It’s time for the Thanksgiving Day games, and with it, a full slate of six teams [update: four teams] to futilely try to pull value from the games. Just like your Aunt Edna futilely tries to pull value from the canned green beans in her green bean casserole. Seriously, Edna, cooking websites are your friend. Geez. Here are some Thanksgiving Day Sleepers to help you get fun out of all three games on the slate. To make this Thanksgiving Day Sleepers list, a player must be available in 50% or more of Yahoo! leagues.
Thanksgiving Day Sleeper QB: Andy Dalton (12% rostered) versus Washington
There are just six quarterbacks on Thanksgiving Day, so finding a sleeper came down to Andy Dalton and Alex Smith, two guys who their teams desperately didn’t want to use. In this situation, I am going to go with the guy with more weapons. Dalton has three top-flight wide receivers, Dalton Schultz, Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard at his disposal. Washington killed Joe Burrow last week, so maybe Andy should lookout. Ultimately, the Red Rifle gets the Thanksgiving Day sleeper QB nod after going for three touchdowns last week against Minnesota.
Thanksgiving Day Sleeper WR: Marvin Hall (2% rostered) versus Houston
There’s no Kenny Golladay, no Danny Amendola, and the Houston pass defense stinks. Hall is buried on this depth chart normally but has one game over five targets this year. He caught four-of-seven passes for 113 yards back on November 1.
Thanksgiving Day Sleeper RB: Kerryon Johnson (14% rostered) versus Houston
This was originally Gus Edwards, but the NFL moved the Baltimore-Pittsburgh game to Sunday.
The pivot here is Kerryon Johnson (14% rostered) versus Houston. D’Andre Swift is still in concussion protocol, and if he doesn’t clear, the Lions need to turn to their backup running backs. Last week, they showed us all that it isn’t Adrian Peterson anymore. Kerryon Johnson had 70% of the snaps last week, with AP garnering just 30% of the load. This is a matchup play, as the Texas are top-five in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs.
Thanksgiving Day Sleeper TE: Dalton Schultz (43% rostered) versus Washington
The pivot here is in this very same game, Logan Thomas at 45% rostered has at least four targets in literally every single game this season. But, let’s look at Dalton Schultz.
Dalton Schultz already has four distinct seasons this year. He went from strict backup, then Blake Jarwin’s injury thrust him into the must-start territory. Then Dak Prescott and Andy Dalton’s injuries made him waiver wire fodder. Now, he’s sort of back. In his last three games, Schultz averages six targets per game, which he’s turned into 14 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. That’s how desperate we are at tight end this year, we are gushing over 4.7 catches for 42 yards per game over a small sample size.
Nevertheless, Schultz is a part of this passing game, and this passing game should do numbers on Thanksgiving (they always do). Football Team stifles opposing tight ends, however, and were part of the “turn off Dalton Schultz’s production spigot” in week seven. Schultz is a backend starter with a chance at a touchdown. He led all tight ends with four red zone targets last week. I would start Dalton Schultz, but not over Eric Ebron.
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