Thanksgiving football is a beautiful thing, and it provides a unique NFL DFS opportunity. You can play a multi-game slate (in this case, three games) on a day that isn't Sunday. You can eat your pie and turkey while also rooting on a DraftKings daily fantasy football lineup. We've put together a lineup for GPP play here, as it generally makes more sense to play tournaments on small slates, anyway.
We take a risk right at the top with our quarterback by using Jeff Driskel, but that allows us to play Michael Thomas and Ezekiel Elliott, two of the best players who will be in action Thursday. There's also bound to be some game crossover you wouldn't normally have on a normal slate, but that's fine because we're working with just three games.
MORE THURSDAY FANTASY:
FanDuel lineup | DK Showdown picks | Start/Sit
Thanksgiving NFL DFS Lineup: DraftKings GPP picks
QB Jeff Driskel, Lions vs. Bears ($5,500). Driskel isn't a very good quarterback in the traditional sense, but he still scored 15.58 DraftKings points during a rough Week 12 that featued three interceptions and a fumble. That was thanks to his 63 rushing yards. The Bears' defense isn't as fearsome as it once was, so we'll pay down for the floor of Driskel that actually provides a decent ceiling, like his 27.46-point day in Week 11.
(If Jeff Driskel is ruled out for Thursday, I'd make the following changes:
Remove Driskel, play Mitchell Trubisky at QB.
Remove David Montgomery, play Bo Scarbrough at RB.
Remove Kenny Golladay, play Allen Robinson at WR.)
RB David Montgomery, Bears @ Lions ($5,400). No defense has allowed more DK points to running backs this season than the Lions, so Montgomery is probably too cheap when you consider the matchup and his likely solid volume.
WEEK 13 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end
RB Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys vs. Bills ($7,400). If we had paid cheaper at our FLEX, this could've been an Alvin Kamara play, but I expect that Dallas will find its best success against Buffalo on the ground through Elliott.
WR Michael Thomas, Saints @ Falcons ($9,100). Thomas is far and away the best player on this three-game slate, and even in a lineup for a tournament, it's not worth fading him.
WEEK 13 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
WR Russell Gage, Falcons vs. Saints ($4,500). Julio Jones is at least a little dinged up, and Gage is coming off 10 targets in Week 12. Since DK is PPR scoring, Gage's play style fits well at his price.
WR Kenny Golladay, Lions vs. Bears ($6,100). You could take a stab and stack Driskel with Marvin Jones in the hopes that Thanksgiving is one of the days Jones decides to score multiple touchdowns. But Golladay has the better floor and ceiling, and Driskel takes a shot or two deep to him every game.
TE Dawson Knox, Bills @ Cowboys ($2,900). The Cowboys are one of the league's 10 worst defenses at defending the tight end, and Knox's price hasn't quite adjusted to him reclaiming the Bills' TE job because the production hasn't really followed yet. This could be the game it does.
WEEK 13 DFS LINEUPS:
FD Cash | FD GPP | DK Cash | DK GPP | Y! Cash | Y! GPP
FLEX John Brown, Bills @ Cowboys ($6,300). Brown has a higher floor than most still give him credit for because Josh Allen just loves throwing him the ball. And he's shown that he can still get behind defenses for big plays. We'll take that combination for our FLEX. Our budget also left room here for Allen Robinson (being covered by Darius Slay) or Calvin Ridley if you prefer them here.
MORE WEEK 13 DFS: Stacks | Values | Lineup Builder
D/ST Buffalo Bills @ Cowboys ($2,200). The most popular D/ST play will probably be the Bears against Driskel, but once I played Driskel, that was out of play. The second-most played might be the Lions, but I don't like their overall talent enough to want to play them either. So, I figured I'd punt here and pick the cheapest defense, giving me the most flexible lineup possibilities. And, hey, if Tre'Davious White locks up Amari Cooper and Zeke moves the clock along by running, this might not work out too badly.