Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Thanksgiving Special Edition

By Ha Kung Wong  Daily Fantasy Football

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

And we’re back for Week 12 of the NFL season and MORE DFS CASH in a Special Thanksgiving Day Edition!  Last week was a little rough around the edges, but we still cashed.  Not to worry though, as we’re still cashing at around a 70% rate, so hopefully you can make up for any losses on Thanksgiving Day and in the regular Week 12 contests (which I’ll have out to you soon)!

We all know that DFS is a great way to prove you have serious football IQ and earn you bragging rights among your friends (and if you’re like me, among your family as well!).  And heck, if you win cash, that’s just gravy, right?  (No need to answer that question, it was totally rhetorical. I know you all like cash. And gravy.)

So before we get to winning you bragging rights (and DFS cash), remember, the point of this article is not just to give you one lineup for each site, it’s to give you examples of one or two POSSIBLE lineups.  Getting exposure to a few different lineups is always a good idea, so don’t forget to mix and match additional lineups from my suggestions below.  Trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way AND you’ll improve your chances of cashing!

Daily Fantasy Football

Cash Games, for those who don’t know, are essentially the lowest risk games.  They include “50/50” games, in which half the entrants win about 1.8x the entry fee, and “Double Ups”, in which slightly less than half the entrants win 2x the entry fee.

Since there’s so many different sites, and I can’t cover them all, I’ve decided to cover just the most popular sites, including Fan Duel, Draft Kings and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy.

First of all, as a general rule for 50/50 Cash Games, there’s a basic target of points per salary cap spent that you’d like to look for:

  • For Fan Duel try to target at least 2 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
  • For Draft Kings, try to target at least 2.5 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
  • For Yahoo! Daily Fantasy, try to target at least 0.6-0.7 fantasy points per $1 spent.

Remember, this article is not focused on GPP (Tournament) Games, JUST Cash Games.  Feel free to use a few of these suggested players as a base when constructing a GPP lineup, but you’ll have to take some chances on a few low cost, upside players as well.

So, without further to do, here are my suggestions for the Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games for Week 12 Thanksgiving Day contests, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel

At QB for Thanksgiving, I like Kirk Cousins.

There’s only six to choose from, but I like Cousins based on skill and matchup.  The Giants are ranked 25th against the pass, and Cousins is starting to show some connection with Jamison Crowder and Josh Doctson.  Cousins has the 4th most passing yards per game (279.6) and is also averaging 2 total TDs per game.  There really aren’t a lot of players to pay up for on Thanksgiving, so I have no problem firing up Cousins regardless of price.

At RB, I like Melvin Gordon and Alfred Morris.

Dallas just got totally gashed by the Eagles ground game to the tune of 215 yards and 2 TDs.  They’re ranked 30th against the run, and as long as the game stays within striking distance, Gordon will get a full complement of snaps.  Plus, with Cowboys LB Sean Lee out with an hamstring injury and LB Anthony Hitchens questionable with a groin injury, Gordon should be able to find some additional room to run this week.

As for Morris, he’s clearly got the lead back sewn job up in Dallas, but game script has to work for him.  As long as the game remains close, the Cowboys won’t abandon the run.  Plus, the Chargers are ranked 7th against the pass, but 27th against the run.  If the Cowboys are going to get back on track with a W, they’ll need to commit to the run.

As for WRs, I like Keenan Allen, Golden Tate and Jamison Crowder.

Dallas is ranked 19th against WR1s, and Keenan Allen got back on track in a big way in Week 11 catching 12 of 13 targets for 159 yards and 2 TDs.  I think he builds on that this week. 

Golden Tate will have a challenging matchup against the Vikings that are ranked 12th against WR1s.  But the Lions will need to throw to keep competitive and Tate does have the 7th most receptions (59) in the league this season. 

I like Jamison Crowder for all the same reasons I like Cousins, and he’s actually cheaper than Josh Doctson on FanDuel.  Plus, over the last 3 weeks, Crowder has averaged 10.7 targets and 90.3 receiving yards.

At TE, I went with Kyle Rudolph.  There might be some better TEs available, like Evan Engram, but Rudolph is priced aggressively, and has a solid matchup against the Lions defense that’s ranked 29th defending TEs.

On defense, I went with the Minnesota Vikings against the Detroit Lions.  There aren’t any really elite options for Thanksgiving, but the Vikings are the 7th ranked defense in the NFL overall.  And although Stafford has been solid of late, he was 209 yards with no TDs the last time he squared off against the Vikings earlier this season.

Draft Kings 

On Draft Kings, I also liked Samaje Perine, Josh Doctson, Orleans Darkwa and the Los Angeles Chargers Defense.

Samaje Perine is the new lead back in Washington with both Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson on IR, and thankfully, unlike on FanDuel, his price hasn’t gone up much on Draft Kings.  He had 23 carries for 117 yards and a TD in Week 11 and I can see him building on that in a short week.  At $5K, he’s a steal on Thanksgiving.

Josh Doctson I like for the same reasons I like Cousins and Crowder, but he’s much cheaper than Crowder on Draft Kings.  Plus, with Terrelle Pryor now on injured reserve, Doctson is looking at plenty of targets moving forward.

Orleans Darkwa was solid in Week 11 with 74 rush yards and TD.  In fact, over the last three weeks, he’s never had less than 70 rush yards and 2 receptions.  He’s a nice value play for the cheap price on Draft Kings, and Washington is ranked only 18th against the run and 26th against RB receptions.

Honestly, using the Chargers defense is a just a value play to get better players elsewhere.  Like I said, there aren’t any obvious elite plays, and I don’t mind gambling on the Chargers in light of the Cowboys complete implosion against the Eagles last Sunday night.

Yahoo! DFS

With Yahoo, I also like Adam Thielen and Evan Engram.

Essentially, I love Thielen and Engram this week, but they’re just too expensive on other sites.  Not so on Yahoo.

Thielen has been ridiculous with the 2nd most receiving yards (916) on the 5th most receptions (62) of any WR in the NFL.  And although Engram let us down in Week 11, Washington is ranked 24th defending against TEs, and before the dud, he had 4 straight weeks of at least 4 receptions and a TD.

Alternative Options

Feel free to use any of the players that I’ve selected on one site in any other site if you have cap space.

In addition to the above, here are few other suggestions for players to use:

  • QB Philip Rivers
  • WR Stefon Diggs
  • WR Dez Bryant
  • WR Sterling Shepard (if he plays)
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