Colts running backs break handcuff rules

The Indianapolis Colts waived running back Clifton Dawson this week leaving the team with just four backs to tote the rock this fall: Joseph Addai, Chad Simpson, Lance Ball and Mike Hart, the promising Michigan back coming back from a torn ACL.

In all likelihood the Colts will rectify that situation by picking up someone in the draft or re-signing free agent Dominic Rhodes. If they don’t, some recommend keeping an eye on Simpson or Ball and moving them up your list of potential handcuffs for the 2009 season.

I disagree.

If you pick Joseph Addai in your fantasy drafts you need to hope his injury issues from 2008 don’t repeat themselves or you need to prepare yourself with a backup that is worthy of playing time in the NFL and in fantasy leagues.

There are 32 teams in the NFL and conservatively two-thirds of them use running back by committee. That should leave roughly 50 feasible running backs – in leagues with 10 or 12 teams it’d take a heckuva lot of problems before you have to reach for guys like Ball and/or Simpson.

If those two guys are Addai’s backups, they may get a couple carries a game to give Addai a breather. But neither of them are of the quality of second-stringers that garner double-digit carries like Chester Taylor, Jerious Norwood, and Darren Sproles.

If Addai ends up getting hurt and missing a game or two, Ball, Simpson and probably at least one or two more guys will end up splitting carries and Peyton Manning will end up throwing a lot more.

Yes, it’s unlikely that the Colts will go into the season with Ball and Simpson as the backups to Addai. And if they do stick with that duo, it’s possible they may prove to be better than I think they are.

But at the end of the day, you can’t go into your fantasy football season with a bunch of second- and third-string backups who haven’t ever had more than a dozen carries in mopup time during the season. Don’t listen to anyone, especially at the beginning of the season, who says you need to pick them up as hancuffs.

You need to find somebody better. Or at least someone who has proven it.