What is more surprising, that Corey Clement scored three touchdowns or that Corey Clement scored three touchdowns and wasn’t even the top scoring running back in Week 9? Yeah, I guess the first one, but the second part is pretty interesting too. Alvin Kamara scored two touchdowns of his own and added six catches and over 150 yards from scrimmage to eek out the top running back spot for the week.
Kamara is finally helping Saints fans forget about Darren Sproles and appears to be the perfect compliment to Mark Ingram in New Orleans. Despite the handcuff label, as I have discussed with a few readers in the past few weeks, Kamara is still valuable in fantasy, especially in PPR formats. The Saints have made it pretty clear since their bye week that they want to get the ball into the talented young running back’s hands and are carving about 15+ touches for him each week. And it is working, so don’t expect them to go away from it anytime soon.
In Philadelphia, Clement scored three touchdowns in a week where many wondered if he would even be active on gameday with the addition of Jay Ajayi. With Zach Ertz a late scratch, all of Philly’s running backs were active, even Wendell Smallwood. However, don’t get used to Clement finding so much success and that many touches going forward. The Eagles are on a bye this week and will have had two more weeks to get Jay Ajayi up to speed. While Clement will probably be active over the forgotten Wendell Smallwood, most of the touches are going to go to Ajayi and LeGarrette Blount. This tweet would say otherwise, but remember this was a blowout in Philly:
Eagles final HB snap count:
Corey Clement 28
Jay Ajayi 17
LeGarrette Blount 16
Wendell Smallwood 6
Kenjon Barner 2
Out of 69— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) November 5, 2017
After Clement and Kamara, the other top running backs for Week 9 were Todd Gurley, Matt Forte (because of course), and Marshawn Lynch, who were all at or above 20 points in most formats. Christian McCaffrey wasn’t far behind after a couple down weeks, and Ajayi cracked the upper tier despite only getting in a few practices with the Eagles before Sunday’s game and only receiving eight carries.
Now, to the charts!
Mike Maher’s Week Ten NFL Handcuff Report
NOTE: In the tables below, I’ve removed running backs who have been placed on Injured Reserve. If the running back is injured but is not on IR, then he has a + next to his name.
| American Football Conference | ||||
| AFC East | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Patriots | Mike Gillislee? | Rex Burkhead | James White | Dion Lewis |
| Jets | Matt Forte | Bilal Powell | Bilal Powell | Elijah McGuire |
| Dolphins | Damien Williams | Kenyan Drake | Damien Williams | Senorise Perry |
| Bills | LeSean McCoy | Mike Tolbert | LeSean McCoy | Joe Banyard |
| AFC North | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Bengals | Joe Mixon | Jeremy Hill+ | Giovani Bernard | Cedric Peerman |
| Ravens | Alex Collins | Javorius Allen | Javorius Allen | Terrance West+ |
| Steelers | Le’Veon Bell | James Conner | Le’Veon Bell | Terrell Watson |
| Browns | Isaiah Crowell | Duke Johnson+ | Duke Johnson+ | Matt Dayes |
| AFC South | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Texans | Lamar Miller | D’Onta Foreman | Lamar Miller | Alfred Blue |
| Jaguars | Leonard Fournette | Chris Ivory | Leonard Fournette | T.J. Yeldon |
| Colts | Frank Gore | Marlon Mack | Marlon Mack | Matt Jones |
| Titans | DeMarco Murray+ | Derrick Henry | DeMarco Murray+ | David Fluellen |
| AFC West | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Chiefs | Kareem Hunt | Charcandrick West+ | Kareem Hunt | Akeem Hunt |
| Broncos | C.J. Anderson | Jamaal Charles | Devontae Booker | De’Angelo Henderson |
| Raiders | Marshawn Lynch | Jalen Richard | DeAndre Washington | DeAndre Washington |
| Chargers | Melvin Gordon | Austin Ekeler | Melvin Gordon | Branden Oliver+ |
NOTES
- Jeremy Hill was inactive for the Bengals on Sunday. Good news for Joe Mixon and Gio Bernard owners. Bad news for Hill’s mom (assuming she is the only Hill owner left). The story now is that he was injured in pre-game warmups, but I don’t know how much I buy that. Either way, healthy scratch or injury scratch, Hill is buried on the depth chart now. It’s Mixon’s team, and all he needs now are some blockers.
- C.J. Anderson totalled just 13 yards. He was going up against the best run defense in the league, and Philadelphia defensive line was in the backfield all day. More importantly, the Broncos offense looked putrid once again in a rout. With Denver unable to move the ball through the air on offense, Anderson is struggling to find any room against defenses that just aren’t scared of their passing attack. Unless they fix something quick, his ceiling will remain low.
- Chris Ivory put up over 100 total yards after the surprise benching of Leonard Fournette for violating team rules. At least now Fournette will be fresh for the stretch run?
| National Football Conference | ||||
| NFC East | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Giants | Orleans Darkwa | Paul Perkins | Shane Vereen | Wayne Gallman |
| Eagles | LeGarrette Blount | Jay Ajayi | Corey Clement | Wendell Smallwood |
| Cowboys | Ezekiel Elliott+ | Alfred Morris | Ezekiel Elliott+ | Darren McFadden |
| Washington | Robert Kelley | Samaje Perine | Chris Thompson | Mack Brown |
| NFC North | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Vikings | Jerick McKinnon | Latavius Murray | Jerick McKinnon | Bishop Sankey |
| Packers | Aaron Jones | Ty Montgomery | Ty Montgomery | Jamaal Williams |
| Lions | Ameer Abdullah | Dwayne Washington | Theo Riddick | Zach Zenner |
| Bears | Jordan Howard | Tarik Cohen | Howard/Cohen | Benny Cunningham+ |
| NFC South | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| Buccaneers | Doug Martin | Charlies Sims | Jacquizz Rodgers | Peyton Barber |
| Saints | Mark Ingram | Alvin Kamara | Alvin Kamara | Trey Edmunds |
| Panthers | Christian McCaffrey | Jonathan Stewart+ | Christian McCaffrey | Fozzy Whittaker |
| Falcons | Devonta Freeman+ | Tevin Coleman | Tevin Coleman | Terron Ward |
| NFC West | Primary Back | Handcuff | Pass-Catcher | Reserve |
| 49ers | Carlos Hyde | Matt Breida | Carlos Hyde | Raheem Mostert |
| Seahawks | Eddie Lacy+ | Thomas Rawls | C.J. Prosise | J.D. McKissic |
| Cardinals | Adrian Peterson | Kerwynn Williams | Andre Ellington+ | Kerwynn Williams |
| Rams | Todd Gurley | Malcolm Brown | Todd Gurley | Justin Davis |
NOTES
- Rob Kelley rushed 14 times for 18 yards on Sunday. Oh, and he scored two touchdowns. I was so unimpressed that I almost left that part out. Two touchdowns are nice to have, but let’s not pretend that Kelley earned them. He basically walked up to The Simpsons game at the casino, put in five bucks, and hit for four sprinkled donuts and got 13 free spins on Sunday (I went to the casino last week).
- Can you believe Ezekiel Elliott is/is not suspended for this week (fill in whichever is correct by the time you read this)?
- Yo. Adrian Peterson set a career-high with 37 carries this past week. Let that sink in for a second. The running back who has been around forever as a lead dog just set a new career high in carries. Oh, it was against the San Francisco 49ers. And the Cardinals quarterback was Drew Stanton. Now, that makes a bit more sense. The Cardinals are desperate and got a much-needed win against a bad team. Leaning on one of the better running backs of all time was the right formula on Sunday. He didn’t find the end zone despite those touches, but he made up for it with a ton of yards.
If you want to talk fantasy football or have players you want Mike to feature, hit him up on Twitter at @mikeMaher or post a comment below!
