It wasn’t an overly injury-plagued week in the NFL, although we did see Kyren Williams land on the IR and Jerome Ford leave Cleveland’s game with an ankle injury.
We’ll start the column in Los Angeles as Williams will miss the next three games, and there was a lot of speculation that Zach Evans might finally get his chance. That was not to be, however, as Sean McVay chose to use veterans Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman as the primary running backs Sunday.
Henderson saw 58% of the snaps and finished with 61 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. That is about the type of stat line you would expect from Henderson, who is more floor than ceiling. Freeman saw a 42% snap share and finished with 12 carries for 66 yards. I’d assume this will remain a 50/50 split where we are guessing who will get a touchdown each week. In deep enough leagues (or dire enough situations), you can certainly make a case for rostering either one. Just temper expectations, as the most likely scenario is an ugly snap split and single-digit fantasy points.
As for Cleveland, Kareem Hunt would vault into serious consideration as an RB2 if Ford misses time. Hunt scored two touchdowns yesterday, and with the Browns not being able to get much going through the air, it could turn into a nice opportunity for Hunt to be fantasy-relevant once again.
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Fantasy Football Running Back Handcuff Rankings (Week 8)
Handcuff Notes From Week 7
In other news from around the running back position:
- Bijan Robinson only played on 10 of 64 snaps. Evidently, he was “sick” during the game.
- James Cook scored a receiving touchdown, but Latavius Murray continues to be a thing in Buffalo, which makes no sense. Cook should be garnering more than a 55% snap share.
- D’Onta Foreman scored three touchdowns. That is the type of game he can have in the right script. He should be 100% rostered.
- Emari Demercado turned 17 opportunities into 75 yards. Arizona should give him the bulk of the work until James Conner is back.
- Game script favored Jahmyr Gibbs in a big way yesterday, but a 9/58 receiving line on top of 68 yards rushing and a touchdown will do that. I don’t know if Gibbs is an actual handcuff or not, but he takes the top spot in the rankings this week.
Handcuff Rankings
- Jahmyr Gibbs (DET)
- Zack Moss (IND)
- Chuba Hubbard (CAR)
- D’Onta Foreman (CHI)
- Darrell Henderson (LAR)/Royce Freeman (LAR)
- Jaylen Warren (PIT)
- Jordan Mason (SF)/Elijah Mitchell (SF)
- Tyler Allgeier (ATL)
- Kareem Hunt (CLE)
- Emari Demarcado (ARI)
- Tyjae Spears (TEN)
- Zach Charbonnet (SEA)
- AJ Dillon (GB)
- Devin Singletary (HOU)
- Jaleel McLaughlin (DEN)
Indianapolis Colts
- Starter: Jonathan Taylor
- Handcuff: Zack Moss
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Zack Moss continues to see plenty of touches in Indianapolis. Moss finished with 18 carries for 57 yards, so either the Colts are being extra cautious with Jonathan Taylor, or they think enough of Moss to give him a significant workload. Taylor had a useful day with 120 total yards and a touchdown, so he is certainly rounding into form. Shane Steichen used multiple backs in his time in Philadelphia, so it isn’t out of the question that Moss will have a big role for the remainder of the year.
Green Bay Packers
- Starter: Aaron Jones
- Handcuff: AJ Dillon
I have been tough on AJ Dillon this year, but Sunday was his best outing of the season. He turned 17 touches in 95 total yards, and he was running violently for what seemed like the first time in 2023. If Dillon is on your wire, I would consider making a play for him this week. As for Aaron Jones, perhaps we should have considered him more limited than what we perceived him to be after he logged three partial practices last week. The Green Bay offense needs Jones to be as close to full health as possible, as Jordan Love‘s struggles are becoming more evident each week.
Seattle Seahawks
- Starter: Kenneth Walker
- Handcuff: Zach Charbonnet
Kenneth Walker had the backfield to himself this week after Zach Charbonnet was ruled out ahead of Sunday. The former ran for 105 tough yards on 26 carries, which is exactly the type of ground-it-out game we’ve come to expect. Walker continues to be one of the league’s true home run threats, but he is often just as content getting three yards. If Walker’s output felt disappointing, that is probably because he only had two receptions for six yards as Seattle won ugly yesterday.
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Jason Kamlowsky is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @JasonKamlowsky.
