HANDCUFFS: Chubba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers and Alexander Mattison, Minnesota Vikings
Personally I am not a fan of drafting handcuff players but if your league plays with deep benches, Hubbard and Mattison are two worth stashing. They also get the “Break Glass in Case of Injury” label because they’re only relevant if the lead backs at Carolina or Minnesota go down.
Carolina’s rookie running back will be hard pressed to get any touches when Christian McCaffrey (the Swiss army blade for the Panthers’ offense) is healthy. But, should he go down, Hubbard is the clear backup in a single back offense. Remember what happened to Mike Davis last season when McCaffrey went down? Hubbard is in a similar position.
Meanwhile, for the past two seasons, Mattison has been able to show some flash, when he’s gotten the snaps. They’ve been few and far between though, averaging 98 carries and under 500 yards per season. It’s all about Dalvin Cook in Minnesota in the same way McCaffrey dominates Carolina’s game plan. Both Hubbard and Mattison have little competition though in camp, and that makes either one become instant feature backs in the event Cook or McCaffrey end up injured.
The discouraging thing about both of these backs is that the rest of the offense is not promising. Carolina traded for Sam Darnold and still needs to improve their offensive line. Minnesota has largely remained unchanged from last year but both believe in feeding their backs with a lot of touches.
