Daily Dr. Roto — October 29, 2018
Week 8 Prescription Notes
— With the Giants having a BYE week in Week 9 it will be interesting to see whether the team will try and see what rookie QB Kyle Lauletta can do as the starting QB. The Giants season is effectively over, and Eli’s reign as a starter will be ending this year or next, so the team might want to see what Lauletta is capable of before next year’s draft. If this happens, it will undoubtedly hurt the Fantasy fortunes of Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram.
— If I am Bucs HC Dirk Koetter, it should be obvious to me by now that Jameis Winston is not the answer. On the one hand, Winston looked terrible against the Bengals, but he is young, and there is still potential upside. Ryan Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, has been outstanding when called upon, but he is not the man to lead the Bucs for the next decade. Fantasy owners need to pay attention to this because if Fitzpatrick is back at starter, DeSean Jackson‘s stock goes way up, and Mike Evans goes down.
— The most baffling play of the week—or should I say non-play of the week—was Browns TE David Njoku. He had one pass thrown his way all game long. My friend Tony Cincotta used to say, “Never confuse the result with the decision.” The decision to start Njoku made perfect sense as the Steelers are notably bad vs. opposing tight ends, but the Steelers pass rush was so good that Mayfield had no time to find Njoku and the Steelers secondary did an excellent job as well.
— I know that the Jets are in a rebuilding phase, but they have to figure out how to open up their offense a bit more. Perhaps RB Elijah McGuire will help when he returns off the injured reserve list next week. Against a Khalil Mack-less Bears, the Jets were only able to muster 57 yards rushing and 163 yards passing. Jermaine Kearse was barely used, and the Jets offense looked horribly predictable. I know the team wants to preserve QB Sam Darnold and bring him along slowly, but this is getting embarrassing.
— I think good things are ahead for Panthers WR D.J. Moore. I have been telling everyone to stash him on their roster, and it seems like he is ready to break out. The advantage Moore has is that Newton can throw a short pass (ones that he can’t mess up too much) and Moore can break them into significant gains. I think Moore might be an under the radar star to help lead owners to Fantasy titles this season.
— The more I see of Seahawks David Moore, the more I like what I see. He’s got a knack for the end zone, and it’s obvious that Russell Wilson is not afraid to throw it to him. Interestingly enough, Wilson only attempted 17 passes in the entire game which hurts Moore’s value (as well as Lockett and Baldwin), but if the Seahawks are in a game flow where they are playing from behind, Moore might become an interesting start.
— Doyle rules! How good was it to see Jack Doyle back as Andrew Luck’s security blanket this week? Doyle looked sluggish at the beginning of the game but picked it up in the second half and went on to score a late TD to help the Colts win. I would be very concerned if I owned Eric Ebron; Doyle’s return should cut his targets down in half.
— It was good to see Cardinals OC Byron Leftwich get his first win. Leftwich made a point to say that he was going to bring back most of Bruce Arians’ old playbook and that is exactly what he did. Fitzgerald had 12 targets, and David Johnson had 16 carries and four receptions. Rome (and Rosen) wasn’t built in a day, but at least the Cardinals offense looks like it is back on track.
— The Rams pulled out a close game against the Packers and to be quite honest, I was afraid that they were in danger of losing the game before the big fumble at the end. After watching the game closely, I feel more confident in ever in saying that Jared Goff misses Cooper Kupp. Kupp and Goff have a special connection where Goff looks to him whenever he is in trouble. Josh Reynolds is athletic, but he is not the route runner that Kupp is. Goff owners will have to continue to be patient until Kupp returns and hopefully, the big Fantasy numbers will return as well for both players.
— I think it’s fair to say that Fantasy owners should be worried about Saints QB Drew Brees. Not only is the Saints defense playing at a high level, but it seems like Sean Payton is calling more running plays than ever before. Brees passes when he needs, but he no longer airs it out like he used to. He’s certainly capable of doing so, but the team is so good that it’s not necessary. If this continues, Brees might be becoming a borderline QB1 for Fantasy purposes.
