NFL DFS RB Picks, Thanksgiving Day: Week 12 RB Coach
Welcome to the FREE preview of the NFL Week 12 DFS Playbook for Thanksgiving Day 2023!
We’re celebrating Thanksgiving by opening up all of our All-Pro articles for Thursday’s NFL DFS contests. If you’re new to Fantasy Alarm, we hope you benefit from our tips and picks and decide to stick around for more than just this slate.
Let’s get into the top NFL DFS RB picks and value plays for the start of Week 12 on Thanksgiving. After you’ve dominated this position in your daily fantasy games, move on to our QB picks, WR picks, TE picks, and D/ST picks in the respective “Coach” articles for those positions.
NFL DFS RB Picks: Thanksgiving’s Best RB Plays
There’s no shortage of stars on this Thanksgiving NFL DFS slate, so we’ll need to look at the high-, mid- and low-value tiers to make sure we can fit everyone in and find the optimal lineup. Here are my favorite NFL DFS RB picks at these different price levels.
NFL DFS RB Top Play: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
How much really needs to be said about CMC? He has scored at least 20 fantasy points in all but two games this year, and in his WORST game of the season, he scored 14.2 points. His floor is incredibly high, and that makes him a good pick on any DFS slate. He has also shown a monster ceiling, as seen by him scoring 51.7 points in a game - which is just pretty much insane.
On a small DFS NFL slate like this, you have two options with CMC. You either play him like everyone else will, or you take the risk and be in the small percentage of people who don’t and hope he doesn’t go crazy. If you fade CMC, you better hit on the rest of your picks, because you’ll most likely be playing from behind.
It also doesn’t hurt that this is a good spot for CMC. The Seahawks rank as a top-5 DFS matchup for running backs this year. So this Thanksgiving, I’m going to pay up for my top RB pick and put a different bird on the menu.
NFL DFS RB Mid-Tier Play: David Montgomery, Detroit Lions
The mid-tier of this slate is where you can get unique with your builds. Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Tony Pollard are all feasible options in this area. They’ll also likely be lesser owned in larger Thanksgiving DFS contests as people look to attack their lineups with CMC and Charbonnet.
It’s a tough choice between Montgomery, Gibbs, and Pollard, but I’m going to give a slight lean to Monty as my RB pick here. I like that he is cheaper than the other two, and he has been fantastic this season on a consistent basis. Pollard and Gibbs have been a bit more up and down game-to-game. Reading their DFS box scores takes you on a bumpy ride.
Monty has scored at least 13.4 fantasy points in every game that he has fully played in, and he has scored 20.6 and 17.8 points in the last two games since returning from injury. The Packers have been a good matchup for DFS running backs this season, which made Austin Ekeler’s stinker game against them last week even more surprising. You need to have a short memory when you’re making your DFS picks though, and I think Monty gets the job done here.
NFL DFS RB Value Play: Zach Charbonnet, Seattle Seahawks
This is the chalk of the slate, and I think he’ll likely be even higher rostered than CMC. In fact, there’s a good chance that Charbonnet is the highest rostered player on the whole slate.
I assume the pairing of CMC + Charbonnet will be insanely popular in Thanksgiving DFS contests. Charbonnet will have lead-back duties this week (assuming Kenneth Walker is out like expected) and that alone makes him strong DFS value play. But the rookie back has really come on as of late with 10 receptions on 11 targets over the last two games. He also just had a season-high 15 carries. On top of all that, he is the cheapest running back this week that is still trustworthy.
This matchup isn’t the greatest, but with the receiving chops that he has shown, it doesn’t really matter. Charbonnet is a solid DFS RB pick and one of the stronger value plays on the slate.
Player News
ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi reports Kenny Pickett “developed a strong on-field rapport” with Jerry Jeudy after training with the team’s top receiver this offseason.
At 27 years old, Pickett is the middle-aged member of the Browns’ four-person quarterback competition. Although he is perhaps the least discussed member of the bunch, Oyefusi notes, Pickett respectably went “14-10 as a starter in two seasons with the Steelers.” Developing rapport with the team’s top option could give Pickett an edge in training camp and the preseason, though Pickett is unlikely to produce even high-end QB2 results were he to win the starting job.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is expected to return to the scheme he ran early in his Cleveland tenure “with more under-center formations that utilize play-action.”
The Browns employed a 24.9 percent play-action pass play rate last season, ranking 17th among NFL teams. In his first season at the helm in 2020, Stefanski ran play action at a sixth-ranked 28.7 percent rate. Increasing the fantasy-friendly play’s usage would be a boon to Browns pass catchers. They can use all of the schematic advantages they can get, given their team’s unsettled quarterback situation.
Jaylen Waddle said he is honing his hand-eye coordination this offseason while improving his chemistry with Tua Tagovailoa.
Per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, Waddle viewed his hand-eye coordination as an area that “needed immediate improvement.” We agree. Although Waddle’s six drops last year tied for his career low, they led all Dolphins pass catchers and his 9.4 percent drop rate was just 0.2 percent under his career high. Louis-Jacques also notes, “these practices have also proven to be valuable reps for Waddle with Tagovailoa. Waddle is operating as the team’s No. 1 WR with Tyreek Hill (wrist) sidelined, which Tagovailoa said has allowed him and Waddle to “grow [their] chemistry.” Head coach Mike McDaniel adds that Waddle’s offseason performance is an “example of the culture the team is trying to build in 2025.” If Waddle can continue asserting himself as the team’s No. 1 WR in training camp and the preseason, a WR1 season-long finish is possible.
Bears signed GM Ryan Poles to a three-year extension through 2029.
Both Poles and head coach Ben Johnson are now under contract through the 2029 NFL season. Ownership was evidently pleased by the duo’s first offseason together and decided to keep the partnership intact for the foreseeable future. Poles still had two years left on his past deal, at the time of today’s signing.
The Athletic’s Jacob Robinson says to “expect an offense-heavy start” for Travis Hunter.
How the Jaguars will utilize Hunter’s two-way ability remains a mystery. Still, Robinson believes the No. 2 overall pick will see more than his fair share of snaps on offense after spending “the majority of minicamp lining up as receiver.” Robinson adds that Hunter is also adding weight after weighing in at 188 pounds at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine. Hunter caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns during his final season at Colorado while averaging 13.1 YPR. He figues to be featured on most passing plays opposite Brian Thomas Jr. and could earn a significant role early in Liam Coen’s passing attack.
49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk said Christian McCaffrey looks healthy and “so explosive” ahead of training camp.
The buzz continues to build around McCaffrey, who battled through bilateral Achilles tendinitis last season and was limited to just four games after suffering a PCL sprain in Week 13. McCaffrey, 29, totaled just 348 yards from scrimmage and one touchdown last season, but totaled 2,023 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2023. Assuming he stays healthy this season, McCaffrey has the chance to be poised for another big season. The veteran running back has averaged 22.1 PPR points per game in 31 games with the 49ers since being traded to them midway through the 2022 season. He’s still a three-down threat who possesses elite pass-catching upside, and could see a workload similar to 2023, when he led the league with 339 touches. As McCaffrey’s ADP continues to creep higher into the first round, it sounds like there is little reason to fade him at this point in time.