Hey, my name is Chris and I will be bringing you your DFS Football “Thanksgiving Day Delight.” This article will be focusing on the afternoon slates each week during the NFL season. The purpose of this article will be to put you on a successful path for this special slate. In this article, I will break down each game so that you can set yourself up for an extra special Thanksgiving day. Most of the time in these slates you will need at least two of those “chalk” players in order to stay with the competition. The key to winning this slate will be to differentiate yourself in other spots in order to get yourself to the top of those large field gpps. I will be mentioning a few players that should be at a lower ownership that could give you that extra boost you need to take home a top gpp prize.
We have big winners weekly, here at the DFS Army. Here is Cookoo, Who is fresh off of a $ 100,000-afternoon slate.
Lions V Bears
Let’s kick this slate off with my Detroit Lions. It has been a predictable year thus far, always meaning playoff hopes in the preseason and to find ourselves giving up around Thanksgiving. Cannot really say I expected much out of the Lions, but what they are good at is giving up and creating a lot of fantasy points. Golladay is the guy in Detroit now and will see as much work as possible in this game. He is without a doubt Stafford’s go-to guy on this offense and will be relied on heavily in this game if the Lions want to have any chance of winning. He has seen 13 and 14 targets in the last two games and I am fully expecting him to see another 10 plus targets in this game. As of writing this Marvin Jones has yet to participate in practice and if he his out again, Ellington becomes a great salary saving option for this slate. Last week, Ellington saw 9 targets and without Jones in the lineup, he should stay within that target area. I am hoping he stays under the radar on this slate so that he can potentially be one of our big differentiators. Riddick is my last positional player gpp option on the Lions. All signs are pointing to Johnson being out which would open up some opportunity for Riddick to not only get more usage in the passing game but also some usage in the running game as well. The Lions should be trailing in this game and that would lead to more work for Riddick in this game. I prefer to play Riddick on Draftkings to take full advantage of their ppr scoring system, but with the potential usage boost, he is a solid play on both sites. Stafford is a solid option on this slate. The majority of the ownership should go to Brees, Ryan, and Trubisky and that is exactly why Stafford makes for a great play on this slate. Garbage time is Staffords favorite time of every game and even though I expect him to throw a couple of interceptions, he should be good for 270-325 yards and a couple tuddies. The box score of their last meeting does not fully represent the potential of this game. 2 weeks ago when these two teams played it was outside in sub 30-degree weather with a fair amount of wind. Fast forward to this week and this game will be played in a dome with no external weather to worry about. to Other gpp considerations go out to Blount. Blount is a guy who I never get right and he should be extremely low owned. Just know, more likely than not he will only get you around 2-5 fantasy points.
Lions Top Gpp Plays: Golladay, Ellington, Riddick, and Stafford
On the Bears side of the ball, there is a lot of potential for some good gpp plays. Let’s not beat around the bush here, no matter who ends up playing between Trubisky/Daniels they are going to be a top play going up against this weak Lions secondary. If Trubisky plays, I will lean heavily towards the passing options in this game. However, if Daniels gets the nod at QB, I will still have exposure to the passing game, because he is a proven backup in this league, and will be the best points per dollar play at this position, but it will also open up interest in Howard. Either way, this offense will be going for seconds if not thirds of turkey in this juicy game. Trubisky has played better than most people would have thought he would have this season and is a top 3 option at QB on this slate. He is my 2nd favorite QB on this slate due to price, only being behind Matty Ice. Miller happens to be my favorite WR option on the Bears. He has a fantastic matchup in this game and has caught a TD in 3 out of the 4 previous games. To give you guys a spoonful of our delicious mashed potatoes Miller is featured in our matchups article and to read more about his matchup you will need to be DFS Army member. You will be able to read Dabbingpuggle’s articles where he talks about the best matchups for WR on this week’s Thanksgiving slate and every week’s main slate. You will also get all of the other valuable material from our other great coaches and advice in every other sport that is playable in DFS. With that being said, Miller is poised for another good game and is great value on both Draftkings and Fanduel. Cohen is another solid value option on this slate and if this game can stay competitive or if the Lions actually have a lead late in the game, Cohen could be in line for a lot of fantasy points. He is a threat in the ground game and passing game. I prefer to play him DK, but he is a big play guy and for that reason, he is very much in play on both FD and DK. Gabriel will be avoided by all of the box score watchers from the last time these two teams played each other. However, he is in a good spot in this game and could potentially be one of our differentiators because he was nowhere to be found a couple of weeks ago. The Lions secondary outside of Slay is atrocious and has been the main course meal for opposing teams offenses for several years. Howard becomes a great option in gpp if Trubisky sits this game out as the Bears will be more likely to lean heavier on the Run. The Lions are giving up on average 125 yards a game on the ground and if Howard is given the usage in this game he should come close to 100 yards with a possible tuddy. This is assuming that Daniels is the starting QB. Other gpp considerations go out to Trey Burton and Allen Robinson. I only wanted to list my favorite plays in bold and while Burton is a solid option at TE he is not my favorite and Robinson should be on lockdown due to Slay.
Bears Top Gpp Options: Trubisky/Daniels, Miller, Cohen, Gabriel, and Howard
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Redskins V Cowboys
This game to me is directly correlated to the cranberry sauce and green bean casserole on your Thanksgiving Day dinner table. It has to be there, but no one really wants any part of it outside of the few wacky relatives that love cranberry sauce and green bean casserole or the members of the family trying to make grandma happy. There is not much to love about this game at all, but I will dive into a couple of plays that should be appetizing and one play, in particular, that could be like finding bacon in your mashed potatoes. On the Redskins side of the ball, Reed stands out as their top option. Reed looked like his former self, last week as it seemed like his connection with McCoy was stronger than what we had hoped Alex Smith would deliver this season. A TE is a backup QB’s best friend and I am sure that McCoy will be looking to Reed early and often in this game. Reed caught McCoy’s touchdown pass last week and it would not surprise me if they hooked up again for a special Thanksgiving delight. Peterson ran well the last time these two teams squared off and with a backup QB playing in this game, Peterson could see all the goal line work and more runs between the ’20s, my only caution is to be prepared to watch McCoy vulture a goal-line tuddy. This game should stay close and for me, there is no concern that Peterson will be phased out of the game. I prefer Peterson on FD because of his TD equity, but he is still a good play on DK. McCoy gets very interesting as a play if Daniels starts. This would be a pure leverage spot for me and in no way will I have more than 15% of him this weekend, but he is in a decent spot to make some plays happen on turkey day. He provides a solid floor, and while his ceiling certainly is not as high as Ryan and Brees, he could realistically get 25 fantasy points due to his rushing upside and dual-threat ability to score TD’s. Doctson saw the most targets last week out of the WR corp. While McCoy was in the game for just 3 drives, Doctson ended up getting 5 targets out of his 7 total for the game. Doctson should be under the radar and could be that differentiator that vaults you up to the top of the leaderboards. Other gpp considerations on the Redskins go out to Trey Quinn and Kapri Bibbs if Thompson is out.
Redskins Top Gpp Plays: Reed, Peterson, McCoy, and Doctson
The Cowboys, in general, have the least appealing plays for DFS purposes on this slate. Elliot was stuffed the last time these two teams met. I do not see that happening again in this game, but I also do not see him hitting 30 plus points like he has been the past couple of weeks. On this slate, I am more inclined to pay up at WR instead of RB. However, Elliot is still one of the best backs in the NFL, but I will be vastly underweight on him to the field in this slate. The Cowboys play slow and to make things worse Elliot is fairly inconsistent, he has had 3 games above 30 fantasy points, 1 game in the ’20s and the other 5 games that he has played have been under 20 fantasy points. I do not think he is worth his price tag and I would much rather have Thomas, Kamara and even Julio Jones due to matchup and game pace. Cooper is another guy who could boom or bust and that is what makes him a solid gpp play. Taking the slate as a whole Cooper is not very high on my list of plays because there are better plays in the other two games. Other gpp considerations go out to Beasley, however, just like Cooper I do not see him making an impact in this game and he is more of a cash play. On three-game slates, I tend to stay away from cash because the slate is so volatile.
Cowboys Top Gpp Plays: Elliot and Cooper
Another big winner, congratulations to dramos77 on his gpp takedown
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Falcons V Saints
This game is your turkey day main course with all the goodies and your dessert. There are a lot of guys to get through, so let’s start out with the Falcons. Julio Jones is my favorite gpp play on this slate. The Saints are coming off a blowout win against the Eagles and everyone all of a sudden is believing in this Saints defense. Well, I don’t, in fact, this game will most likely shootout. Not to the extent of the Rams and Chiefs game a couple of days ago, but it will most likely shootout. Julio will be shadowed by Lattimore and that does not scare me one bit. There is a handful of WR’s in the league that it does not matter who is covering them because they will get in open space and create some plays. One of them is certainly Julio Jones. Julio has done the unthinkable and has scored a touchdown in each of the past 3 games and to add more fuel to the flame he has had over 100 receiving yards in those games. To say that he is on fire would be an understatement. It is not like Lattimore shut him down in their first game, he still went for 5-96 on only 6 targets. There is a lot of room for improvement and that could potentially be scary for the Saints. Ryan is my favorite option at QB on this slate. The price is right on both sites and he should be involved in almost every touchdown the Falcons will score. He has a lot of options on the field to throw the ball to and given his matchup and pace of play he should be the highest scoring QB on the slate. Just a quick reminder, he went 374-5-0 earlier this season against the Saints. He will definitely be marching on the Saints. Ridley absolutely blew up on the Saints earlier this season and WR2 have generally had a very good game against the Saints this season. He went 7-146-3 against this defense and while I am confident that his last performance will not happen again, he should still have a very good game. Ridley has calmed down a lot since his explosion, but the spot is right for him in this game. He has had a fantastic rookie season and should have a strong showing in this game. Sanu comes in at the next best option on this team. On this slate, he is in direct competition with Smith, Miller, Beasley, and Doctson for ownership. I prefer Sanu over everyone there besides Miller and Smith. It is going to be interesting to see how the ownership gets spread out in that range. With that being said, Sanu should see 5-7 targets in this game and with the attention going to some of the other playmakers on this team, he could find himself in the end zone. Other Gpp considerations go out to Hooper and Coleman. Coleman was close to being highlighted, but I highly doubt he outscores most of the other RB’s on this slate.
Falcons Top Gpp Plays: Jones, Ryan, Ridley, and Sanu
As for the Saints, I feel like I could copy and paste the top plays each week because they have not changed in a while. We know who this team is and we know exactly which players are going to get the ball the most. With that being said let’s turn this into a fun way to look at the top options on the Saints. Thomas is the whole Turkey, he is the best play with an absolutely fantastic matchup. In their first meeting, he went 10-129 and I am expecting him to have another great day against the Falcons. By now you have had a lot of helpings of Thomas, but that last piece of turkey is sitting there and just when you think you could not take one more piece, you take it anyway because it is just that good. Ingram is the dessert, he can be whatever your heart desires and he will not disappoint. He is still underpriced on DK and is at a good price on FD. The Falcons cannot stop a nosebleed and Ingram will put up a lot of points in this game both on the ground and in the passing game. Kamara is the dessert you still eat even after you have had your favorite dessert already. You eat it because it is just that good and the fact that it is not possible for the Falcons to stop a pass catching RB. Kamara is priced high, but he should still be one of the top 3 scoring backs on this slate. Given his ppr potential, I prefer him on DK, but he could very easily break a 50 yarder and take it to the house. Brees is my next top play on this Saints team. Think of him as the nice cold refreshment after a day of watching football and eating amazing food. Brees is the guy you know who will put up fantasy points and he will not disappoint you. Will he be the best QB play of the day? maybe, maybe not, but what I do know is that he will not be the worst, in fact, he should finish out as a top 3 scorer at his position. Brees has been spectacular this season and the way he has been in the past few games, I would not want to be the Falcons defense. Now that the day is over it is time to start packing everything up and saying goodbye to the family. Then you notice all of the leftovers you get to take home with you and that would be Smith. One of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers and he offers a ton of upside at his price. Last week I said that Smith was a boom or bust guy that will either get you 5 or 25 points. He blew that out of the water by scoring 30 plus points against the Eagles. He should be the highest owned WR and possibly the highest owned player on this slate. He has had 2 explosion games and the rest were duds. So will he explode or dud, whichever happens, I will make sure that I have a good amount of exposure to him on this slate. However, since I am aiming for the top prize in these large field gpps, I will likely be underweight on him compared to the field. Recency bias will be very strong with Smith and this is the perfect time to zag while everyone is zigging in a decent amount of lineups. Other gpp considerations go out to the random TE that could catch a touchdown and Kirkwood.
Saints Top Gpp Plays: Thomas, Ingram, Kamara, Brees, and Smith
The Extra Point is Up…
That game finished up our special Thanksgiving day delight. *My favorite defensive plays are the Redskins, Bears, Cowboys, and Saints in that order. I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to their Thanksgiving break and please feel free to tag me in chat for any questions. If you are not already a member, do yourself a favor and sign up now. You will get access to our Research Station, Domination Station and the knowledge of the best coaches in the industry. Don’t overthink and definitely do not try to be too cute with your lineups and you will be just fine. In gpps’ you will need to have a couple low owned plays to vault you to the top of the leaderboards along with some of the chalky plays as well.