2022 Thanksgiving Day DFS Slate

Thanksgiving and football are two of the greatest things combined into one day. Lots of food, drinks, and football coverage all day long. We start with the Buffalo Bills at the Detroit Lions. Followed by the New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys. To close the night will be New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings. For some fun history on the NFL and Thanksgiving, we have you covered. 

This week we’re having a little fun. In this piece, I (@RyanMiner_FFB) teamed up with Eric Colby (@BigEZDFS) as we bring you a Thanksgiving day combo platter of DraftKings and FanDuel. From the quarterbacks to the DSTs, we got you covered.  

• Buffalo Bills @ Detroit Lions on CBS (12:30 PM EST)
• New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys on FOX (4:30 PM EST)
• New England Patriots @ Minnesota Vikings on NBC (8:20 PM EST)

Quarterbacks

Josh Allen (DK $8,000/FD $9,500)

Being the most expensive quarterback on the slate, it’s hard not to try to fit Josh Allen in a lineup. Also, it’s hard to pay $1,800 more for him than any other quarterback. If it wasn’t for his rushing upside, he wouldn’t be a recommended player. He was at $8,500 over the last few weeks, so the $500 savings could be good.

Dak Prescott (DK $6,200/FD $8,000)

Over his last three games, Dak Prescott has averaged 22.73 DK points and this team is firing on all cylinders. On Sunday he could have had a bigger game, but with such a massive lead over Minnesota, the starters were pulled in the fourth quarter. With the Giants defense being questionable and banged up, it’s a great time for Dak to go against a divisional rival.

Kirk Cousins (DK $5,600/FD $7,400)

What happened to Kirk Cousins Sunday afternoon? A game most of us thought would be a shootout, ended up being a 40-3 blowout loss to Dallas. The Cowboys defense harassed Cousins in the form of seven sacks. It doesn’t get any easier against the Patriots along with this game being prime time. I would pass on Cousins. 

Daniel Jones (DK $5,500/FD $7,500)

Going against Dallas’s elite defense it’s going to be hard for Daniel Jones to do much. Jones had over 40 pass attempts for the first time this season because the Lions stopped Saquon Barkley (15 attempts, 22 yards) forcing Jones to throw. Jones should be back to the 25-30 pass attempts and if you’re playing him, you’re doing it more for his rushing upside.

Jared Goff (DK $5,200/FD $6,900)

Jared Goff had a mediocre game as the Lions relied more on the run game (31 att. 150 yards, four touchdowns) and the passing game wasn’t needed. Goff was good for 165 passing yards, but that won’t work out against the Buffalo Bills. Their pass defense can be had with all the injuries they have. Jacoby Brissett (28-for-41, 324 yards, three touchdowns) had a good comeback game against them and so did Kirk Cousins (30-for-50, 357 yards, one touchdown) . Goff should follow suit. 

Mac Jones (DK $5,100/FD $6,500)

Looking at Mac Jones’s last three games (10.83 DK points) and it doesn’t sit well in your stomach when setting a lineup. You could say the weather had more to do with Sunday’s game than anything as the only touchdown was from a punt return but the Jets defense is nothing to laugh at. Although accurate (23 of 27, 246 yards) the offense just kept it short and sweet. Going to Minnesota could be a better game for Jones, but I think it’s the running game that will control this offense.

Running Backs

Saquon Barkley (DK $8,000/FD $8,800)

Coming in as the most expensive running back (no surprise) Saquon Barkley is looking for a bounceback after a poor performance against the Detroit Lions (15 att, 22 yards) after being pulled out for the fourth quarter to prepare for Dallas. Look for Barkley to bounce back as Dalvin Cook was averaging 6.5 yards per carry. At $8k you may drop down to another running back if you think he’ll get stuffed again.

Dalvin Cook (DK $7,400/FD $7,800)

In what was the only good thing for the Vikings offense Dalvin Cook took advantage of a struggling run defense rushing the ball 11 times for 72 yards. Minnesota’s offensive line took a hit and will be missing starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw (concussion) for this game. New England had no issue with the Jets running game (19 att, 33 yards) so I would play Cook with some caution. 

Tony Pollard (DK $6,600/FD $8,500) & Ezekiel Elliott (DK $5,800/FD $7,000)

If you’re old enough you may remember the running back duo in New York of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. They were a true thunder and lighting type of tandem that worked out well. Here we have the same thing with the Dallas backfield.

Pollard was more efficient (15 carries, 80 yards; six catches, 109 yards, two touchdowns) than Elliott (15 carries, 42 yards, two touchdowns) but it worked great on Sunday. Pollard did most of his damage between the 20s, while Elliott was the goal line back. Mind you Pollard did have a couple of goal-line opportunities, but it was Zeke who cashed them in. I like both backs this week. 

Rhamondre Stevenson (DK $6,400/FD $7,200) & Damien Harris (DK $5,500/FD $6,400)

Rhamondre Stevenson (15 att, 26 yards) took a back seat to Damien Harris (8 att, 65 yards) in the rushing game last week, but made up for it in the receiving (six catches for 56 yards) game. With DraftKings being PPR, Stevenson is an easy smash as he’s in the game no matter how it’s going. If you want to save $900 go with Harris hoping for a similar performance as Week 11.

Over Harris’s last three games he’s averaged 18.7 rushing yards and seen over 65 yards for the first time since Week 4. Play it safe and go with Stevenson, or feel risky and Hope Harris falls in the end zone a couple of times for the savings. 

Jamaal Williams (DK $5,900/FD $7,100) / D’Andre Swift (DK $5,600/FD $6,200) / Justin Jackson (DK $4,100/FD $5,200)

The Detroit Lions have a true three-headed backfield with Jamaal Williams leading the way. Williams had 17 carries for 64 yards and three touchdowns. He’s more of the lead back as D’Andre Swift (eight touches) is playing second fiddle, but also did score a touchdown. Williams leads all non-quarterbacks with 12 touchdowns and has put himself in the RB1 conversation as he has scored five touchdowns over his last four games.

I like Swift also for his receiving upside as he scores so many “almost”  touchdowns. He’s a play I always want in a lineup just for that reason. Justin Jackson on the other hand is a very high-risk player who I would avoid since this is his first game with over 27 scrimmage yards.

Devin Singletary (DK $5,700/FD $6,900) / James Cook (DK $4,400/FD $5,500)

Don’t let the Lions’ defense fool you to think they’re good, they’re okay at best. I think the Giants showed their true colors of what they are and their record is a hoax. Devin Singletary now has back-to-back double-digit carries for the first time this season since his hot streak from weeks 15-18 of last season. I see this week being his third in a row and a value at cost.

When Nyheim Hines was traded to the Bills, I thought that was the end of James Cook. If you’re looking for a reason to buy into the rookie, check our rookie breakdown out here. For some reason though, Cook has improved over the last two games and saw his carry total (11) be as good since Week 2. Nyheim Hines ($4,500) has shown no threat to Cook’s workload, yet but it could be coming. Play Cook with caution. 

Wide Receivers 

Justin Jefferson (DK $8,200/FD $8,600) / Adam Thielen (DK $4,900/FD $5,900)/ K.J. Osborn (DK $3,600/FD $5,300)

Justin Jefferson is suffering from a case of turf toe, but it wasn’t his fault as Kirk Cousins was getting no time to let him get open. I think he can bounce back against this tough Patriots defense. I’m not really concerned as the Patriots played against Zach Wilson twice and Sam Ehlinger. Before that, it was against the Bears, and look what happened. I see Jefferson bouncing back here and is worth the cost.

Adam Thielen on the other hand has gone from seven consecutive games with at least seven targets down to three targets. He hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 5 and has only two for the season. Maybe now he has taken a backseat to T.J. Hockenson.

Finally, a lottery ticket play is K.J. Osborn. He has dropped below $4k for the first time this year and is a great boom/bust type of play. He could boom as he did in Week 3 as he did against the Detroit Lions. Get a deep pass and take it to the house. 

Stefon Diggs (DK $8,000/FD $9,300) & Gabe Davis (DK $5,300/FD $7,200)

Coming off his worst game of the season, I am not worried about Stefon Diggs going on a slump. I am looking to have him in all of my Thursday lineups with Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah (concussion) looking like a player to miss the game. Fire him up with confidence and look for a bounce back. Gabe Davis is a week-winning play no matter how you want to look at it. Coming in as cheap as he makes him very approachable for lineups. He could get you four points, or 25-plus points any given week. 

Amon-Ra St. Brown (DK $6,600/FD $7,600) & DJ Chark (DK $3,800/FD $5,000)

The true WR1 on this offense I feel outside of  Amon- Ra St. Brown, I don’t want to play any other wide receiver from this team. With DJ Chark returning, it gives Detroit someone to stretch the field and pull defenses off St. Brown. St. Brown is a must-play against this Bills defense with Chark as a flex at best.

CeeDee Lamb (DK $7,100/FD $7,900) & Michael Gallup (DK $4,600/FD $5,700)

CeeDee Lamb couldn’t have gotten the New York Giants at the best time. At the time of this writing, it is looking like the Giants could be without their top cornerbacks. This could be a huge day for both Lamb and Michael Gallup. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lamb as the top wide receiver for the day and Gallup not too far behind him. 

Jakobi Meyers (DK $5,100/FD $6,700) & DeVante Parker (DK $3,900/FD $5,400)

One nice thing about DraftKings is that Jakobi Meyers‘ value has stayed low even with him being the WR1 for the Patriots. Furthermore, if I have to play a wide receiver it’s Meyers and no one else. Playing  DeVante Parker is extremely risky considering the minimum amount of targets he gets. 

Darius Slayton (DK$5,000/FD $6,400)

Wan’Dale Robinson would have been the play here but he’s out for the season with a torn ACL. If you have to play with anyone, go with Darius Slayton. He had 10 targets Sunday and with Robinson gone, I feel we will be hearing Slayton’s name a little more. Just hope Trevon Diggs isn’t on him. 

Tight Ends

TJ Hockenson (DK $5,000/FD $6,300)

Initially, when Hockenson was traded to the Vikings some thought it was primarily for his blocking ability. Since that trade, he’s had 9/10/9 targets so I think it’s safe to say it wasn’t just for blocking. Even with those targets, it’s not translating into fantasy production. He’s the highest-priced tight end on the slate which may keep his ownership a bit lower.

Facing Bill Belichick this week who is known for stopping the opposing team’s best weapon, which I think will be Justin Jefferson leaving Hockenson to garner more production. Should the salary work, I would suggest having some exposure to Hockenson on Thursday.

Dalton Schultz  (DK $3,800/FD $5,800)

Dalton Schultz is getting just over five targets per game and some of those are in the red zone AKA Money zone for us DFS players. Facing the Giants this week who are ranked in the lower third of the league in allowing fantasy points to tight ends. This however may be deceiving because the Giants have only allowed more than 9 FanDuel/ 11 DraftKings points ONCE this year, Week 6 to Mark Andrews when he scored 20.10 FD and 26.60 DK. I think Schultz will again get his share of targets but I think my salary can be better spent elsewhere in my lineup. 

Dawson Knox (DK $3,500/FD $5,500)

If you pay attention to fantasy scoring it’s not news to you that the tight end position has been rough this season. Aside from Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews (when healthy), all the other tight ends are touchdown-dependent. Dawson Knox is no different but on top of that, he doesn’t have the high ceiling needed for large field tournaments. I also don’t think that Josh Allen will need to depend on him to beat the Lions. That being said I do think Knox will be involved to some extent and be around his floor of 4-5 points. 

Hunter Henry  (DK $3,100/FD $4,900) & Jonnu Smith  (DK $3,000/FD $4,700)

The tight end position for New England is no different from the others,  as Bill Belichick loves to spread the wealth. Playing Minnesota should mean that the Patriots need to pass a bit more than normal to keep pace. Figuring out which tight end is a coin flip but let’s see what we can find. Both are averaging around 3 targets per game with Hunter Henry getting a couple more looks in the red zone. At virtually the same price on both sites, I’d lean toward Henry but don’t expect a Travis Kelce-like game. 

Brock Wright  (DK $2,900/FD $4,600) & James Mitchell  (DK $2,700/FD $4,200)

I could have added a third tight end but to be honest I’m not sure the first two here are worth the write-up. Nonetheless, we can look at what we have at tight end for the Lions. They have a total of four red zone targets between the three of them (Shane Zylstra  (DK $2,500/FD $4,100) yet of those four targets, three have gone for touchdowns.

On a slate where there are so few options to pay down maybe a Lions tight end isn’t a bad idea. Make sure you pick the right one though or you will most likely end up with a zero. Forced to pick one I’m going with Brock Wright but I don’t feel great about it and likely the only way I use him is if the savings allows me to add significant points to my lineup. 

Tanner Hudson  (DK $2,500/FD $4,300)

It looks as if Daniel Bellinger will miss this game leaving Tanner Hudson as the starting tight end. Dallas has been decent at limiting tight-end production so far and I can’t see that Hudson is the one to change that. He may see an extra target or two with Wan’dale Robinson out, but I don’t see him getting any real production. I’ll pass on Hudson unless there is a significant upgrade available if I use him. 

DSTs

Before I get to the defense/special teams please keep in mind that this is the most unpredictable position in DFS so I won’t bore you with a long writeup for them. 

Dallas Cowboys  (DK $3,700/FD $5,000) 

After shutting down the Vikings offense last week I could see a spike in their ownership, I mean recency bias grabs a lot of people in DFS. The Dallas defense gets pressure on the quarterback over 28% of the time but it hasn’t translated into the number of INTs we would hope for (seven, tied for 16th in the league). That is accompanied by the fact that Daniel Jones has the best passer rating for the slate when under pressure. This is also a division game which tends to be a bit closer regardless of what it looks like on paper. 

Buffalo Bills (DK $3,400/FD $4,400)

Here is a little example of how unpredictable a defense can be. In Weeks 8-10 the Bills allowed 208, 174, and 147 rushing yards to the Packers, Jets, and Vikings. In Week 11 the Browns come in with one of the better if not the best offensive line and Nick Chubb who is usually a freight train put up a whopping 19 yards rushing on 14 carries. The Bills allow the 7th lowest percentage of scoring drives and have the third-highest turnover rate so with them facing Jared Goff and the Lions I think they should be in play.

New England Patriots (DK $3,000/FD $4,200)

I touched on the percentage of scoring drives and turnovers earlier and I’ll go back to it here. The Patriots allow a league-low 28.7% of drives to end with a score and force the seventh most percentage of turnovers. The hard part here is which Vikings offense will show up on Thanksgiving. The Patriots also pressure the quarterback at 28.5% which is bad news for Kirk Cousins. The Patriots will probably be my highest-owned defense on this slate and I’ll hope for typical primetime Cousins to show up and help make this pick correct. 

Minnesota Vikings (DK $3,100/FD $4,000)

This defense has had 4 games where they’ve scored 10 or more fantasy points. The Patriots don’t have an all-world offense and Mac Jones is the worst quarterback on the slate when under pressure. A key to this defense will be getting some pressure on Jones while containing the running game that I expect the Patriots to lean heavily on. 

New York Giants (DK $2,400/FD $3,500)

I know I said earlier that division games can be closer than non-division games but I don’t think I’ll be using the Giants on Thursday. The Cowboys come in having put up 40 points on the Vikings and I don’t see this defense as the answer to that. With all of that being said, defense is unpredictable so if you feel a little lucky, have at it. I’ll be passing on the Giants’ defense though. 

Detroit Lions (DK $2,100/FD $3,200)

At first glance, I said hell no I’m not using the Detroit Lions defense against the Buffalo Bills. However, this defense has scored 10 points in three consecutive games. On the other side of the ball, Josh Allen has hit a speed bump and has thrown six interceptions over his last four games. Could this be the value we need to build the lineup we need? I’m not positive but I will say this, I’m not hell no anymore. If I do have the exposure it will be limited. 

In closing, we wanted to take a minute to remind you all to have the happiest of Thanksgiving. Good luck!

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