NFL DFS TE Picks, Thanksgiving Day: Week 12 TE Coach
Welcome to the FREE preview of the NFL Week 12 DFS Playbook for Thanksgiving Day 2023!
Last week we called Stone Smartt’s touchdown as our TE value play, and we faded Evan Engram’s 29-yard stinker. We’ll look to have another strong set of NFL DFS TE picks for Thanksgiving so you can have the happiest of holidays.
As always, we have position-by-position picks and analysis to cover all of your bases. Be sure to check out our QB picks, RB picks, WR picks, and D/ST picks in our other “Coach” articles for the Thanksgiving NFL DFS slate. Now let’s kick off Week 12!
Top DFS TE Pick For Turkey Day: Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
This one for me is contingent on one aspect. Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell is a tough matchup for tight ends, but he left the game this week with a shoulder/neck issue. On Tuesday’s estimated practice report he was listed as OUT, so there’s a chance he’s not ready to go in a couple of days. If that’s the case, I’m expecting a bounce back week for the rookie tight end after he has been in a little fantasy football slump here.
If Campbell is a go, I might pay the extra price of admission for George Kittle, who has the better matchup. Kittle had struggled early on in games when the 49ers receiving corps was healthy, catching three or fewer passes in each of those games. But this past week he proved that he still has upside from week-to-week regardless of target competition.
All things considered, on Thanksgiving’s DFS slate, I’d prefer to save some salary and pick LaPorta as my top tight end. Those salary savings could come in handy elsewhere since there are so many other studs playing on Turkey Day.
NFL DFS TE Mid-Tier Play: Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders
The three options in this range for DFS tight ends are Jake Ferguson, Luke Musgrave, and Logan Thomas. Ferguson will obviously be a popular pick, and folks love the shiny rookies so Logan Thomas could be overlooked.
Thomas has actually run the second most routes of any tight end this season, which is an even more interesting stat when you consider that he missed a game and a half after suffering a concussion on a dirty hit from Kareem Jackson (surprise, surprise) back in Week 2. Terry McLaurin, Jahan Doton, and Logan Thomas are the three players on this team that routinely run 85-90% of the routes. Thomas also has the type of consistency we like to target for DFS purposes, hauling in at least four receptions in each of his last five games.
Most importantly, Thomas has four games this year with eight or more targets. The only other tight ends with four or more games of 8+ targets are Travis Kelce, T.J. Hockenson, Evan Engram, and David Njoku. That creates a weekly upside that you don’t see from too many other tight ends. Put him in your player pool as a solid TE pick on the Thanksgiving DFS NFL slate.
NFL DFS TE Value Play: Peyton Hendershot, Dallas Cowboys
With only three games on the slate and most of the viable tight ends priced appropriately, we have to get pretty sneaky with our value plays in this price range. So sneaky, in fact, that we’re looking at a player that might not even be activated for the game. But his window to return was already activated and last week, after he participated in a fully padded practice, he told reporters that his ankle was fully healed and all that remained was getting his conditioning up to speed. They didn’t activate him for Sunday, but that sounds promising for his potential return on Thanksgiving.
In the three games he played before getting hurt, Hendershot was playing nearly 50% of the snaps at times while rotating with Jake Ferguson. He also lined up at WR for 30 snaps and even got a goal-line carry. If he’s activated, he’s the best bet of the bare minimum-priced players to score a touchdown and jump in that red Salvation Army kettle.
If they don’t activate him, your next best value play for $2,500 on DraftKings would be Tucker Kraft, whose usage has ticked up slightly over the past two weeks. We’d rather take a shot on Hendershot.
Player News
49ers signed No. 11 pick EDGE Mykel Williams to a four-year contract.
The deal is worth $24.9 million and is fully guaranteed. As is the case with all first-round picks, his contract includes a fifth-year option. The 49ers shed hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts this offseason and the bulk of those savings came on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive end was an obvious position of need and Williams was widely regarded as the best pass-rusher on the board when 49ers GM John Lynch was on the clock. Williams totaled five sacks in 2024 and left Georgia with 14 sacks across three seasons as a starter.
Vikings signed No. 24 pick OG Donovan Jackson to a four-year contract.
It’s a fully guaranteed deal worth $17.2 million with a fifth-year team option. Minnesota taking Jackson with the 24th-overall pick came as a bit of a surprise on draft night, but the Vikings needed offensive line help and Jackson was considered worthy of a first-round pick by some draftniks. He was primarily a left guard at Ohio State but successfully kicked out to tackle for the bulk of his senior season. Jackson is likely fated for guard duties in Minnesota, but the positional versatility remains a plus.
Titans claimed Anfernee Orji off waivers from the Saints.
Orji played primarily on special teams in New Orleans but was credited with two starts across 16 appearances. He totaled 30 combined tackles and a pair of TFLs. Orji will need to continue seeing work on special teams to make the Titans’ roster.
Patriots signed RB Trayveon Williams, formerly of the Bengals.
Henderson was passed on the Cincinnati depth chart by Chase Brown last year and the team even traded for Khalil Herbert midseason. Despite having no role on offense, Williams was active for all 17 games as a special teamer. He will likely hold a similar role in New England if he cracks the team’s 53-man roster.
Free agent RB Jordan Mims worked out for the Patriots.
The Pats also worked out former Bengals running back Trayveon Williams. Mims ran 20 times for 70 yards in 2024 while adding 12 catches for 71 yards through the air. He also got some run on special teams. The Patriots are looking for some extra depth at running back, but there isn’t room for another fantasy-relevant option behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson.
Jaguars signed TE Quintin Morris, formerly of the Bills, to a one-year contract.
Morris is purely a blocking tight end. He caught just 15 passes during his three years with the Bills, though he did manage to find the end zone three times. Morris will back up Brenton Strange in Jacksonville.