Daily Dr. Roto—December 23, 2019
Prescription Notes for Week 16
How many teams started Jaguars WR D.J. Chark and then saw their championship dreams go up in smoke? Chark had seven targets in the game, but it never really felt like he was anywhere close to his old self. He still needs 27 yards for 1000 on the season (which he will probably get it next week), but that is one week too late for his Fantasy owners.
If the Browns want to keep WRs Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr happy (which might be impossible) then they will have to fire HC Freddie Kitchens and try to fix QB Baker Mayfield. Mayfield regressed terribly in his sophomore season. If he wants to become a great player—and if the Browns want to become a great team—they are going to have to get him some offensive line help and have more inspired play calling.
Speaking of play-calling, there was no worse job of play calling in Week 16 than the Dallas Cowboys. EVERYONE in the NFL knows that the Eagles’ biggest weakness is their pass defense and that their greatest strength is their run defense. Yet Dallas at crucial moments insisted on running the football. Losing is the best thing for the Cowboys; now they can fire Jason Garrett and start over from scratch.
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The best play I saw all day was by Bengals WR Tyler Boyd. Boyd injured himself toward the end of the game but instead of going down and having 10 seconds come off the clock, he stayed on the field and limped off after the next play. Two plays later the Bengals scored and sent the game into overtime. They might not have won the game, but it was still a selfless play which I love to see.
Please remind me that if I am picking at #4 or #5 overall next year that I need to take Saints WR Michael Thomas. He is uncoverable and so long as Drew Brees remains the QB, he should once again have 100+ receptions in 2020.
As good of a job as Steelers HC Mike Tomlin has done all year, was as bad as it was on Sunday. How do the Steelers play so flat against a bad Jets team? Now, the Steelers are going to need help to get into the playoffs when their destiny could have been in their own hands. The one bright point this season has been WR Diontae Johnson. He seems to get better with every passing week and he, Juju Smith-Schuster, and James Washington are going to be impossible to defend when Ben Roethlisberger returns.
Panthers QB Will Grier really had no chance to win as soon as WR D.J. Moore left the game with concussion symptoms. But that said, the Panthers have to decide what their plan is at QB for 2020 and beyond. Do they re-sign Cam Newton? Do they keep Kyle Allen and Grier? Or do they go out and bring someone new in? The bottom line is that RB Christian McCaffrey is the best player in football, but he only has a few years left with this kind of production. If the Panthers want to make a deep run in the playoffs, they need to find a QB who can get them to the Super Bowl.
At last year’s draft I think if you asked Giants fans if they wanted the team to draft QB Daniel Jones or Dwayne Haskins the answer would have been Haskins in a landslide. However, I think it’s clear that Jones had the better rookie season and looks more ready to win.
Has there been a better player on the field for the past two games than Cardinals RB Kenyan Drake? He seems like the perfect fit for the Air Raid offense and there is little doubt that the team needs to resign him and make him their starter in 2020. Watching him play makes me wonder what two different coaches in Miami didn’t like about his game.
Broncos QB Drew Lock looks much farther along at this point than I thought he would be. He is aggressive and is willing to take his shots downfield. With Courtland Sutton, Phillip Lindsay, and Noah Fant around, the Broncos might be next year’s surprise team in the AFC.
Is it just me or does it feel like the end is near for Chargers QB Philip Rivers? In Weeks 15 and 16 the Chargers played two teams—Minnesota and Oakland—who struggled in pass defense all season, yet the Chargers could barely challenge them. The team always seems to do better when Austin Ekeler touches the ball more, but it seemed like they barely used him in the last few weeks of the season. I would be shocked if Anthony Lynn and his staff last past Week 17.
I might not vote for Bucs HC Bruce Arians as Coach of the Year, but anyone who can get RB Ronald Jones II to play they way he did on Saturday deserves my respect and attention.
The Bills are this close to finally beating the Patriots. I don’t think it will happen in 2019 but give the Bills another two or three good players on the Offensive and Defensive Line and they might be able to unseat the Patriots in 2020. By the way, QB Josh Allen and RB Devin Singletary are future Fantasy studs.
How do you know that 2019’s Fantasy Football season was a bit screwy? Rams WR Brandin Cooks came out of nowhere and finally made an impact after being silent for most of the season. If you have Cooks on your bench (like I did), you can’t get upset. You just have to chalk it up to bad luck and move on to 2020.
Those of you who started your Chicago Bears skill players in Week 16 had to be gravely disappointed. WR Allen Robinson had 11.3 Fantasy points and WR Anthony Miller had 1.2 Watching Mitch Trubisky go back to his old ways was painful to see.
