Top daily fantasy football plays for Thanksgiving
With three games on the popular Thanksgiving Day slate, we take a look at some of the best values to feast upon on DraftKings and FanDuel, and some turkeys to avoid.
Welcome to the always popular Thanksgiving Day slates in Daily Fantasy. Thanksgiving provides that unique opportunity to play a small slate of games on one day that get treated like the major full-slate Sunday tournaments, from a prize-pool perspective. Even with only three games, there are many opportunities to build unique lineups in tournament play, which is always the goal on such a short slate. But there are also traps, like those gross yams, that should be avoided. We look at the best plays in cash games and tournaments, as well as a player to avoid.
Quarterback
CASH
Kirk Cousins, Washington vs. New York Giants ($7,100 DK, $8,800 FD)
Don’t let Alex Smith’s dreadful performance on Sunday fool you. The best quarterback matchup of the day comes in the final game, as the Giants have hemorrhaged points to quarterbacks for several weeks and Cousins enters this game riding two of his best performances of the season. Expect Cousins to take plenty of deep shots against a defense that routinely allows big plays.
TOURNAMENTS
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings ($6,100 DK, $7,700 FD)
Cousins and Philip Rivers are going to be the two most popular plays on the day, while DFS players will probably shy away from Stafford against the tough Vikings defense. But with not much of a running game behind him, Stafford will be throwing all afternoon. That kind of volume is always welcome on a short slate. Stafford has seven touchdown passes in the past three games.
AVOID
Dak Prescott, Cowboys vs. Chargers ($6,700 DK, $8,900 FD)
The Cowboys offense is all out of sorts without Ezekiel Elliott. Tyron Smith’s return will certainly help keep Prescott upright, but the Chargers defense is playing at a very high level right now. Prescott is the second-highest-priced QB on DraftKings and the highest on FanDuel. With roster construction such a key part of winning a small slate, spending up for a struggling QB vs. a tough defense isn’t a winning formula.
Running back
CASH
Melvin Gordon, Los Angeles Chargers at Dallas Cowboys ($8,100 DK, $8,400 FD)
Any doubts about Gordon’s role in the offense were put to bed last Sunday, as Gordon dominated the touches over Austin Ekeler with 20. The Cowboys’ run defense is a shell of itself without Sean Lee on the field, so Gordon should be free to do his thing again with his high volume.
Samaje Perine, Washington vs. New York Giants ($5,000 DK, $7,600 FD)
With Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson done for the year, it’s all Perine, all the time. The rookie has struggled at times this year, but he was sensational against the Saints last week, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. He is going to be super popular on DraftKings because of his price, which makes him a better cash-game play, but he’s viable in all formats.
TOURNAMENTS
Alfred Morris, Cowboys vs. Chargers ($4,800 DK, $6,100 FD)
Morris had his best game since taking over for Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday night, rushing for 91 yards on 17 carries and rendering Rod Smith largely useless. The volume should be there again in a matchup against a difficult pass defense that does have its issues against the run, as LeSean McCoy demonstrated on Sunday. With Perine just $200 more on DK, Morris should go relatively underowned in a plus matchup.
Austin Ekeler, Chargers at Cowboys ($4,200 DK, $5,800 FD)
Ekeler is the best value play at the position, having scored double-digit DK points in three of his past four games. Ekeler took a bit of a backseat on Sunday compared to two weeks ago, likely the result of the critical fumble against the Jags. But he scored his fourth touchdown in his past four games and would easily reach value with another on Thursday.
AVOID
Ameer Abdullah, Lions vs. Vikings ($3,900 DK, $6,300 FD)
Abdullah actually had the best game of the season against the Vikings in Week 4, but he achieved it on 20 carries. In three of the past four weeks, Abdullah has topped out at 11 carries and the Vikings have since established themselves as an elite unit against the run. I’d rather pay down $300 for Theo Riddick in this spot.
Wide receiver
CASH
Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions ($7,600 DK, $8,300 FD)
Thielen is an absolute monster right now, with 61 DK points over the past two weeks. He is getting double-digit targets on an almost weekly basis and this week he doesn’t have to contend with top corner Darius Slay. Thielen might be 70 percent owned this week as the clear No. 1 receiving option, so he is best suited as a cash-game play, but if you can differentiate your lineup elsewhere, he’s a really tough tournament fade.
Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers at Dallas Cowboys ($7,300 DK, $8,000 FD)
Allen will also be highly chalky after his one-man destruction of the Bills on Sunday. Allen has largely been a disappointment this season, but recency bias is going to drive his ownership into the high 60s. And the matchup against the Dallas secondary is very inviting, so he’s a great play in all formats — again, better suited for cash because of ownership.
TOURNAMENTS
Golden Tate, Lions vs. Vikings ($6,200 DK, $7,300 FD)
Because Tate plays out of the slot, he shouldn’t see much, if any, of Xavier Rhodes, and that vaults him to the top of the pecking order for Lions receivers. Tate was quiet last week against the Bears, which is good for DFS purposes if it helps keep ownership depressed. Before last week, Tate had topped 20 DK points in three of four games.
Josh Doctson, Washington vs. New York Giants ($4,700 DK, $6,600 FD)
I admit it, I am not a member of the Josh Doctson Fan Club. The guy drops too many balls and generally disappoints when given a chance to be a difference maker. However! He is coming off his best game of the season, with seven targets and 81 yards, and he’s exactly the type of downfield threat that should burn this indifferent Giants defense. I would put him in my lineup, leaving open the possibility for swapping him out for Giants slot receiver Travis Rudolph if Sterling Shepard is declared inactive.
AVOID
Dez Bryant, Cowboys vs. Chargers ($6,400 DK, $7,400 FD)
As Dak goes, so goes Dez. Even worse for Bryant, he’s going to be shadowed by Casey Hayward, which really limits his appeal. I’d much rather load up on Thielen and Allen, even at much higher ownership percentages, and grab a cheap play like Doctson than spend in the mid-6,000s for a guy with such a bad matchup.
Tight end
CASH
Vernon Davis, Washington vs. Giants ($5,500 DK, $6,400 FD)
The Giants are the worst team in football against the tight end position and Jordan Reed is out.
TOURNAMENTS
Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions ($4,100 DK, $5,800 FD)
Rudolph is going to be underowned with DFSers gravitating toward Davis and Evan Engram. That might be a mistake, as the Lions, while not Giants-level bad, are a top-five team in terms of yards allowed to the position. Rudolph has been at or over 10 DK points pretty much every week, so he’s certainly capable of paying off his price tag, which frees up salary for other places.
AVOID
Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Chargers ($4,400 DK, $5,900 FD)
The Chargers are the anti-Giants against the tight end position and Witten has 1.5 and 1.7 DK points in two of his past three games. Pay down for Rudolph, Hunter Henry, or Eric Ebron before making this move.