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Totally disagree. When done correctly (and judiciously), handcuffing is a great strategy to get some depth (even if it's a bit artificial) while getting talent with legit upside. I wouldn't call getting both Maclin and Desean a handcuff per se as they both have value independent of the other, but I'd be a bit more willing to take a flyer on the second WR if I already have the first, but only in later rounds and if they have upside independent of the other WR. Someone like LaFell comes to mind. But I wouldn't make it a major part of my strategy.
Wasted roster spot really. Handcuffing is like guy in Vegas, you only hear about when it worked out...but the majority of the time that player rots on your bench while you could be aggressive picking up other players that actually could help your team. Its a poor strategy.
baldwin plays the slot......so cuffing him to rice isn't a cuff.
But his targets would increase in Rice's absence no? I think thats where some people were going with this. Target the guy that would benefit the most and become a viable starter. Would Ben Obomanu(spelling?) be the better cuff or BMW?
Niether....they would go with a rotation of guys killing all value. Baldwins targets would stay consistent regardless
I do think there are valid situations, and I am in one of them. I am in a dynasty league where a handcuff might make more sense than in a redraft. In my situation, I own Nicks, but I also own Welker and Steve Smith (built for now), so short term depth is not an issue. I have picks 2.2 and 2.3 in the rookie draft. I am on the clock in a slow draft. Suprisingly, Locker is there. Being a Vick owner, snagging Locker is too good to pass up. (But I digress). Here's where it's interesting. Kendall Wright, Alshon Jeffrey, and Rueben Randle are all available. I can take Wright, who shouldn't even be there at this point. Some would say that Jeffrey could be the pick. But having Nicks already, drafting Randle becomes very intriguing. If and when Nicks is injured, Randle steps right in and plays on the outside. Even when Nicks is healthy, Randle should line up on the outside with Cruz manning the slot. Randle has value in that offense regardless of Nicks' injury status; he's certainly more talented than Mario Manningham. But if Nicks does go down, Randle should easily be a WR2 as his floor. I've pretty much ruled Jeffrey out of this one, as Wright could also have a case made for him being a handcuff to Britt and having increased immediate value. I would say there is no right or wrong answer to your question, as many times the "handcuff" becomes a value steal (Cruz). I feel your prognostic pain, but overall I would say if the talent is there, the talent is there. IF you don't have a short term need and don't need the additional pop on your bench, then I say go for it.
i dont think you understand handcuffing .. it is not always the iconic BTate handcuffed to AFostersometimes you use late picks to handcuff a POSITION that is not set in stone and yet when the dust settles will provide production ... didnt cost much last year to handcuff the WR2 for GB ... handcuffing James Jones and Jordy Nelson would have netted you the #2 WR overall in FF last year ... now your argument is you wasted a spot on JJones ... but you are handcuffing the POSITION not the player so you know in advance that one of em will be worth less at the chance of hitting big ... if you didnt handcuff and just chose JJones and with that other late pick chose Emmanuel Sanders (he was ranked ahead of ABrown this time last year) what did you end up with?same instance listed above with the NYG WR3 ... you ended up with #4 overall WRto a lesser extent I handcuffed JFord and DMoore in 4 different leagues last year to assure myself of the OAK WR1 ... by your logic you would have moved on after drafting JFord and not "wasted" a spot on DMoorei will CLEARLY "waste" rosters spots if i know the POSITION i handcuff will be valuable once the POSITION settles then i can clearly dump the loser and pick up someone in that "wasted" spot or just keep him for injury insurance
Very very
I understand it..and it's a waste of time. How often would the type of cuff you are referring to pay off? Answer: rarelyYou could have saved yourself roster spots and drafted Nelson and picked up Moore ...as I did in one league. Show me all the "handcuff" combos and show me the ones that pan out..... Waste of roster space. By not wasting roster space it allows you to jump on free agents and be aggressive turning over your roster. Hoarding handcuffs is a losing game ....or for people who are ff rookies and don't do a particularly good job ranking/grading out players. If you struggle with that or rely on a magazine it may be a good choice.
Not remotely a waste of time. Its more-often-then-not better then the alternative, late in deep drafts. But not everyone has figured it out yet.
Yes, you are typically looking at an early season situation only. Then gaining roster room but cutting the chaff if need.But sometimes it pays of rather handsomely and show its value rather quickly. Like Victor Cruz, Antonio Brown or Fred Davis.Then the anchor (which was the higher draft pick) gets easily cut for added value.* and obviously, this is the more competitive bigger leagues. This typically is a foolish play in smaller (12/10) team leagues. Especially if they utilize smaller rosters on top the few teams.
totally agree
Fact #1: If you have two RBs ranked similarly, drafting the guy who plays behind one of your starters will reduce your team's scoring variance. Fact #2: If you have a good team, low variance is a good thing. The better your team, the lower you want your variance to be. Both of these facts are easily verifiable through either simple thought experiment or rigorous statistical analysis. If anyone wants, I can easily expand on either point. What conclusions can be drawn from these two facts? The first is that handcuffing does, in fact, serve a purpose. It is not universally useful, but neither is it universally useless. The second is that handcuffing benefits the best teams most of all. Now, you should note several things about this analysis. For starters, I am referring only to "traditional" handcuffs- backup RBs, or perhaps a 1B in an RBBC. The second is that the entire analysis hangs on the phrase "ranked similarly"- that's the crux. Don't draft a handcuff ahead of a guy you think is clearly superior, but if you're waffling between Ben Tate and Michael Bush, then absolutely draft the guy who plays behind the guy you already own. Given that backup RBs typically aren't ranked highly (notable exceptions: Larry Johnson, Jonathan Stewart), handcuffing is a strategy that usually only comes into play in the later rounds. And given the volatility of player values, there's no guarantee that a waiver wire player won't surpass the value of your handcuff at some point during the season, leading you to terminate the handcuff. Don't handcuff just for the sake of handcuffing- do it intelligently, do it because you are actively assessing your team and concluding that handcuffing offers you the best value at the lowest variance. With all that said, WR handcuffing should be a similar slam dunk, right? I'm actually not so sure. On most running plays, there is only one potential ball carrier. On passing plays, there are up to 5 eligible receivers. When an RB goes down, one player will usually take the majority of his workload. When a WR goes down, that workload gets divided up between 5 other guys. Given that, I'm not sure Fact #1 holds up nearly as strongly with WRs as it does with RBs. I mean, there's certain to be some sort of effect, but it'd be dramatically smaller than the effect you get with RBs. Given the imprecision inherent in our hobby, I'm not sure it'd be distinguishable from random noise. Do it if it makes you feel better- provided you aren't reaching, it's not going to make you any worse. It's unlikely to actually pay dividends, but no more unlikely than any other 16th round pick.
Me neither.....- Signed DMAC owner
I won a league last year by handcuffing McFadden and Bush. Handcuffing is not old school. He can still be a very useful technique if used properly. League specifics can be so different from league to league that in some cases, handcuffing is almost needed. It's no different than drafting for value. Sometimes the value is in drafting a pair of guys at the right value.Me neither.....- Signed DMAC owner
LOL about bragging about PICKING UP Moore in one league, and badmouthing others about "don't do a particularly good job of ranking playersANYBODY paying attention even in the shallowest of redraft leagues knew DMoore was draftable
Played the NFFC.
