WR handcuffs who could win your fantasy football league in 2021

Late last week, I highlighted seven total running backs in fantasy football who have league-winning upside if the running back ahead of them on the depth chart goes down (handcuffs). While the approach of handcuffing is most popular with running backs, there’s a way to go about it similarly with the wide receiver position.

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While the position is different in a sense that if one goes down, it’s not the case for the backup to soak up all of the touches, there are clear beneficiaries if a WR1 was to go down.

These are my top wide receiver handcuffs for the 2021 season, with an emphasis on wide receivers with cheap draft-day price tags.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a late-round fantasy football value

The news of Aaron Rodgers returning for the 2021 season resurfaced confidence in the dominance of the Packers offense for fantasy purposes. That is, when looking at the three key cogs in the offense – Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Aaron Jones. Robert Tonyan has also seen a spike in ADP (+8.59 spots from July to August in consensus ADP), but the No. 2 wide receiver in this offense feels like an afterthought.

That is a mistake. While he is not a high-floor option, Valdes-Scantling offers an astronomical ceiling as long as Rodgers is manning the offense. This was backed up in 2020, as Valdes-Scantling led all players with at least 50 targets in aDOT (16.84).

While there should be a carousel of players in the slot (Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers), Valdes-Scantling’s role on the outside seems to be safe enough to back on at his ADP (254.24).

Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson can soar with Patrick Mahomes in fantasy

While their ADPs are vastly different, both are in a similar situation. They find themselves in the league’s most potent offense that now has a void at wide receiver with Sammy Watkins departing to the Ravens. While Tyreek Hill played 15 games in 2020, he’s only a season removed from missing four games in 2019, leaving open opportunities should he miss any time.

The hype on Hardman has been buzzing all summer, causing his ADP to vault to 131.79 after jumping 14.45 spots from July to August. His preseason performances haven’t been holding it back, either, as he saw six of Patrick Mahomes’ 18 passes in their last preseason game:

Robinson, on the other hand, doesn’t have as secure a role as Hardman, but he played all four of Mahomes’ snaps in the preseason opener, followed by his second preseason game when he looked to have a clear lead ahead of Byron Pringle for the WR3 gig:

While neither of these players may be safe enough to use weekly, both are poised to see a massive uptick in production should Hill miss time. In such a potent offense, it’s hard to completely ignore this upside.

Michael Gallup can be a fantasy football star in Dallas

It’s hard to consider Gallup strictly a handcuff, as he offers enough standalone value where he should be a popular target on draft day. With that said, he has legitimate WR1 upside if one or both of Amari Cooper and/or CeeDee Lamb miss time.

Gallup produced both with and without Dak Prescott last season. His targets with Prescott were down (5.6 per game), but the depth of targets were up, leading to him posting almost 70 yards per game through the first five games of the season.

In the remaining 11 games without Dak, however, he saw his yards per game drop to 45, but his targets per game rose (7.09) and his touchdown rate rose (0.36 per game). While none of those are eye-popping numbers, it shows standalone value. It also sounds like Gallup has raised some eyebrows in training camp:

At his current ADP (115.93), Gallup is a worthy one if you miss on the first two Dallas receivers.

Tyler Boyd offers a solid floor and high ceiling in fantasy

All of the buzz this offseason has been on rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and second-year receiver Tee Higgins, leaving Boyd in the dust in the Bengals’ receiver room.

Because of this, he’s going as late as the eighth and ninth rounds in drafts (94.42). Unlike the aforementioned two, Boyd has a track record of consistent and productive contribution in the NFL, and this is not a knock on them. Quarterback Joe Burrow has continued to look his way in training camp, too.

Given that three Bengals receivers (Boyd, Higgins, A.J. Green) saw over 100 targets last season, the addition of Chase shouldn’t knock Boyd’s stock as much as the ADP reflects, making him a rock-solid option in the late-middle rounds and one that could post ceiling games if one of the other receivers misses time.

Van Jefferson could make a fantasy impact for the Rams

The Rams offense has been a headline throughout the offseason. It started when they traded for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, boosting the stock of the entire offense. The latter headline, however, carried a different tune when Cam Akers tore his Achilles. Even so, this is still expected to be a potent passing attack rich with viable pass-catchers.

Jefferson, however, is usually left out of the conversation. He’s shown the ability to stretch the field when needed, and that ability has carried over with his new quarterback:

While he would obviously see a nice bump if either Robert Woods or Cooper Kupp went down, the fact that DeSean Jackson has struggled to stay healthy for the majority of his career bodes well to the belief that it’s a matter of “when” and not “if” for Jefferson. Essentially free in deeper leagues, he’s a worthy bench stash with multiple-touchdown upside if a receiver goes down.