FanDuel Thanksgiving Slate Breakdown

Nov 26, 2019

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On a short slate like Thanksgiving, it’s usually wise to favor GPPs and often avoid cash games altogether. With so few options available, there is usually a ton of overlap between lineups, which leads to much more variance—exactly what we are trying to avoid when grinding cash games. Because the Thanksgiving slate usually draws in a more casual player pool than a typical short slate, there may be some merit to dabbling in cash games, though I would still recommend keeping it to a minimum and favoring tournaments.

UPDATE: David Blough will get the start at quarterback for the Lions. Not only does this likely make teh Bears the most popular defense in the slate but it severely hampers any floor or ceiling for the Lions offense, save maybe Bo Scarbrough. All Lions pass-catchers are nothing more than dart throws.

Quarterback

One of the more unique aspects of short slates is that ownership will often slant heavily towards just a few players at the “onesie” positions, unlike full slates where ownership for quarterbacks, tight ends and defense is generally flatter. With just two teams projected for over 21 points and one game projected for over 46 points, ownership will likely favor three quarterbacks on Thursday. The top play from a pure projection standpoint is Drew Brees ($8,500). The Saints carry an implied point total of 27.75, the highest on the slate. Over the past six weeks, only one team has thrown at a higher rate in neutral game script than New Orleans. After two weeks looking like they had solved their defensive issues, the Falcons' secondary struggled in Week 12 as it has for most of the season—they now rank 26th in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA) to quarterbacks.