I just installed git-annex using Apt.backportInstalled on a server and was kindof of horrified by the dependendencies dragged in. I suspect much of this is probably just youtube-dl, which should be fixed soon, but anyway, shouldn't there be a way to install from backports without recommends?
Indeed, that's the kind of improvement I will gladly accept any time, and should be very easy to add. So don't hesitate to add properties like that and send patches.
(In this case I had 5 minutes so I implemented it already.)