DraftKings Thanksgiving Slate Breakdown

Nov 27, 2019

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You've just doused your third plate of turkey and fixins' with the liquid fat of a bird. Your stomach is stretched to its limit, but you're eyeing up a slice of pumpkin pie. Can this day get any better? Why yes, it can! You've fired away at the $20 Wishbone on DraftKings all morning and you're watching your bankroll grow in tandem with your waistline. This is one of my favorite slates of the year! The overarching theme of this article will be GPP focused. On a short slate, one or two players can decide the entire slate. When that's the case, I like to play strictly tournaments with a portfolio of players, rather than one cash game lineup that can get destroyed by one-player variance.

Core Plays - These players will have the highest ownership in my player pool. Usually, they'll be a mix of my favorite high-floor and high-upside players.
Contrarian Plays - These are generally players who may be going overlooked or usually have volatile fantasy production. They will be sprinkled into lineups around the core plays to make them a bit unique.

Quarterbacks

Core Plays

Drew Brees ($6,800) at Atlanta

We are in an interesting spot with Brees on the road against the Falcons. It seems like a prime spot for Brees, but we watched this same matchup unfold much differently than expected just three weeks ago. I have faith that Sean Payton and the Saints' offense will have a gameplan to attack the Falcons that allows Brees time to throw the football, which was the issue during the first meeting. He'll undoubtedly be popular on a slate that doesn't have any particular matchup jumping off the page for quarterbacks. According to Next Gen Stats, Brees has completed passes at a 7% higher clip than expected this season. We can look at this two ways—he's been on the right side of variance or he and his pass-catchers are just that good. With Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and an emerging Jared Cook, the Saints have been carving up defenses with Brees at the helm. There is a potential for some to believe that the Falcons may rise the occasion again, but I expect Brees to be popular once again. He's my favorite raw fantasy points quarterback, especially since the Saints boast the highest total on the slate at 28 implied points.