It’s Thanksgiving, and as such, I have to tweak my schedule just a bit to accommodate having Cooper Rush versus Tommy DeVito beamed into my eyeballs earlier than should be legal. So, we are getting you the sleepers article a day early this week. This lets me enjoy my day, of turkey, mashed potatoes, family, and the Bears getting smacked around by Jared Goff & the Lions. We don’t have anyone on bye this week, but we have many injuries to contend with. So, we might need a spot start here or there this week, and because of that, we present our Thanksgiving Week Sleepers. To make this list, a player must be eligible in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues, and for you deep league players, we have at least one player at each position available in at least 90% of leagues, to help you win this week… or at least to give you something to read while you hide in the bathroom to escape your MAGA uncle and Resist cousins screaming at each other about culture war nonsense.
Quarterbacks
Drake Maye versus Indianapolis (17% rostered)
Maye stumbled a bit last week, taking on Miami & their extremely tough passing defense. He managed 222 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception, in the game and finished with under 15 fantasy points, which continues a trend for Maye. He has six games in the NFL where he played the entire game, in those games, he’s played in four matchups of teams inside the top 20 in points scored to opposing quarterbacks, and two in games where he went against tough defenses (the #30 Dolphins and #31 Bears).
In the four games against defeatable pass defenses, Maye averages 252 yards passing, 45 yards rushing, and two touchdowns per game, for just under 20 fantasy points (19.77) per game. In the two other games, he averages 203 passing yards, 25 rushing yards, and a touchdown, for 13.6 fantasy points per game.
This week, he gets the circling-the-drain Colts, who allow the thirteenth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. They’ve given up at least 269 passing yards or multiple touchdowns to five-straight opponents, and have yielded at least 16.1 fantasy points to three of the last four quarterbacks to play them.
Bryce Young versus Tampa Bay (5% rostered)
Bryce Young looked like a competent NFL quarterback last week, throwing on the run, having a wonderful pocket presence, and dropping some dimes in the buckets of his receivers. He did this against Steve Spagnuolo and the wonderful Chiefs’ defense. This week, he gets the second-best possible matchup for quarterbacks, as the World Champion Chiefs give way to the Maybe NFC South Champion Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are top-three in every fantasy points allowed metric, including passing, despite Tommy DeVito vomiting on himself last week. Before the DeVito Experience, the Buccos had allowed multiple touchdowns and at least 276 passing yards to four straight quarterbacks.
Cooper Rush versus N.Y. Giants (5% rostered)
Don’t look now, but Cooper Rush was a top-ten quarterback last week. Granted, six teams were on a bye, so it was out of 26, not 32. But still, he finished with 249 total yards, and two touchdowns, and didn’t throw a pick. This came on the heels of throwing for 354 yards and one score the week before. The Cowboys have no choice but to let Cooper Rush throw, as their running game is not even close to being a difference-maker for this team. This week, Rush gets the Giants and their bottom-of-the-barrel defense, who allow the tenth-most fantasy points per game on the season. This is also the top of a stretch between now and the fantasy finals where Rush plays all teams inside the top ten in fantasy points per game. This could be a stream that sticks around on your roster.
Wide Receivers
Xavier Legette versus Tampa Bay (27% rostered)
Last week, David Moore had ten targets. David Moore does not deserve ten targets, but Jalen Coker is looking set to miss this week against the Buccaneers. However, Xavier Legette and Adam Thielen can handle sufficient target volume to be fantasy-relevant on Sunday. He has six targets in three of his last four games and also has 9.6 PPR points or more in three of the last four. The Buccaneers have been a defensive sieve as late, allowing four wide receivers 12+ PPR points in the last two games.
Devaughn Vele versus Cleveland (19% rostered)
Vele is suddenly a big part of the Broncos passing game, garnering the second-highest target share over the last three games. That amounted to 18 targets, 14 receptions, and 185 yards across the last three contests. Those numbers, alongside his one touchdown, are good enough for 12.8 PPR points per game over those three weeks, ranking him as WR29 in that span. The Browns aren’t a strong pass defense, either, as they’ve given up seven games of 11.4 or more PPR points to wide receivers in their last four games. Vele and Courtland Sutton—and Bo Nix—should do plenty to return beaucoup fantasy points for your team.
Elijah Moore at Denver (10% rostered)
It seems counterproductive to start Elijah Moore against the Broncos. After all, Denver allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers. However, the Broncos and Moore have one thing in common that will make them for a good fantasy matchup: the slot. Moore lines up in the slot at the fourth-highest rate in the league (a hair under 60%), and the Broncos see 42.2% of their targets to slot receivers, the second-highest rate in the league. This is why they have a top-ten rate of receptions to the slot, though their fantasy points to the position are low due to allowing just one touchdown to the alignment on the season. This is a PPR match made in heaven for Moore, who has eight targets per game over his last five games.
Running Backs
Jerome Ford at Denver (39% rostered)
Much like Moore, Jerome Ford will take advantage of the slightest weakness in the Broncos’ defense. The Broncos have allowed the second-most receptions to running backs on the season, and the fifth-most receiving yards. They haven’t gotten any better lately, either, as Ameer Abdullah caught all five of his targets for 37 yards and a touchdown last week, Bijan Robinson caught all four of his targets the week before, and Kareem Hunt caught 7 targets for 65 yards the week before that. Therefore, the pass-catching back is a place where you can attack Denver. For the Broncos, that honor falls to Ford. They haven’t used him much in that role lately since returning from his hamstring injury (8 targets in 3 games), but he had 23 targets in 5 games to start the season.
Braelon Allen versus Seattle (30% rostered)
Breece Hall didn’t practice on Wednesday, which normally isn’t that concerning, but the Jets are coming out of their bye, and he is still dealing with his knee injury from week eleven. So, it’s looking as though it is going to be a heavy volume of Braelon Allen this week for the Jets. He’s yet to get a major snap share this season, but in the four games that he’s topped 30% snap share, he’s averaged 38.5 yards per game on the ground, and 12 receiving yards per game while scoring three times in those four games. It hasn’t been a lot, but he’s never played more than 36% of snaps. So, it’s been done in very limited snaps. But, he’s a pick-up and play this week should Breece Hall miss time.
Jeremy McNichols versus Tennessee (10% rostered)
The under-10% roster rate this week isn’t particularly inspiring, but like Allen, McNichols is in a pickup-and-play situation against the Titans. With Brian Robinson getting injured on the first play in Sunday’s tilt against the Cowboys, and Austin Ekeler getting injured in the final play, that leaves the door open for McNichols to get some volume against the Titans. McNichols isn’t particularly used to volume, as he has just three games in his career with over 40% of snaps played. In those three games, he finished with 16 carries for 77 yards, and 6 catches for 26 yards. If he gets a full allotment of touches, 100 total yards is well within his range of outcomes. The Titans, while a fearsome pass defense, are a neutral defense against running backs, and have allowed six rushing touchdowns in their last six games to running backs.
Tight Ends
Hunter Henry versus Indianapolis (48% rostered)
It’s hard to call Hunter Henry a sleeper per se, as he’s just doing Hunter Henry things: finishing as a backend TE1 more often than not. In Drake Maye’s six games that he started and finished this season, Henry has finished TE11 or better in four of them but never finished higher than TE6. This promises to be another good week for Henry, as Make will have the ability to throw all over the Colts this week.
Luke Schoonmaker versus N.Y. Giants (45% rostered)
Schoonmaker is coming off of 14 targets, 9 catches, 121 yards, and a touchdown in the last two games since the Giants lost Jake Ferguson to a concussion, and Ferguson will miss Thanksgiving’s festivities with the same concussion. Schoonmaker is the only other target worth a lick on the Cowboys outside of CeeDee Lamb, and even the looming Brandin Cooks does not change the fact that Schoonmaker is tied for sixth in targets over the last two weeks, making him an opportunity king. On paper, the Giants are a terrible tight end matchup, but only three tight ends have at least four targets against them this season, and two went for double-digits in PPR. Only Jordan Akins’ 6.9 PPR points failed to make the cut.
Noah Gray versus Las Vegas (10% rostered)
There isn’t really much to say here; Gray has four touchdowns in two games, and there isn’t any real sign that he’s slowing down anytime soon. If you strip out that he’s the TE2 on the team to Travis Kelce, the sudden Noah Gray breakout mirrors that of Will Dissly’s in target share, air yards share, catch rate, and yards after the catch. He’s going up against the Raiders, who let teams do whatever they want against them. They’ve given up the third-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends, and have given up 20+ PPR days to Jonnu Smith, Mike Gesicki, and Travis Kelce, the last time these two teams played. They’re an absolute mess, and the Chiefs will steamroll them on Friday.
