Daily Fantasy Football Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - Week 12 Thanksgiving Edition!

Gobble gobble, y'all! The best time of the year. We can sit around and reconnect with our weird uncles, distant cousins, odd neighbors with nowhere else to go. We can pass the canned cranberry sauce to our little brother, and hope that he doesn't say something like "You know, I think Donald Trump gets sort of a bad rap..." But most of all, we can watch football. And somehow the football Gods this year have blessed us with some watchable games with teams that can actually play offense. Thanks, football Gods - you knew we needed it this year.

In case you didn’t notice, we just released our brand new NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users *ahem* tackle the NFL season.

Were you aware? Basketball season! The NBA is finally here, and DFS' most exciting sport is ready to carry us through the week between football games. If you take a free three day trial of our projection system, you'll get access to both our NFL and NBA tools. On us! Enjoy.

If you want to see the numbers behind our projections, create lineups with a single click, or research as deeply as your heart desires, click the button below to test out yourself.

QUARTERBACKS

Ben Roethlisberger FD 8500 DK 7500
Opponent IND
Proj Points FD - 25.94 DK - 26.9
Big Ben has been a DFSR darling for some time, and we sadly had to leave him on the shelf during week 11 thanks to a rather irritating weather situation in Cleveland. No such worries this week - the Colts and Steelers will square off under the comfort of a retractable roof, and this should unleash the full potential of the Steelers rather potent offense. They'll bring the full force of their weapons to bear on the hapless Colts defense, which has allowed the the very most passing yards to opposing offenses this season. On a 3 game slate that's about the best you can ask for, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, shall we?

Dak Prescott FD 8000 DK 6300
Opponent WAS
Proj Points FD - 20.54 DK - 21.7
Dak gets the nod in the #2 slot here for a several reasons. First of all, the Cowboys actually have the highest implied total on the day (slightly edging out the Steelers). Now Dak doesn't get all the slices of that pie thanks to burgeoning superstar Ezekiel Elliot, but he should get enough to where his floor is high enough to warrant consideration. The other big thing here is the DraftKings price. Our system sees Prescott and Roethlisberger as close enough to where a $1,200 difference in price is a big deal, and on a short slate, every dollar absolutely counts. The last reason is that there are just a lot of question marks at QB on a 3 game slate. Dak has topped 300 yards and 2 touchdowns in each of his last 2 games, and is always a threat to randomly put up a few rushing yards or even rushing touchdowns.

RUNNING BACKS

Le'Veon Bell FD 9500 DK 8800
Opponent IND
Proj Points FD - 29.15 DK - 33.58
Bell's not sure what he needs to do to be a 100% start in a given week, but he's going to make a go at it for this Thursday slate. He returned from injury with a 30 fantasy point performance against Dallas, and then followed that up by dropping another 30 fantasy points on the Browns. The Colts aren't as bad as the Browns on defense, but they're not exactly lighting the world on fire either. We already talked about their pass defense woes, but they've allowed 4.5 yards per carry this season (just .1 behind the Browns' 4.6), good for 5th worst in the NFL. Bell rates to be featured in both the passing and running attacks here, and with some surprisingly cheap options to help you pay up for him, he looks like a lock for me for 50/50s and double-ups at this point.

Rob Kelley FD 5700 DK 4400
Opponent DAL
Proj Points FD - 12.5 DK - 12.85
I'm almost nervous to even go look at the Sunday slate because of all the value that's packed into a three game slate here. Kelley was a feature player on DFSR last week as an off-the-radar guy who was still underpriced, and all he did was go out there and drop 137 yards and 3 touchdowns on a Green Bay run defense that many considered to be solid. He'll get a presumably tougher match-up here with Dallas, but as we pointed out when Le'Veon Bell faced Dallas earlier this season, a lot of Dallas' apparent success against the run has been due to the fact that they've faced precious few actual running backs. Bell didn't exactly torch them, but he did put up 30 fantasy points even though the game-script didn't favor him. That's the real risk with Kelley, here. He seems to be a lock for 21-24 carries per game, but we haven't yet seen what the Redskins' plan is in a game where they're behind. Vegas likes the Cowboys by 7.5 points here, and that could be enough to bite into Kelley's workload. Still, a short slate, lots of big payoff guys, and a cheap reliable play to anchor it all? Pretty damned tempting.

Ezekiel Elliott FD 8600 DK 8000
Opponent WAS
Proj Points FD - 20.4 DK - 21.9
It'll be interesting to see where the industry goes in the Bell/Elliott decision. I also just realized that if Ezekiel Elliott and Le'Veon Bell were a Hollywood item they could be called Belliott, which makes me giggle. The case for Elliott is pretty well established by this point in the season - he leads the NFL in both carries and yards, and has bee a reliable source of 17 or more fantasy points since week 3. None of that is likely to change against the Redskins, who are tied with the Browns at 2nd worst in the NFL in terms of yards per carry allowed this season. The Cowboys have the highest total, Elliott is likely to see most of that, so what's not to love? Well, most of it IS to love. The question is really whether you can afford for Bell and Elliott on a short slate. It's still a little early for me to decide, but I don't think you'll be able to afford full Belliott this week, and Bell's role in the receiving game gives him the slight nod for me.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Antonio Brown FD 8800 DK 9200
Opponent IND
Proj Points FD - 21.42 DK - 25.99
Welcome back to my life, Antonio. I missed you after the bad weather last week. With no other tier 1 receivers playing on this slate, Brown is quite simply your best option if you want safe production for the position. I suppose TY Hilton will get the attention of some, but I certainly can't sign off on that if Scott Tolzien is under center (which is looks like will happen). If you want consistency and upside, just pay the extra $700 for Brown and call it a day.

Stefon Diggs FD 6600 DK 6900
Opponent DET
Proj Points FD - 16.32 DK - 19.61
Diggs was chased by Patrick Peterson last week, and his production really suffered. All that's done here though is give us a buying opportunity. Diggs averaged 14 targets per game in each of his three previous contests, and the 6 receptions he had against Peterson are more than respectable. He's back to a league average match-up with Detroit, and there's frankly no comparison between him and the other wide receivers in his price tier when it comes to safety. Cole Beasley doesn't offer the upside, Donte Moncrief's 12% target share leaves him without the consistency - to say nothing of where his value heads if Luck misses this one. While Diggs might not be the explosive option he appeared to be earlier in the season, you're looking for explosiveness at your big money spots today. He'll be in all my lineups in all formats in all likelihood.

Golden Tate FD 6000 DK 5600
Opponent MIN
Proj Points FD - 14.55 DK - 17.98
Plan B if Stefon Diggs' questionable status comes to fruition? Sure. Tate mysteriously disappeared last game, leaving us wondering if we're to trust the 4 game stretch where he averaged nearly 11 targets per game, or the last game where he got just 4? Things don't get easier for Tate this week against Minnesota, but I'm not likely to let a 1 game outlier change my perspective on his situation altogether. Anquan Boldin had an odd return to prominence last week, but the game plan for short passes and a controlling offense seemed to be the same. Eyeball test says it was just a match-up thing, though, and we'll see Tate move back into the more prominent role. I still prefer Diggs on an opportunity and match-up basis, but given that they are both coming off a down week, I suspect some people will go in Tate's direction instead.

TIGHT ENDS

Eric Ebron FD 6000 DK 4000
Opponent MIN
Proj Points FD - 13.08 DK - 15.72
It's perhaps a little bit more than you want to pay for a guy in Ebron's situation at this point, but unless you want to pay up for Jordan Reed (and I don't think that you do) he seems like your safest option. You don't love the step back in targets last week, but he averaged 9 in the two previous weeks, and we shouldn't let biases effect us too much here. The other interesting wrinkle with Ebron is the rushing touchdown from last week. Theo Riddick has often been considered too small for goal line work, and if Ebron is really the plan there, his value goes even higher. Like Tate, you don't love the match-up here, but the lack of great options at the position moves him to the head of the class.

The rest, or, why you might want to consider Jason Witten
Given how tight pricing is, I think Jordan Reed's price and relative inconsistency rules him out for me. The Steelers and Colts have no reliable source of tight end production. Kyle Rudolph is a red zone target, but has just 3 targets in 2 of his last 3 games. That leaves... Jason Witten? Not a horrible option. He's got 25 targets in his last 3 weeks, and given that the Cowboys have the highest implied total, you could certainly see him putting a little work here. I prefer Ebron, but if the last few hundred bucks makes a difference, Witten looks like a viable option.

DEFENSE/ SPECIAL TEAMS

The Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Indianapolis Colts
This is only a play if Luck misses the game thanks to being stuck in the concussion protocol. The Colts are already pretty erratic, and missing their star QB would send things firmly off the rails. This current incarnation of the Steelers D isn't going to bring anyone back to the Steel Curtain days, but they're capable of shutting down a Scott Tolzien led offense. They'll be a slam dunk if Luck indeed misses this one.

Also considered: The Lions vs. Minnesota, but only if Luck somehow plays. There just aren't a lot of bad offenses going today, but Minnesota's still qualifies.

Football, baby!

Again, you can grab a free trial of our NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users crush it this daily fantasy NFL season.

You can grab a go test it out yourself.