The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Dr. Roto's Fantasy Football Feature Week 12

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

Dr Roto joins Matt with his Fantasy Football advice as the NFL Season rolls on into week 12

All right, folks, you know what that? Music means. It is time for Dr. Roto on the Matt Thomas show, a staple for many, many years. Dr. Roto at full-time fantasy.com. Also on SiriusXM, you can find them on Twitter at Dr. Roto, D-R-R-O-T-O. Doctor, I'm sorry, you don't have to talk to Matt this week. We're giving you a reprieve. Maybe that's a good thing.

Ross, it's good to hear from you. Yeah, it's good to hear. I'm glad to have. I think I've only had interviewed you maybe once when Matt was missing some time. so good to have you on because Matt is like a second to last in points in our league, so you don't want to talk to him anyways. It's amazing that we've been on the show together, what, how many four or five years? Right.

Still like in second to last place. You've actually improved him, though, because he used to be dead last all the time. So I'm actually angry with you because you've made him a much better player in our league. He's better on waivers. He's better at drafting. And I'm actually very angry at you just to let you know. All right. Thanks for sharing.

I appreciate it. All right. Let's move along. normally we would save the Texans for later on in the segment, but I mean it's tonight, it's Thursday night, it's a big matchup for AFC South Supremacy. So a lot of couple of different angles here. Number one, let's just go ahead and start on the Colts side. What is the running back situation with them?

How viable are the options offensively for the Colts? We know that Ty Wylton normally goes off against the Texans, so just assess the Colts offense. Yeah, it's a little bit of a mess. So whatever I say now may not even hold true for later, and that's the problem. So T.Y. Hilton is a game time decision. Eric Ebron is dealing with an ankle issue, even though we expect that he's going to play. In terms of the running backs, Norland Mack is out. Jonathan Williams had a great week last week, but if I play him this week, am I chasing last week's points?

I kind of feel like I am. The reason he was so good last week is that Jordan Wilkins wasn't active, but Wilkins will be playing tonight. And then finally, there's a guy named Naim Hines with when the Colts are behind, which they could easily be tonight, he's a guy they play in those situations. So I think this is a mess. I know people will be chasing points with Williams. I just don't know if that's the right idea. What about the tight-in situation?

I mean, Jack Doyle, Ebron, I mean, what's going on there? It's always a difficult situation to see where to go there. Well, you know, it's interesting. Historically, the Texans have not been very good at covering the tight end. But this year, they've improved greatly. So they're one of the top 10 defenses against opposing tight ends. Doyle is good within the 20s, but he kind of disappears. in the end zone. And Ebron

all of a sudden shows up in the red zone and he disappears within the 20s. So could Ebron score? Maybe could Doyle have 40 or 50 yards? Maybe I think there are a lot better options this week. All right. Let's go on to the Texans side. DeAndre Hopkins normally one of the best players

of plays of the week. Guy hasn't really gotten into the end zone. And then of course, I mean, is Will Fuller going to play? That's a question mark. What do you make of the Texans, especially at the skill positions? Well, it's a great point. I think with Will Fuller not being there. It really does affect Hopkins.

I mean, when Wood Fuller's there, Watson loves going to him, and it opens up the entire offense and shreds the defense. I think Fuller gives it a go tonight. I expect to see him play. I think that helps Hopkins out a lot. I think Hopkins gets about 90 yards in a touchdown. I think Carlos Hyde has been a very good player this year, and they're going to continue to try to give him a ball.

The guy that I struggle with, I'm not playing Kenny Stilk. He's out. I'm not playing Darren Felt. he's out. Duke Johnson, if I knew he was going to get 13 touches, I'd be interested, but he could also get six or seven, and then I'm not interested, so I won't play him. Duke Johnson, to me, is just, like, in his fantasy history, has been one of the most fascinating players. Like, he's always a guy that we're always banging the drum for more volume. And then when he gets volume, he produces, but no matter, I mean, whether he's on the Browns or the Texans,

he just doesn't ever seem to get much of a workload. I know. I knew he was getting, they were drafts. I took him in the fifth and six round this year when he went to the Texas. I thought it was a great spot, right? But, I mean, five rushes and four receptions a week is not going to win me any fantasy championships. Right, all right. Let's move along to a couple of other matchups. How about Falcons and Buccaneers?

First of all, let's go ahead and start on the Falcons defense. Last couple of weeks, they've been very good. Dan Quinn gives up the play calling duties there with them. They've also been rotating in, I think, some of the defensive linemen, they've been changing up the snap counts. And so improved defense over there. So what do you make for James? Winston, the interception machine, but he's got weapons.

What do you make of this one? Well, look, on both sides of the Boston, it's going to be a high-scoring game. On Tampa Bay, James is a good player, but he makes a lot of mental mistakes. You can't trust Ronald Jones as far as you can throw them, but you certainly can play Mike Evans. You certainly can play Chris Godwin, and I think you absolutely can play Cameron Bray because the thing O.J. Howard is going to be benched. I think that Bruce Arients hate O.J. Howard, so watch for Brayette to be a very active player. I think all those guys are good starts, but the real starts are going to come on the other side of the ball.

Matt Ryan should throw for 350 yards this week. Every year, Julio Jones has a 200-yard game. This very well could be it. The Bucks have the worst secondary right now in the NFL, and Calvin Ridley's been out of his mind. So, I mean, I really like those three players. I would absolutely play them in seasonal. I play them in daily. I play them everywhere.

Yeah. And just your thoughts on Matt Ryan. Where do you put him as far as tears go? We're talking about a guy who won an MVP a couple of years ago, but you never really mention him when you're talking about top five and sometimes even top 10 quarterbacks in the league. No, it's a really good point. I think Matt Ryan's the kind of guy that you can take as a ninth or tenth quarterback off the board.

Here's the biggest problem. He has no mobility. I mean, zero. So when other guys are getting 30 and 40 yards or rushing touchdowns like Josh Allen and people like Jack Prescott, right, you like things like that. where Matt Ryan, if he doesn't give you the yards, he gives you nothing. But when he's hot, he's as good a quarterback as there is out there. So I usually take him as the ninth or tenth quarterback off the board.

All right. Let's go with a couple of other noontime matchups. How about the Panthers and the Saints? A good one. Let's start with the Panthers side. Is Christian McCaffrey about as untouchable and Teflon as a guy you'd ever seen? I mean, the guy doesn't even score a touchdown last week. still leads all running backs and points.

Have you, I mean, we've never seen a season like this from any running back, let alone recently, right? Yeah, he's phenomenal. But now, this could be his kryptonite. The Saints on the road could be his kryptonite. Now, when I say that, he still could have 20 fantasy points. I just don't think he's going to have 40, right? The Saints have a very good run defense.

They have no respect for Kyle Allen, and I think that they're going to load up and try to stop McCaffrey in any way they can. I think McCaffrey gets, like I said, about 20 fantasy points, but if you're looking for the big week from him, I don't think we see it. Kyle Allen was a true disappointment last week. I don't really like Greg Olson. I like DJ Moore. They have to get Curtis Samuel more involved in this offense. On the other side, the Panthers run defense is a travesty.

This is an Alvin-Kamara week for sure. And I think you'll even see Latavis Murray get 8 to 12 carries in football. He might get 50 yards rushing. they're going to pound the Panthers with that run game. Speaking of guys who are Teflon, and he also got Michael Thomas at wide receiver there. What do you think about, I mean, obviously you could just talk about him and his greatness, but also Drew Breeze, where do you see him at this point in his career?

I mean, is he a viable week-to-week start? Because some of these starts for him have been weak since he's come back from injury. Yeah, no, I was off on Drew Breeze at the beginning of the season. He didn't even have 4,000 yards passing last year. I love Michael Thomas, and I love Alvin Kumar. You play them every single week. I think Drew Breeze is a spot start. This week I would not start him because you can absolutely run on the Panthers.

So if they can run the football like they're going to, if Drew Breeze throws 30 times this week, I'll be shocked. Right. And how about the Saints defense? Do you see them as, I mean, they've been pretty much almost matchup proof the last several weeks. I mean, they got over 20 points last week. Of course, thanks to James Winston throwing a ton of picks. But, I mean, do you see them as one of the ones?

those, have they cracked one of those match-up-proof defenses labels? Oh, absolutely. Look, the Patriots have been the best defense, and the Saints have been the best defense in the NFC. So, I mean, Kyle Allen threw four picks last week and got stacked five times. You don't think the Saints can do that this week? They can do it plenty, especially at home. I think Kyle Allen's in big trouble. Don't be shocked to see that you're going to see Will Greer in the next week or two. I think the Panthers want to see what they have there. Okay, interesting. Let's move along to a game that probably doesn't. generate a whole lot of national interest, but I think it's pretty interesting from a fantasy

perspective. The Dolphins and the Browns, let's start on the Dolphins side. What do you make, of course, you had the issue with the Dolphins running back situation this week. You also have Devante Parker breaking out the last couple weeks. Is Devante Parker a viable guy week-to-week for you now? Absolutely. Devante Parker is a very good player. He's playing for a big contract. He's probably not going to get it with Miami. Somebody will pay him a lot of money because he is a very talented player. He's just a little, you know, light in the head. But, I mean, when he wants to play, he's pretty darn good. I'll give you a very sneaky play. I hate Kaelin Belage. I think he's awful. Take a look at this kid, Patrick Laird. If you're in a

PPR format, the guy had six catches for 51 yards last week. Let's put it this way. He doesn't suck. There's a lot of guys out there. He doesn't suck. He's not very good, but I might look his way. For Cleveland, you are all in this week on Baker Mayfield. You're all in on Jarvis slandering or revenge narrative game. You're in on O'Dell Beckham. I mean, Bobby McCain and Rashad Jones are out this week. They're on the I are done for the season. I mean, this could be the week that you've been waiting for for Baker Mayfield. Over the next four weeks, he's got Cincinnati, he's got Arizona, he's got Miami. If there was ever time for Baker to lead people to a fantasy title, this is it. Yeah, you know, I was just, that was going to lead me to my next question,

Dr. Rottos just actually going to ask you that exact question. I mean, Baker Mayfield struggled this year, obviously. But I mean, you look at some of the matchups. He's had some pretty tough games. Obviously, the schedule loosens up. So, I mean, he could be for guys who are struggling or looking for somebody in their week-to-week league for a quarterback. You think Baker Mayfield is viable play for the rest of the season? I do. The only question would be if Nick Chub is so good running the football that Baker doesn't need to throw it, right? That's the only thing that will stop him from doing a really great job over the next few weeks. But, yeah, there are leagues that I think people cut Baker-Mayfield. I'd pick him

up right now for sure. Yeah, and I think also with Miles Garrett out, you might have them giving up a ton of points as the weeks go along, so it could be some high scoring games for the Browns as well. Couldn't agree anymore. I think the Browns are going to be... That was one of the most horrific things I've ever seen on the football field.

I mean, that Mason-Rudoff's head didn't split open. It boggles my mind. Yeah, definitely. We could probably spend a whole two segments on that as well, Dr. Rodo, but we've got to move on. We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show, the weekly segment with Dr. Roto. You don't want to miss it. We'll continue. We'll talk about, I'm going to throw a little buy or sell at Dr. Roto. We're going to talk about sleepers. We're going to

talk a lot of general discussion and keep it going with the fantasy right here on the Matt Thomas Show after this short break. Welcome back Matt Thomas show here on Sports 9. 9. Rolling along with Dr. Roto, the expert, the man himself, who's been on here for years helping you guys out. Fulltime Fantasy.com. Find him on Twitter at Dr. Roto, D-R-R-O-T-O. Doctor, I'm about to just throw some names at you with a little bit of buy or sell if you're ready. Let's do it. All right.

You mentioned, well, a couple of these you mentioned earlier, but let's go ahead and start with Sequin Barclay. I mean, this is a guy who's obviously had injury issues. He was the number one overall pick for me in a league. What do you make a him for the rest of the season? I feel like the Giants aren't unnecessarily in a playoff race, so he's a guy in danger of getting shut down at some point. Buy or sell. Sequon Barkley is a viable guy the rest of the season and throughout the season.

the playoffs. Yeah, that's a really good point you bring out. I think he's a sell. I do. You know, look, what are the Giants? Don't tell me that. Nothing. They have nothing to play for. And look, I'm admittedly, I'm a giant fan. So I want him shut down. I want Sterling Shepard shutdown. I want him all shut down. I want the number three pick in the draft. I don't need to see Sey Kwan Barkley out there. So the truth is that he's such a competitor. He wants to play. I think you'll see him the next couple of weeks, probably the next two weeks, for sure. but you start hitting weeks 15, 16, and 17. 17, for sure he's done. 15, 16, I think it's 50-50, whether he plays.

I'll tell you this. If you have SACClawn Barclay, go get yourself, Wayne Gawman, and put him on your team right now. Yeah, definitely, definitely a handcuff situation there. Let's move on to how about the Jacksonville Jaguars. You had Nick Foles coming back. You weren't sure if DJ Chark was going to still be viable. He liked, or Foles liked Westbrook early on in this. the season. So a DJ Chark buy or sell as just one of the top tier wide receivers for the

season. Yeah, I'm buying all the Jaguars. I'm buying Nick Foles. I'm buying Chalk. I'm buying Chris Conley. I'm buying D.B. I'm buying Leonard Fournett. They have a very easy schedule that's the rest of the way, and I think they will surprise a lot of people. I think Foles is probably on 90% of waiver wires out there. So I really like him. Chark has been sensational. I mean, look, how many people think drafted Chark this year? Two percent? I was taking him like around 19 or 20 in most of my drafts. So this guy has been a revelation. He's a buy.

All right. Let's go ahead and keep it with the DJs. DJ Moore. The volume has just been really been there the last three weeks. Has he emerged as one of the top tier wide receivers buy or sell that? He has, but it'll be a very tentative buy because like I told you, if Kyle Allen has another week or two where he's disgusting like he was last week, I could easily see Will Greer coming in. once Will Greer comes in, who knows what that guy's going to do?

Because I think if I'm the Carolina Panthers, I took Greer in the third round of last year's draft. I need to see what he's got going on before I plan for next year, because I think they're going to go look for life without Cam Newton. So without Allen with Greer is more going to be targeted as much. I don't know. And predictability is everything in fantasy football. So I'm going to put a very tentative buy on him. Okay.

Let's mention somebody that you talked about a little bit. earlier in last segment. Odell Beckham, Jr., obviously not necessarily living up to where he was drafted so far this year, only has one touchdown. The yards have been there, but buy or sell him the rest of the season as well. Yeah, you've got to buy. And by the way, I'm really annoyed at these two guys when they say that when they haven't learned how to play it well together.

I don't want to hear that. Your Baker-Mayfield, your Odell Beckham, Jr., get out there and figure it out. I don't care if you have to stay up until three in the morning every night to figure it out, find a connection because you're talking about one of the greatest wide receivers in the NFL, and it seems like they're not using him properly. I really like Beckham over the next four or five weeks. I think he scores at least five touchdowns in the next four weeks. Okay, wow. Okay, definitely. I guess we're buying O'Dell Beckham.

That sounds good to me. Let's move along. Let's just get a couple of a lot of people week-to-week streaming quarterback, streaming defenses, streaming tight-in. So let's just hit on those pretty quickly. What do you see? First, let's start with the quarterbacks. You mentioned Nick Foles is a guy who's available.

Baker-Mayfield, not necessarily available in a ton of leagues, but probably a decent percentage of them. What do you feel like for a streaming quarterback scenario this week? Yeah, like Sam Darnold. I like Derek Carr. I think that game, two teams who actually stop the run reasonably well, but they don't stop the pass at all. And I think people are overlooking that game. Donald has been sensational in the first quarter of the last few games, and Carr has played exceptionally well. I think that game is probably in the 50s, and I think it goes higher scoring than people think. I would look into that game for points.

All right. Let's go to the tight ends. A big week for buys. I mean, you got Kelsey on a buy. You've got Kyle Rudolph on a buy, Hunter Henry as well. So if people are scrambling, looking around for a tight end, what do you suggest? Yeah, I love Ryan Griffin. I would say right in that jet game.

I think Ryan Griffin is sensational. It's probably owned by 2% of leagues. I like Cameron Brayt, like I mentioned before. I think that O.J. Howard is done. And take a look at your namesake, Ross Dwellie. If George Kittle is out, If he's out, Green Bay is very bad at covering tight ends. Dwellie could find the end zone again.

Okay. And then let's just go on the defensive side. What do you think for some matchups? Obviously, probably the Browns. Playing against the Dolphins is a week-to-week play, but what else you got for streaming defenses? Yeah, I think the Browns are a good play. I think the Steelers are a great play.

I mean, Ryan Stanley has not been sensational by any means. So I think you look his way. I'll give you a sneaky defense. I think Denver's played very well. I do. I think Denver's played very well. Josh Allen can make some mistakes. He's a good young quarterback, but he's mistake prone,

so wouldn't shock me if he did something crazy. You know, just a quick thought on the bills there since you brought up Josh Allen. I mean, is John Brown you think a week-to-week play? Singletary, I think, has been kind of up and down. But the bill's schedule, I mean, they have seven wins, but you look at all those wins. None of them are against a really good team. But I guess you don't really care about that for fantasy.

Well, look, the bills beat the teams they should, and that's a mark of a good team. And now they have to figure out how to beat some teams that are tough. I love the coaching staff. I think Josh Allen's come a long way. I love John Brown. I don't like him this week with Chris Harris covering him, but in general he's a very good player.

But let me talk to you about Devin Singletary, who I'm a huge fan of. This guy's about a year away. And here's why. When they get down to the red zone, they bring in Frank Gore, mistake number one. Then, number two, Josh Allen runs it in. And then three, they don't pass them. the ball enough when they're winning. They only pass on the ball when they're losing. When those things change, which they should very quickly, because Frank Gore is like a thousand

years old and they're going to realize they have to throw the ball more to Singletary, Singletary is going to go from being like a top 30 running back to a top 10 fantasy running back. That's how good he is. So Dr. Roto says, oh, pick him up, try to trade for him in your dynasty leagues is what you're saying. Absolutely. All right. Let's go to, how about the Monday night matchup? We haven't really touched much on this one. Ravens and the Rams, obviously, Jared Goff taking a huge step back this year. Really, every Ram is disappointed except for Cooper Cup.

What do you make of their offense? And Cooper Cup is disappointed in the last couple weeks, too. So I say this. The offensive line that the Rams have is terrible, and I think that's been a big problem. Brandon Cook's not being there has been a problem because there's nobody who's challenging the defense is deep. Once they fix those two things, and I think the play calling has been weak, Jared Giac off seems to be better at home than he is on the road.

He had a couple of big plays called back last week because of penalties. But look, nobody's stopping the Ravens. Lamar Jackson is very good player. And they have this three tied-in offense and they have Mark Ingram. And I didn't even forget to tell you about Marquise Brown. The only way the Ravens lose and it's possible is if a team has like two weeks to prepare. You give the Patriots two weeks to prepare. They'll beat Lamar Jackson.

but on a week-to-week basis, nobody sees this kind of team before, and I think that they're going to beat the Rams by a lot. All right. Another one we haven't really touched on too much. Cowboys and Patriots in a three-clock game. Big one here with America's team and then the Cowboys. So what do you think, you see what I did there, what do you think, I mean, are Mara Cooper and Gallup, are they still viable plays against the Patriots secondary?

Yeah, I don't love Amari Cooper this week because he's going to see a lot of stuff on Gilmore. but I do like Michael Gallup, who's a sensational young player, and Randall Cobb's been very good. So I think that's where they're going to have to go, and of course they're going to give the ball to Zique. The Patriots, you know, are interesting because their offense doesn't look great at times, but they feel you figure out how to win. Do you feel the Patriots going to lose this week? Probably not. So Edelman will do well, James White will do well, Sonny Michelle will do well. It comes in dribs and drabs all over the place.

But I really like this Michael Gallup kid. He is just a very – if he was on other teams, he'd be a number one receiver. Okay. And finalists, go ahead and get to. It's the weekly staple. Dr. Roto, go ahead and give us your lock of the week. Yeah, every year, Julio Jones puts up a 200-yard game. And I think this is the week.

I mean, the Bucks defense is terrible. They don't have Vernon Hargraves. They cut. The secondaries and shambles. The Falcons can't run the ball. and the one thing that Tampa Bay Buccaneers do well is they stop the run. So they're going to throw, throw, throw, throw. I think Julio goes for at least 150 yards in a touchdown.

Julio Jones and the Falcons against that horrible buccaneer secondary, Dr. Roto's lock of the week. All right, Dr. Roto. Thanks a lot for the conversation. Go ahead and tell the folks where they can find all of your stuff. You can find me at full-time fantasy.com. You could also find me at s.i.com backslash fantasy. That's Sports Illustrated. And you can find me at Twitter.

Dr. R-R-O-T-O. All right, doctor, thanks a lot for the time. And as always, appreciate it. And please stop educating Matt on how to play fantasy football. I'll do my best. All right. Thanks, man. We'll talk to you next week.