5 Best Running Back Handcuffs for Fantasy Football in 2025

Running back is arguably the most essential position in fantasy football -- there's a reason six RBs are top-10 picks in 2025 fantasy football drafts.

The league's top-tier running backs enjoy a high-volume, workhorse role that is stable, easy to project, and spells points. But what happens when a starter gets hurt and leaves behind a gaudy role?

That's where handcuffs come into play. Taking a backup running back -- presumably after you drafted the starter for said backup's team -- can serve as a great insurance for injuries. We can also target handcuffs based on their ability to win a starting role during the season.

So, which running back handcuffs should we target in fantasy football this season?

Note: All ADPs come from FantasyPros' Consensus ADP for half-PPR leagues.

Best Running Back Handcuffs for Fantasy Football in 2025

Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills

ADP: 153.3 Overall (RB52)

James Cook has missed just one game in his three-year NFL career and isn't the first guy who comes to mind when we think of injury risk, but that doesn't stop Ray Davis from being one of the best handcuffs entering 2025.

Cook missed a Week 6 game against the New York Jets last season. The then-rookie Davis was fed the ball as a result. He handled 20 carries for 97 yards and caught all 3 of his targets for 55 yards. That 152-yard showing resulted in 18.2 fantasy points despite Davis not scoring a touchdown.

Davis is one of the more talented backups in the league, as he net 4.9 yards per carry across three games where he handled double-digit carries and averaged 11.1 yards per catch last season. Add in a bell cow role if Cook goes down and a Buffalo Bills offense that could easily pace the league in scoring in 2025, and Davis has the makings to be this year's Jordan Mason.

Isaac Guerendo, San Francisco 49ers

ADP: 150.7 Overall (RB50)

Speaking of the San Francisco 49ers backfield -- Isaac Guerendo is worth drafting if you end up nabbing Christian McCaffrey in the first round.

McCaffrey missed 13 games last season due to Achilles tendonitis and a PCL sprain. With CMC out, Jordan Mason was the overall RB9 from Weeks 1 to 7. Mason himself ended up dealing with injuries throughout the season, which signaled plenty of usage in Guerendo's direction.

There were four games where McCaffrey was out, Mason was either out or limited, and Guerendo, in turn, handled 10-plus carries. In this stretch, Guerendo averaged 79.8 rushing yards, 101.0 scrimmage yards, 5.8 yards per carry, and 15.7 fantasy points per game. Among RBs who saw 75-plus carries in 2024, Guerendo led the way with 2.9 yards after contact per attempt.

Mason is now with the Minnesota Vikings, making Guerendo the firm RB2 behind CMC. Though we're hoping for a bounce-back campaign, McCaffrey has played seven games or fewer in three of his last five seasons. The 29-year-old has missed 44.0% of games since 2020. Similar to Ray Davis, Guerendo is in line for a prime role on a high-scoring offense if anything happens to his RB1.

Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals

ADP: 152.3 Overall (RB51)

James Conner played 16 games last year, the first season he didn't miss multiple games in his eight-year NFL career. Conner sat out 19 games from 2019 to 2023, and Trey Benson has plenty of upside as a handcuff.

Benson won't have any competition if Conner goes down, and the Arizona Cardinals are one of the most fantasy-relevant teams, as playing games in a dome and struggling with a poor defense spells shootouts. The Cardinals selected Benson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and he went on to net 4.6 yards per carry in his opening campaign.

Conner also averaged 4.6 yards per carry in 2024 and is being drafted as the RB19. He's finished top-15 at his position on a points-per-game basis in each of his four campaigns with the Cardinals. But if the 30-year-old starts to slow down -- or goes down -- the 23-year-old Benson will be right there to pick up the pieces.

Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons

ADP: 168.7 Overall (RB56)

If you own the second (or third) overall pick in fantasy football drafts this season, chances are you'll end up with Bijan Robinson on your roster. If so, Tyler Allgeier should be on your radar.

While Bijan hasn't missed a game in his two-year NFL career, his ADP alone should have us vying for his handcuff. We saw fantasy managers get burnt on McCaffrey as the 1.01 pick last season, but hopefully they had Mason and Guerendo in their back pocket. That's what we're looking for here with Allgeier, and he's had a decent role even with Bijan in the fold.

Allgeier handled 137 carries in 2024 even with Bijan playing every game. He averaged 4.7 yards per carry (tied for 10th-most; minimum 100 carries) and 2.6 yards after contact per attempt (sixth-most). In Week 6, Bijan (RB4) and Allgeier (RB9) each managed a top-10 finish at the position.

Bijan is young and durable, but he did take on a whopping 365 touches in the regular season last year -- good for the second-most behind only Saquon Barkley (378). Rostering Allgeier is an easy way to avoid stress if you've already got Bijan.

Will Shipley, Philadelphia Eagles

ADP: 202.5 Overall (RB63)

It's safe to say there are a lot of handcuffs we could target considering handcuff king Zach Charbonnet didn't make this list while Tyjae Spears and Tank Bigsby each have strong paths to command an RB1 role this season, but I think we need to give some love to Will Shipley.

Across the 2024 regular season and postseason, Saquon handled an eye-popping 482 touches. That's good for the 10th-most in NFL history, 2nd-most since 2000, and most across the past decade. It was a beyond taxing workload for a 28-year-old who already has an injury history. There's a reason Saquon made our Austin Swaim's list for riskiest fantasy football players.

Shipley and A.J. Dillon are behind Saquon on the Philadelphia Eagles depth chart, and Shipley played ahead of Dillon in Philadelphia's first preseason game. It's not totally clear if the 2024 fourth-round pick can be productive in the league -- he was reduced to 66 carries last season with Saquon eating up pretty much everything and the since-departed Kenneth Gainwell taking it from there -- but his role should command our attention if Saquon gets banged up this season, and, unfortunately, that seems like a pretty fair possibility.

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