New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020nypost.comI
T SEEMS impossible that the NFL
season is already on the cuspof Week
13, which marks thefinal week of the
fa ntas y regu lar season in most leagues.
So time is running out to set upyour
roster for playoff success. Andwhatever
plans yo u did have, the Broncos quar-
terback debacle thisweekend
might have sent upa warning
flare for thosewho practice
the traditional strategy of
handcuffing.
Denver laid out a per-
fect game plan for how
to sabotage an entire
position ona team’s ros-
ter. Ultimately, it ha d no
QBs left to send on the
field onSunday, so used practice squad/
college QB Kendall Hinton— aplayer
so far downreal-worl d depth charts that
even NFLcoacheswould ask, “Who’s
that guy?”
Hintonplaye d lik e a Who’s Th at Gu y
guy, completing just oneof ninepass es
withtwo interceptions. (Asa side note,
any of thosewho in thepast have sat
at the bar and complained about a QB’s
play and said, with some degree of seri-ousness, “Icould make that throw,” well:
Ke ndall Hinton made itto an NFLros-
ter. He is much better thanyou. And he
was awful. Imagine how bad you would
stink.)
The lesson here isn’t about Hinton,
it is about the dangers COVID posesto
NFLteams, and entire positiongroups
— sincethoseplayers have meetings
together, often in small spaces.Cer-
tainly, we would hope notevery team
or positionalgroup is as
irresponsible as it seems
the Denver QBswere, but
even proper precautions
are still just precautions.
Theyaren’tguaranteed
safeguards from infec-
tion.
So, what happens if starting RBJi m-
my Rungoodgets COVID and doesn’t
know it yet. He goes to an RB meeting
wh er e he spreads itto backupJo hnn y
Stepslower. Both are ruled out for Sun-
day’ s ga me. What happens ifyo ur fa n-
tasy team relies onRungood asa weekly
starter? Andwhat if your insurance was
a handcuff Stepslower on your bench?
So instead of handcuffing to protectyourself, your handcuff has beenco un-
terproductive. Th e Madman suggests
tryingto fi nd equitablebackupswho
aren’t on thesa me real-world roster.
Let’s say you have Alvin Kamara at RB
and Latavius Murray as a handcuff.
To avoid a Denver-QB-type calam-
ity, checkto see ifyoucan find some
otherplayer of similar production, use
or upside as Murray — like, say, Jamaal
Williams.Both get a not-insignificant
amountof work behind the primary
starter, bothwo uld immediately assume
the bell-cow role if the startergoes
down. MaybeWilliams scores slightly
fewer perweek onaverag e, but that’ s
OK. It is not like you’re planningto use
them anyway, you’re just tryingto diver-
sify your roster soyou can’t be crushed
by an outbreakat one positionfor one
team.
Whetheryour handcuff is Murray,
Williams,Benny Snell, Alexander Mat-
tison or someone else, it is OKto pivot
to a Phillip Lindsay, ZackMoss, James
White or someone similar.
Find your key, and unlock those hand-
cuffs.
[email protected]Jared GoffQB, Rams
He is coming off an atrocious
game, but things are looking up in
the comingweeks.Particularly in
Weeks15-16,coveringyour pa th
to a title, he faces the Jets and
Seahawks— two of the four most
generous defenses to QBs.DavidMontgomery
RB, Bears
He had his best fantasy game
of the season Sundayvs. the
Packers, whichwas the first of
three straightvs. the threeworst
teams defending opposing fantasyRBs (Lions andTexans upcoming).Denzel MimsWR, Jets
No onewants torely
on Jets in their fantasy
lineup, but they get juicy
upcoming matchups
vs. the Raiders and
Seahawks the next two
weeks.Keke CouteeWR, Texans
With WillFuller suspended the
rest of the season, that elevates
otherTexans WRs.You’re not going
to find Brandin Cooks onwaivers,
but Coutee likely isavailable.Kyler MurrayQB, Cardinals
He looked unstoppable before
Sunday’s dudvs. the
Patriots. His schedule
doesn’t get any easier.
His next three games
(Rams, Giants, Eagles)
are against three of the
six toughest defensesvs. QBs.
Adjust expectations accordingly.JoshAllenQB, Bill s
A tough schedule ahead of Allen
as well. Particularly forWeek 14,
when the Bills face the Steelers.
Check on streaming pivotsnow. Top targets could be Ryan
Tannehill, whoever is Jags QB that
week or, gulp, Sam Darnold.Panthers receivers
It isn’t just one, it is all of them.
After thisweek’sbye, Carolina’s
fantasy playoff matchups are
Denver, Green Bay andWashington.Logan ThomasTE, Washington
Finally starting to come around
— double-digitPPR outings in four
of thepast six games— but the
schedule is getting mean. The next
two weeks are against the two
stingiest defenses toward tight ends.SCHEDULE MAKERS SCHEDULE BREAKERS
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Madman
onTwitter:
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ByByGetty Images (2)COVID
makes
handcuffing
dangerous
W
HEN theSaints decidedto use Taysom
Hill as their starting quarterback, they
sent shockwaves through thefantas y
footballcommunity. The decisionby ESPNto
keep Hill eligibleat tight endfor Week 11 creat-
ed quite a stir, but that was rectified oneweek
later and thecommunity settled down.
But the owners of Alvin Kamara are still
incensed with theSaints’ choice, and for good
re ason. Hill iscosting Kamara owner s a cham-
pionship or, at least,a ticketto the fantas y play-
offs.
Heading into Week 11 , Hill’s first career start,
Kamara had 11 touchdowns andwas averaging
61 rushing yards and eight catches for 81 yards
per game. In thetwo games since, Kamara has
averaged45 rushingyards per game and has
just one catch for minus-2 yards. He does
have a touchdown, but his role has
diminished
consider-
ably while
Hill has
four rushing
touchdowns
in thosetwo games.
In fantas y football,a touchdownvulture is
instant deathfor runningbacks. Kamara’s value
is already takinga nasty hit becausea mobile
quarterback like Hill doesn’t check-downto
the runnerwhen he can’tfind a play downfield.
But to have Hill poach all thegoal-linework
and take the touchdownsfor himself makes it
even worse. The hope is that Drew Brees will
return in anotherweekor two, just in timeto
save Kamara’s fanta-
sy owners, but there
are others headedto
the playoffs whose
situationswon’t get
any better.
Throughout this
season,we’ve wit-
nessed running
backs on bothNew
England and Buf-
falo losetouchdown
carriesto their run-
happy quarterbacks.
Neither DevinSin-
gletary nor Zack
Mossha ve seen an increase in theirvalue this
season, and Damien Harris joins the long list
of Patriots runners who lose value withevery
Cam Newtontouchdown rush.Even in India-
napolis,where Jacoby Brissett is now coming
into the game at the goal line, the value of the
team’s runningbacks istanking.
If you’re making aplayoff or championship
run,you needto rid your reliance on these
backfields. Someof you have no choice, but if
you have depth and lineup decisions are being
made eachwe ek, follo w the vu ltures and make
a differe nt choice.
By HOWARD BENDERKamara owners’
hopesare dying
on Saints’ Hill
Howard Bender is the VPof operationsand
headof content atFa ntasyAlarm.com. Fo llow
him on Twitter @rot obuzzguy and catch him
on the award winning “Fantasy AlarmRadio
Sho w” on the SiriusXMfa ntas y sportschannel
weekdays from 4-6 p.m. Goto FantasyAlarm.
com for all your fantas y sportsadvice, NFL
player rankings.
Taysom
Hill
Drew Lock and
Bret t Rypien