Fantasy Insanity Drew Loftis Who to handcuff to your fantasy football running backs By Drew Loftis Published Aug. 28, 2026, 8:48 p.m. ET Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles looks on before a preseason game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. Getty Images There is nothing quite like the mad scramble on fantasy football waiver wires when a premier running back goes down with an injury.
FAAB (free agent auction bidding) budgets get busted. Sweat gets shed. Heart rates shoot up. Hopes and dreams of a fantasy gift fill heads, fighting for space with the nightmares of missing out.
There is one way to avoid this inevitable fantasy stress test. The cure is a running back handcuff.
Handcuffing is when you draft the real-world backup to one of your top-flight RBs. That way, if Top Flight gets dinged up, you have a plug-and-play option already on your roster.
