The 2024 NFL season is still two months away, but it’s never too early to start devising a strategy for the upcoming fantasy football campaign.
Managers can use this time to identify the NFL’s most important running back handcuffs—the backups poised to step into a bigger role should the starter go down. Managers who kept those players rostered had some major payoffs in past years.
Sometimes these moves provide a quick return, such as Kyren Williams usurping the Los Angeles Rams’ starting job by Week 2 last year and finishing as the league’s RB7. Others, like Zamir White taking over for Josh Jacobs for the final four weeks of last season and posting a string of top-20 performances, take a bit more time to pan out.
Regardless, Williams and White both had a tangible impact on the 2023 fantasy campaign. More are likely to follow this coming season.
With that in mind, we’ve ranked the top handcuffs to roster in 2024 based on factors such as their average draft position, likelihood to see significant action, ability to contribute as a fantasy starter even without assuming a starting NFL role and upside if they do take over a larger share of duties. The rankings notably exclude heavy-usage backups such as De’Von Achane, David Montgomery and Jaylen Warren, all of whom are considered top-25 fantasy RBs and are likely to be started in most formats.
Fantasy points, ADP, rankings and other data courtesy of FantasyPros using PPR metrics.
Tyler Allgeier broke out as an unheralded rookie in 2022 with a 1,000-yard rushing season for the Atlanta Falcons. However, he was relegated to backup duties last year after the Falcons selected Bijan Robinson with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
Allgeier still finished as the RB36 last season after rushing 186 times for 683 yards and four touchdowns while adding 193 yards and a score on 18 catches, but there was a noticeable dip from his top-30 showing in 2022.
Robinson’s usage could have been higher, as Atlanta only put him on the field for 68 percent of its offensive plays. He should see his workload increase a good bit in 2024.
According to Fox Sports’ Greg Auman, new head coach Raheem Morris described the team’s offensive philosophy as “in the simplest form that you can make it, it’s get the ball to Bijan as much as you can, in as many ideal situations that you possibly can.”
Robinson could be headed for a statement year, but that heavy usage could also result in him suffering an injury. If that’s the case, Allgeier would be poised to greatly outperform his current ADP of 161 (RB52).
Atlanta’s offense wouldn’t operate quite the same with Allgeier in a feature role, but he’d be taking on most of the touches that would normally be allocated to Robinson. He might not offer as much week-to-week value as he did two years ago, but that upside alone is well worth taking a flier on in the latter rounds of a draft.
The Seattle Seahawks have leaned heavily on Kenneth Walker III since they selected him in the second round of the 2022 draft. But his underwhelming sophomore season last year could result in backup Zach Charbonnet getting more run.
Charbonnet’s rookie campaign wasn’t much to write home about, either—he finished with 462 yards and a touchdown on 108 carries and reeled in 33 receptions for 209 yards—but he did flash during the two games Walker missed in Weeks 12-13. In those games, Charbonnet tallied a total of 157 yards and a score on 38 touches.
While Walker still deserves to be the starter, he already saw his snap share drop from 58 percent as a rookie to 54 percent last year. If Charbonnet has a strong camp, he could cut further into Walker’s workload and add to the 48 percent snap share he logged as a rookie.
Walker’s injury history also makes Charbonnet an appealing option for fantasy managers. Walker has missed two games in each of his two seasons thus far and Charbonnet had his best showing—a RB13 finish against the Dallas Cowboys—filling in for Walker last year. He’ll remain an excellent play whenever Walker is sidelined going forward.
Considering Charbonnet is only the RB42 with an ADP of 133.5 right now, he could provide a huge return on investment if he takes over for Walker (who has an ADP of 70.5 and is the RB16 right now) for a significant stretch.
The Washington Commanders signed Austin Ekeler this offseason to offset the loss of Antonio Gibson. While the versatile veteran’s ceiling may be limited by Brian Robinson Jr., he has the floor of a strong backup with the upside for much more.
Ekeler is currently being drafted as the RB39 with an ADP of 126. That’s a great bargain for a player who has put up at least 933 yards from scrimmage each of the past six years and scored 58 total touchdowns over the last half-decade.
Ekeler’s production did dip last season after he had a career-high 311 touches for 1,637 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2022, but he still eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark and had six touchdowns despite missing three games and working within an anemic Los Angeles Chargers offense.
Robinson, the RB30 with an ADP of 107.5, isn’t guaranteed to get the majority of touches with Ekeler now in town. With a career average of only 4.0 yards per carry and relatively low volume in the passing game—he had 36 catches for 368 yards last year after he had only 60 yards on nine receptions as a rookie—the third-year back could easily slip back below the 50 percent snap share he played last season.
There’s little in the way of competition behind Ekeler and Robinson, with 2023 sixth-rounder Chris Rodriguez Jr. likely to remain the tertiary back again in 2024.
If Robinson regresses or suffers an injury, Ekeler would be in line to take over the lion’s share of backfield duties for a team working on integrating a rookie quarterback. That gives Ekeler the potential to become a top-10 fantasy back and makes him a worthy handcuff to roster.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ training camp may feature one of the more exciting positional battles of the offseason when Chase Brown and Zack Moss compete to establish a backfield hierarchy.
Moss, who signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Bengals this offseason, is being drafted as the RB26 with an ADP of 91.5. He has the inside track to claim the role left vacant by longtime starter Joe Mixon’s departure, but Brown could challenge the veteran and even beat him out with a great showing in camp.
The second-year back amassed only 179 yards on 44 carries as a rookie, but Brown did gain valuable reps and flashed the upside that led Cincinnati to select him in the fifth round of the 2023 draft. Brown is being drafted as the RB37 with an ADP of 121, which he’s already poised to exceed since he could become the team’s main receiving weapon out of the backfield.
Brown showed his chops as a pass-catcher last year by scoring his lone NFL touchdown and adding 156 yards on 14 receptions despite playing only 93 offensive snaps in total. Moss has only 75 catches for 523 yards with four scores across his first four years in the league.
With a healthy Joe Burrow back in the mix, the Bengals offense should again be firing on all cylinders and producing plenty of opportunities for both backs to put up fantasy points.
If Moss goes down—he’s missed at least three games in each of his four NFL seasons—Brown should be in line for a workload increase that could result in a huge fantasy output.
Tyjae Spears spent his rookie campaign as a coveted handcuff to superstar Derrick Henry, but he never got the chance to step into the spotlight. Despite the future Hall of Famer’s departure from the Tennessee Titans this offseason, Spears again looks in line to start the year as a backup with elite handcuff potential.
The Titans’ decision to replace Henry with Tony Pollard may relegate Spears to No. 2 duties out of the gate. While Spears already saw an even share of the offensive snaps in 2023, he was vastly out-touched and out-produced by Henry.
That shouldn’t be the case in 2024, as Spears is too talented to be kept at bay by Pollard for long.
Pollard, the RB29 with an ADP of 101.5, is only a smidge ahead of Spears, the RB31 with an ADP of 109. Based on their respective performances last year, Spears looks like the better back to roster and has a greater chance to pull ahead and eventually lead this platoon.
It wouldn’t be a shock to see the Titans once again divvy up the snaps nearly equally, although Spears should be both the primary ball-carrier and receiver by year’s end.
Spears impressed in his first NFL season by amassing 453 yards and two touchdowns on 100 carries. He was also Tennessee’s top pass-catching back, tallying 52 catches on his 70 targets for 385 yards and a score. He’s in far better form than Pollard, who is coming off a down season in which he averaged career-lows of 4.0 yards per carry and 5.7 yards per reception while struggling in a starting role for the Dallas Cowboys.
This is still a rare case where managers with back-to-back picks may want to consider taking both players. Each will have plenty of chances to do damage on any given week, and both Spears and Pollard have the upside to become feature backs if the other is sidelined.