Injuries are just a part of football and something that we need to deal with as fantasy football managers. I never hope for injuries, but I always am prepared in case there is one. In general this means that I am trying to roster as many handcuffs as possible. I try my best to not roster my own handcuffs, because this means that my starter needs to get injured for the handcuff to gain any value; which is a negative for my team.
Rostering the handcuffs of your opponents is a great way to gain value for your team. Let’s say you drafted Kenneth Walker knowing that he would be the lead back if anything happened to Rashaad Penny. If you were still holding onto Walker through Week 5, your team now has another RB2 or RB3 for the remainder of the season; and, you saved a ton of FAAB.
If Kenneth Walker is available in your league, he's your top waiver wire add.
You're using that priority pick up.
You're dropping 100% of your remaining FAAB.
— Kate Magdziuk (@FFballblast) October 11, 2022
He was likely your RB4 on your fantasy football team. In addition to the gain in value to your team, your opponent who was rostering Penny lost a weekly RB1 or RB2. Now they will be relying on one of their bench players or a waiver pickup to step up.
The swing in your favor just by rostering one of your opponents’ handcuff should be able to help you as your season moves on. The Late Week Additions section of this article has highlighted several players already who have had significant fantasy value jumps this season. Jamaal Williams and Brian Robinson are both being used in meaningful ways by their respective teams. Both have been featured in some of the League Winners waiver wire articles this season.
Late Week Additions
Clyde Edwards-Helaire may currently be a top 10 fantasy RB, but he is not even getting the most snaps in the RB room. So far this season, CEH only has 10 more snaps than Jerick McKinnon; who was free in fantasy football drafts this season. But over the past three weeks, McKinnon has actually been on the field more than CEH.
McKinnon does not quite have standalone value. His volume needs to be monitored over the next couple of weeks. McKinnon is currently rostered in just over 14% of ESPN leagues, and this should slowly start to climb as we get more into bye weeks. If anything were to happen to CEH, McKinnon will be the hot waiver pickup the next week. I prefer to be a week early than a week late on these types of guys. In the same idea, Isiah Pacheco has shown some burst when given the chance and could also have a huge jump in value if there were a CEH injury.
Fantasy Football Roster Cloggers
QB – Matthew Stafford, Los Angelese Rams, 77.8% Rostered
I really did not want to put Matthew Stafford here again. But there really were not that many good options at the QB position. I am really not sure why people continue to roster Stafford. Even though he is rostered in over 75% of leagues, he is started in just 29% of them. If you have Stafford on your roster you are just wasting one of your bench spots. Those bench spots are better to stash some of the backup running backs that potentially could increase in value next week.
For more on Matthew Stafford check out last weeks article.
RB – Chase Edmonds, Miami Dolphins, 80.2% Rostered
I was not particularly high on Chase Edmonds this offseason. But I was certainly expecting him to be more fantasy relevant that he has been this season. In Week 1, Edmonds was the clear lead back for the Dolphins, commanding 61% of the snaps and over half of the rushing attempts. In addition, he had nearly all of the targets at the RB position.
Since then, his snaps, attempts, and yardage have dropped in nearly every game. Not only has he dropped to the RB2, but it looks like he may even be the RB3 on the team. In Week 5, Myles Gaskin actually had more snaps, carries, and targets. At this point it appears that Raheem Mostert has fully taken over as the lead back for the Dolphins.
Raheem Mostert's takeover of the Dolphins' backfield is complete ✅
69% snaps
73% attempts
57% short yardage
60% long down distance
100% two-minute19.2 fantasy points — mid-range RB2 moving forward.
Chase Edmonds only 15% of snaps 💀
Myles Gaskin challenging Edmonds for RB2
— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) October 9, 2022
This is not entirely surprising. Mike McDaniel coached Mostert in San Francisco. Their relationship was clearly good, and trusts him with the ball.
WR – Elijah Moore, New York Jets, 71.4% Rostered
Finding a WR that is not named Allen Robinson was a little tricky for me this week. So I crowd-sourced to the rest of the League Winners writing staff. And I can not say that I disagree with who they came up with.
Moore has been playing the majority of the snaps each week, and actually leads the WR room by a large margin. But he is tied for 3rd in targets with Corey Davis and Breece Hall – with 29. Even though he is third in targets he is 6th in receptions. This in part has to be due to the fact that only 53.3% of the passes thrown his way have been catchable, according to PlayerProfiler.
Aside from the lack of catchable balls, Moore has still not found his way into the endzone. Both of these things will change as the season goes on and Zach Wilson gets back into the swing of things. But until we see some consistency, Moore should absolutely not be in your fantasy football lineup.
Whelp. It’s real, and I hate it. But Elijah Moore is unstartable in fantasy right now.
— Daniel Harms🏈 (@InHarmsWay19) October 9, 2022
In fact, a lot will need to happen for me to feel comfortable getting him into my lineups. If you are in a position where Moore is on your bench, you likely should cut him and stash a backup RB that will increase in value if there is an injury to the starter.
WR – Allen Robinson, Los Angeles Rams, 67% Rostered
Robinson has rightfully been dropped in about 15% of leagues since last week. Robinson needs to step up before he is no longer considered a roster clogger.
TE – Dalton Schultz, Dallas Cowboys, 76.8% Rostered
The TE position is always tricky unless you have one of the top couple of options. This season, many fantasy football players have been relying on Dalton Schultz; and he has done nothing but let you down. His only decent game this season was Week 1; where he caught 7 of his 9 targets for 62 yards.
Without Dak Prescott in the lineup, Schultz only has 2 receptions for just 18 yards. He did miss one game, but he played 90% of the snaps in the other two games. With so many snaps we would expect Schultz to be a bit more involved in the passing game. In the three games he’s played without Dak, he only had 8 targets. That is less than his lone game with Dak under center.
In addition to his poor performance so far this season, injuries have been a big concern. Schultz has already missed one full game to an injury. Schultz was limited and played less than 20% of the snaps due to an injury in Week 5. It is not even certain that he will be able to play in Week 6 at this point.
#Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz reaggravated his sprained PCL in the win over the #Rams, per source. No new injury or damage. As long as he makes it through the week OK, he should be good to go Sunday night against the #Eagles.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 11, 2022
Once Dak returns, Schultz could become a fantasy football option again. But unless you are one of the 30% of the people that are starting Schultz you need to consider dropping him. The only reason to carry two TEs is if you have one of the top options and they go on bye or suffer a short term injury.
Roster Clogger Watchlist
- RB – Cam Akers, Los Angeles Rams, 84.2% Rostered
- WR – Chase Claypool, Pittsburgh Steelers, 64.4% Rostered
- WR – Robert Woods, Tennessee Titans, 67% Rostered
