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 Jeremy Fowler reports Saints hosted free agent CB Asante Samuel for a visit Monday.
Samuel, fresh off offseason neck surgery, visited with the Saints Monday as he pursues his next playing opportunity. He has clear connection to the franchise after they hired Brandon Staley to fill their defensive coordinator position, for whom Samuel played under with the Chargers. Fowler adds that Samuel has another doctor visit scheduled for early July, during which time he hopes to gain clearance to resume football activities.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Packers met with WR Jayden Reed’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to clarify his status with the team.
The meeting comes after the Packers selected a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002 in this year’s draft. ESPN’s Adam Schefter added that the team emphasized Reed’s status as the top option at wide receiver after the selection of Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. “Green Bay’s top receiver” means far less for fantasy than it does in other places around the league considering Reed led the team with just 62.6% of the team’s offensive snaps played in 2024.
Saints signed QB Hunter Dekkers.
Dekkers spent three seasons with the Cyclones of Iowa State before stepping away from football following an indictment surrounding charges related to sports gambling. He then played his final collegiate season at Iowa Western before being invited to Saints camp. Dekkers spent his redshirt season backing up Brock Purdy at Iowa State.
Seahawks signed No. 18 overall pick OG Grey Zabel to a four-year contract.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Zabel’s deal is worth a guaranteed $18.471 million. The former North Dakota State guard will be tasked with bolstering a Seahawks line that ranked 26th in PFF pass blocking grades and 24th in run blocking grades. The Seahawks didn’t do much to address their offensive line this offseason, with Zabel being the biggest addition to date. The FCS stud showed out at this year’s senior bowl, and brings high expectations into his rookie season after dominating at the college ranks.
Free agent WR Gabe Davis is visiting the 49ers on Monday.
It’s the first known interest we’ve seen of Davis, who was released by the Jaguars last week with a failed physical designation. The 49ers will likely be without Brandon Aiyuk to start the season, and the idea of adding another veteran to the room is appealing. Kyle Shanahan can turn a lot of football players into something fantasy-interesting, but Davis might be a step beyond even his schemes.
Falcons released WR Phillip Dorsett.
What was your favorite moment of Dorsett’s three-month run on a reserve/future contract with the Falcons? Was it when the signing was announced, or was it when the release happened? Dorsett will try to bounce to another team as wideout depth as he enters his age-32 season. He did not play NFL snaps last year and was only targeted three times by the Broncos in 2023.