Buffalo Bills @ Detroit Lions
NY Giants @ Dallas Cowboys
NE Patriots @ Minnesota Vikings
As far as we are concerned after the past couple of Thursday night games/results we welcome Thanksgiving day football with open arms this year! We’ve got the three game turkey day slate once again this year and if the season ended today 5 out of the 6 teams playing Thursday would be in the playoffs so there is plenty of relevant football to be played.
Due to the three game slate we will be changing things up a little this week and providing a line up for the full slate 3 game contest on Draft Kings. With 6 teams worth of players to talk through let’s take it position by position:
Quarterback
Josh Allen obviously leads the QB options in both salary and season production, however , his fantasy #s have taken a hit the last few weeks as the Bills haven’t quite looked themselves. At $8,000 Allen is a whopping $1,800 cheaper then the second most expensive QB Dak Prescott coming in at $6,200. Dak has hovered in the low 20 s pretty much every game since coming back from injury. The risk for fantasy Dak is Tony Pollard and Zeke are in such a zone with the running game right now the Boys haven’t needed a ton from Dak on some weeks when they are playing teams they are clearly more talented then.
At $5,500 you will have a lot of people going the “I will be different” route and reference Daniel Jones ability to accumulate fantasy points by running. The problem is so far in 2022 Daniel Jones highest scoring fantasy week without a rushing TD is 18 DK points so if you take the shot on Jones you must 100% get at least 1 rushing td from him and realistically need 2 for him to have any chance of equaling a Josh Allen Detroit matchup! Allen was averaging 30+ a week but hasn’t hit 30 since mid-October time to throw out the old “get right game” for those Bills of Buffalo. Kirk Cousins has still yet to prove he can beat a good defense in primetime.
Running Back
Saquon Barkley and Dalvin Cook are the two most expensive RBs on the slate at $8,000 & $7,400 respectively. Normally I would say pick one of the two and move on but I’m not so sure this week. Barkley was completely shutdown by the lowly Lions defense while Dalvin Cook also had 72 yards last week but that only translates into 7 points. Now it gets interesting when you look at the rest of the RB list this week as far as finding value without having to pay those Saquon and Dalvin prices! Tony Pollard is clocking in at just $6,600 this week despite going for 39,24 and 36 DK points his last few weeks even with Zeke Elliot back. Nobody can argue that Cook and Barkley are #1 fantasy RBs… however, they both have a little more risk associated with them then you’d like to see with a $8k price tag as both the Giants and Vikings offense lays a complete egg from time to time.
Staying in that second level of salary brings me to our next RB start of the week Rhamondre Stevenson of the Patriots. Stevenson is another guy that is showing very high consistency and low risk this year as he has scored at least 13 (ok 12. friggin 9 lol) DK points every week since week 3! In addition to that he is doing it both on the ground and through the air as he has at least 5 targets and 3 receptions every week since week 6 which makes $6,400 feel like a bargain in an offense that is quickly becoming very dependent on the rookie. My last though on RBs is I do think it’s time to fade DeAndre Swift for the time being as Jamaal Williams has just performed too well for Swift to keep his 2021 value so far this season (yes your right his continual injuries aren’t helping either)!
Wide Receiver
Ceedee Lamb went for 20 against the Giants in week 2 and the Gmen will be without their 2 starting corners this week… we are saving $900 by playing Lamb over S Diggs and that will also afford us the opportunity to play Gabe Davis against the Detroit defense and even though Gabe has been a little hit or miss this year I feel a couple big plays headed his way tomorrow! Jakobi Meyers has scoring at least 8 DK points every game thus season and has only been in single digits twice… In a game where we expect the Minnesota offense to put some pressure on the Pats we like Meyers for double digit targets as he only has 2 games this year with less then 6 targets!
Tight End & Defense
Was great to see Dawson Knox go for 7/70 last week I also love the fact that we have seen a Dalton Schultz resurgence with the return of Dak. All things being equal with these two Dawson us $300 cheaper so we are going to continue to lean on the Buffalo offense tomorrow against the worst defense in the NFL. Additionally, TJ Hockenson has become the #2 target behind Justin Jefferson so for $5k we feel great about throwing Hockenson in the flex spot tomorrow. Just to compare D Slayton is the same price as Hockenson and we just feel much better about the Viking offense vs the Giants. Lastly with $3000 left to spend that gives us the Patriots defense at Minnesota and though we would love to have the money to afford the Dallas or Buffalo defense at $3,700/$3,400 respectively we feel good sending that top 10 Pats defense to face Kirk Cousins on a prime time game as we all know Kirk’s primetime history!!!
Draft Kings Thanksgiving Day lineup:
QB- Josh Allen $8,000
RB- Tony Pollard $6,600
RB – Rhamondre Stevenson $6,400
WR- Ceedee Lamb $7,400
WR – Gabe Davis $5,300
WR- Jakobi Meyers $5,100
TE – Dawson Knox $3,500
Flex – TJ Hockenson $5,000
Defense – NE Patriots $3,000
