:46unanimously love. So, again, if he gets
5:48injured, I apologize and you're going to
5:50have to cut him, but as a literal last
5:52round pick, guys, I do think there is a
5:54lot going right for Lloyd, and it kind
5:56of comes back to the Christian McCaffrey
5:58question that we ask every single
6:00season. Not to compare Lloyd to
6:02Christian McCaffrey, please for the love
6:03of God do not quote me on that, but the
6:05question is always, what if he gets
6:06injured? Well, for MarShawn Lloyd, what
6:08if he doesn't? Next up, wanted to talk
6:10about Raiders RB2, Mike Washington Jr.,
6:13guys. So, yes, the Clint Kubiak in town
6:15is going to be the Ashton Denty show. We
6:18should all be hyped about that. God
6:20forbid though, Ashton Denty, maybe he
6:22wins the lottery, decides to take the
6:23season off. I don't like saying guys are
6:24going to get injured. I feel like that's
6:25bad voodoo. So, if Denty misses a game
6:28for any reason, it sure looks like it's
6:30going to be the Arkansas product, guys,
6:32that steps up and takes the majority of
6:34this workload. Dylan Laube is the only
6:36other running back really of consequence
6:38on this roster. We got Roman Hemby as
6:39well, did some okay things at Indiana,
6:41undrafted for a reason, and again, Laube
6:43has been more suited to special teams,
6:45somewhat of a pass down back during his
6:47two seasons in the league. So, the pros
6:49for Washington is that he is a freaky,
6:52freaky athlete, guys, in a league full
6:54of them, okay? We can actually see this
6:56through relative athletic score, which
6:58sometimes has its faults, all right? I
6:59don't like how some running backs don't
7:01do the short area testing, and that just
7:03doesn't even factor into their score, so
7:05we have these ridiculously high scores,
7:07but incomplete profiles. In Mike
7:09Washington Jr.'s case though, he
7:10actually did do all the testing, and
7:12guys, for a metric that goes all the way
7:14back to 1986,
7:16somehow came out with the 28th best
7:18relative athletic score. And hey, it's
7:21running backs, all right? I I have the
7:22Christine Michael skeletons in my closet
7:25as well. I'm not saying just because
7:26you're big and fast is going to make you
7:28a great running back or anything, but he
7:30did go in the SEC and make some good
7:32stuff happens, guys. 6.4 yards per pop,
7:35him and Taylen Green formed a really
7:36freaking dynamic backfield there.
7:38100-plus rushing yards against
7:39Tennessee, Texas A&M, Mississippi State,
7:42and Texas last season. So, again, in no
7:44way, shape, or form do I think
7:45Washington is coming for Gay's job, but
7:48hey, Kubiak did spend last season
7:49splitting stuff up between Charbonnet
7:51and Kenneth Walker. It's not impossible.
7:54It's very unlikely, but purely for the
7:56handcuff upside, that's what we're
7:58getting excited about this, okay? So,
8:00we're going to see guys like Brian
8:01Robinson and Tyler Allgeier going rounds
8:03and rounds ahead of Mike Washington Jr.
8:05When reality, I think he could actually
8:07make an argument that in a Raiders
8:09offense that improved the offensive line
8:11and that should be better off from a
8:12schematic standpoint with Clint Kubiak
8:14in charge, you know, if we actually saw
8:17Bijan Robinson, Jeremiah Love, and
8:19Ashton Gay all ruled out of the
8:20equation, maybe Mike Washington Jr.
8:22would be ranked ahead of Brian Robinson
8:24and Tyler Allgeier. Something to think
8:26about when again we see such a stark
8:28difference in their prices. So, no, Mike
8:30Washington not worth a early, mid, or
8:32even late round pick, but all capital
8:34late round pick, that's where I can get
8:36a little bit more excited about the
8:37rookie ahead of 2026. And last but not
8:39least, I'm going with Bills running back
8:41Raheem Mostert as one of the priority
8:43handcuffs to try to keep on the end of
8:45your fantasy bench this season. Now,
8:47Raheem Mostert it's not as clean of a
8:50picture as I think some people have made
8:51it out to be, okay? Because we all go
8:53back to 2024, there was one game on
8:55Monday night where James Cook misses.
8:56That's the only evidence that we have
8:58that Raheem Mostert is the clear-cut
9:00backup here. But man, he sure was in
9:02that game, guys. I mean, 27 total
9:04combined carries and targets between Ty
9:07Johnson and Raheem Mostert and we saw
9:08Raheem get 23 of those, all right? So,
9:11I'm still pissed because we had the
9:13pregame reports about Ty Johnson being
9:15first in line. He actually did get the
9:17start, ripped off like a 9-yard run, and
9:19then guess what? They just went back to
9:21Raheem the entire time. Can you guys
9:22tell I might have made the wrong
9:24starting decision 2 years ago, and it
9:26still pisses me off, but again, all that
9:28aside, that's our most relevant sample,
9:30and it is one game, but that one game
9:32certainly was in favor of Raheem
9:33Mostert. It's a Bills offense that's
9:35been top six in scoring every single
9:37year since 2020. Last season, Bills RBs
9:40were number one in terms of yards before
9:42contact per carry. We could not ask for
9:44better offensive environment to get a
9:46fancy friendly running back in. So,
9:48that's certainly going in Ray Davis's
9:50favor and accordingly, God forbid
9:51something did happen to James Cook, he
9:53would be the recommended ad.
9:55The reason why I listed them last
9:57though, and the reason why I would
9:58prefer the other guys we talked about
9:59already over Ray Davis, we saw a shift
10:02last season, all right? In 2024, it was
10:04Ray Davis with 113 carries with 19
10:07targets. Ty Johnson easily the number
10:09three running back, 41 carries and 25
10:11targets. That split changed last season
10:13though in a pretty meaningful way, all
10:15right? Davis had 58 carries compared to
10:1750 for Ty Johnson. Davis had 13 targets
10:19compared to 33 for Ty Johnson. Maybe it
10:22was just Ray getting more kick return
10:23work and it was Ty Johnson playing a
10:25little bit better and things will go
10:26back to that one game sample if we saw
10:28Cook miss time in 2026 again, but it was
10:31interesting to me that Ty Johnson had
10:33six carries inside the five-yard line
10:35and Ray Davis just had two. Not because
10:37I think Ty Johnson would be like the
10:39short yardage back, you know, over Ray
10:41Davis without Cook in the picture, but I
10:43do think it shows that the Bills don't
10:45necessarily view Ty Johnson as the scat
10:47back only player. It could air on a
10:49little bit more of the 50/50 wavelength
10:51between these two in a larger sample.
10:54That said, if it is going to be 50/50,
10:56you know, 50% of the Bills offense
10:57production could be worth, you know,
10:58more than 75% elsewhere. So, all things
11:01considered at the cost, tough not to be
11:03liking Ray Davis as the most likely
11:05potential handcuff for one James Cook.
11:07Anyways, guys, that's going to do it for
11:09me. Reminder, I was going outside the
11:11top 150 on ESPN and Sleeper, so the
11:14Blake Corums, the Kyle Monangs, guys,
11:15even the Jonathan Brooks, they just
11:17didn't qualify because of that, okay?
11:18So, I certainly do have those guys
11:20ranked higher than the dudes we were
11:21just talking about, so please prioritize
11:23them if you happen to be in your drafts
11:25and they fall down to that range as
11:27well. You guys can actually check out a
11:28full article I have over at rotowire.com
11:31on every single handcuff in a tier
11:33format. If you want more information on
11:35again the entire sort of backup position
11:37as a whole. But fun time. Hope you guys
11:39enjoyed it. Hit me in the comments with
11:41any other guys again with an ADP outside
11:43the top 150 that you think I might have
11:45missed. Any comments or concerns as well
11:47always welcome. So if you like the video
11:49please like the video. Hit that
11:50subscribe button always does help us out
11:52as well. So in the meantime guys have a
11:54freaking great rest of your day and
11:56let's win some fantasy football
11:57championships this year.
