“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Thanksgiving 2023 Cash Games

November 22, 2023

By Ha Kung Wong

Gobble gobble everyone and hope you’re having a terrific Thanksgiving!

But what’s better than stuffing your face with gravy drenched turkey, mashed potatoes and those weird green bean casseroles which are really just Campbells cream of mushroom with canned vegetables? Winning money on your DFS cash games, of course!

As usual, before we get to winning you more bragging rights (and DFS cash), remember, the point of this article is not just to give you one or two lineups for each site, it’s to give you examples of a few 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!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH on Thanksgiving of the 2023 NFL season!

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.

As per usual, I’m going to provide you with a few sample lineups on each site and give you a few notes to consider. You’re welcome.

So, without further to do, here are my suggestions for the Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games and player props for Thanksgiving contests, along with they’re prices.

FanDuel

Draft Kings

Yahoo! DFS

Game Notes:

For those new to this column, note that I never advocate against you paying up at any particular position for DFS. We all know that the likes of Patrick Mahomes are probably going to have the most consistent upside in terms of potential fantasy points from week to week. But remember that DFS is a salary cap game. You can feel free to sprinkle high priced players into your lineups, but you can’t pay up at every position because there’s simply not enough salary to go around. I try my best each week to provide my thoughts on how you might want to balance your cash lineups in terms of points potential and salary.
My approach to DFS on Thanksgiving is to pay down up at QB since there are so few games and get at least one stud WR to anchor my team. There’s some decent values at RB.
“Free Square of the Week”™ for Thanksgiving is Zach Charbonnet. The rookie had tons of hype preseason, and with Kenneth Walker doubtful to play on a short week, he should get most of the backfield carries. He handled 21 touches and totaled 69 yards last week with Walker out, also seeing a career-high 6 targets. I know he faces the vaunted 49ers defense, but the opportunity and price is too good to ignore.
The Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys game has the highest over/under (48.5) of the Thanksgiving games, so I’m in on both offenses. The one thing we know is that the Cowboys are more than likely going to crush the Commanders (their currently favored by 12.5), but the Cowboys don’t care, they’ll keep their feet on the gas regardless and have no issues running up the score (see, e.g., their game against the Giants). That means I really like playing Dak Prescott, Jake Ferguson, CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Tony Pollard, in that order based on opportunity and price. And we also know that the Commanders will have to air it out to keep up, so I’m good on playing Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson.
Jayden Reed is making a case for being the best and most consistent Wide receiver in Green Bay. I like him even more with Dontayvion Wicks likely out with a concussion, tight end Luke Musgrave placed on IR and running back Aaron Jones ruled out due to a knee injury. He’s averaged almost 5 targets and 51 yards per game over the last 5, also adding 2 total TDS over that stretch. He’s fairly cheap to boot, giving you room to spend up elsewhere. And I also like AJ Dillon for many of the same reasons. He hasn’t been efficient with his opportunities, but he’s almost guaranteed to get plenty of opportunities, which makes for a decent value.
The 49ers have re-found their stride in Week 11 with 420 total yards and 3 TDs. Facing the Seahawks 23rd ranked defense bodes well for the entire 49ers offense, so I like Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle, in that order.
For defense, I’ll pay down as usual, and that means I’ll take the Detroit Lions Defense or Green Bay Packers Defense, which ever fits my cap space. Jared Goff had 3 INTs last week, and Jordan Love has had his issues as well, so happy to roll the dice with both defenses.