Week 13 has arrived with all 32 NFL teams in action. We kick off this crucial fantasy football week with the annual three-game slate for Thanksgiving.

It’s a great day for food, adult beverages (if you indulge in such proclivities), naps and action on the gridiron!

 

 

 

NFL DFS Thanksgiving D/ST Coach For FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

With three games on slate, the NFL DFS Thanksgiving D/ST Coach options are thin, but we’ll break down the ones you should be targeting. When we get three games, we obviously only have six teams to choose from.

On a three-game slate, you can’t ever really assume anyone’s off the table. There are bad teams on this slate. That game at 4:30 PM ET between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants is when most will feel the tryptophan kick in and take a nap. Here are the top GPP plays for the latest NFL DFS Thanksgiving D/ST Coach!

 

 

 

NFL Thanksgiving Defense/Special Teams

Even the worst D/ST’s can still break the slate with a kick return for a touchdown. And we take the same approach as we would for the main slate; this is the last piece of the puzzle when constructing lineups. Would we like to correlate our D/ST with a running back? Sure.

But we’re trying to nail the top scorers at each position on this slate, so correlation is slightly thrown out the window. Let’s take a look at my three favorite options for the latest NFL DFS Thanksgiving D/ST Coach!

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Pick For Thanksgiving

Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $4,700

The Bears offense has looked much better since Shane Waldron was let go. But we still have the Lions playing at home. Overall, this is probably the best D/ST on paper for the Thanksgiving slate. With that said, we can’t assume things will play out that way on a short week.

The Lions have a good floor, but they’ve only returned over 10 fantasy points just twice all year. But here’s what we do like. They’re fourth in blitz rate (32.9%) and fourth in pressure rate (26.3%). Unfortunately, that has resulted in just six sacks in their last five games, but they do have eight takeaways in that span.

The Lions are the biggest favorite on the slate. It’s the highest implied total on the board but they’re favored by 10 points and the Bears have an implied team total just north of 19 points. But we also need to be mindful of inactives because if Carlton Davis can’t go, we downgrade this defense and may need to try and find value.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Pick For Thanksgiving

Dallas Cowboys – DraftKings: $3,100 | FanDuel: $4,100

I don’t love the Cowboys defense. They’ve been terrible all year. In their last six games they’ve allowed at least 26 points to opposing offenses (including this past week) and in that span they’re surrendering 484.4 yards per game. Fortunately, they’re top five in blitz rate (31.5%) and pressure rate (26.3%).

But the New York Giants come to town and there’s some uncertainty about the quarterback position. I honestly prefer Tommy DeVito to get the start but he’s not a guarantee to play in this game. There’s a chance Drew Lock could get the start, so we’ll keep an eye out if that’s the case.

But DeVito getting the start would signal good things for the Cowboys D/ST. DeVito didn’t turn the ball over last week, but he did take on a forearm injury and he was sacked four times. And that’s kind of his trademark. He takes a ton of sacks, including five by the Dallas Cowboys when these teams met last year.

But regardless of who is starting at quarterback for the G-Men we have a road team that is in absolute shambles from top-to-bottom. The Cowboys defense may not be very good, but they have momentum after last week’s huge win and the Giants have the lowest implied total on the slate at under 17 points.

If you’re seeking a pivot off Dallas (especially if Drew Lock starts), I do actually like the Green Bay Packers in this range as well. This is a home game for Green Bay, and it will be cold for this matchup.

The temperatures will likely dip below 20 degrees as the game progresses and we’ve seen the Miami Dolphins struggle late in the year, especially on the road when they have to play in colder conditions. Winds will range from 10-15 miles per hour Thursday night. The Dolphins still have plenty of weapons on offense, but I won’t let that keep me from playing the Packers.

 

 

 

NFL Thanksgiving DFS D/ST Value Pick

Chicago Bears – DraftKings: $2,300 | FanDuel: $3,500

The Bears are the cheapest team on this short slate. The matchup absolutely sucks as it’s on the road in a controlled environment and the Lions are huge favorites with a 29-point implied team total.

The Bears are in slightly better shape heading into this matchup than the Lions. Dan Campbell acknowledged on Tuesday that he doesn’t anticipate Taylor Decker suiting up for this game which would be quite the blow to the offensive line. And we know that Amon-Ra St. Brown and David Montgomery both came away with injuries in Week 12. But they’re at least expected to play.

My massive concern is how bad Chicago has been at stopping the run. The Lions attempt 32.4 rush attempts per game while averaging over 150 yards per game. The Bears have allowed 150+ rushing yards per game over their last five contests. So obviously, it’s not looking good.

But be mindful that the Bears will be among the lower-owned teams on the slate and as we mentioned at the top of the article, a D/ST touchdown changes the outlook of the slate as we saw last week with the Dallas Cowboys scoring two kick return touchdowns late in the game.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 13 Defense/Special Teams Projections