A quick-hit recap of what really mattered from Thursday through Sunday. We skip the obvious studs and instead focus on usage trends, injuries, and key shifts that actually impact your lineup decisions.

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And now for today’s feature from the Daily Dose…

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Daily Dose newsletter, our “Fantasy Fallout” day. In this article, you will get a quick rundown of the relevant things we learned from the week’s games from Thursday through Sunday. 

We won’t talk about every single player and we usually won’t spend time on studs who go nuts (no one needs to be told to start Jonathan Taylor right now!), but rather, the idea is to update you on usage trends, injuries, and other relevant things to help your decisions with your teams for the coming week and beyond.

BILLS @ TEXANS

• The Houston defense dominated this one, sacking Josh Allen eight times and forcing three Bills turnovers. Allen peppered Khalil Shakir (8-110) with 10 targets. No other Bills WR or TE had more than four targets or 26 receiving yards.
• Woody Marks maintained his hold on the Houston backfield and had 17 touches for 69 total yards to veteran Nick Chubb’s seven touches for 15 yards.
• Davis Mills threw half of his passes to Christian Kirk (5-54-1) and Jayden Higgins (4-38-1), while superstar Nico Collins topped the team with 55 yards on just three targets.

COLTS @ CHIEFS

• Indianapolis played well but was unable to hold off a late comeback by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs as Kansas City kept its playoff hopes alive. The Colts got out to an early lead and played conservatively the rest of the way, resulting in mediocre days from the passing game and Jonathan Taylor being held in check.
• Rashee Rice got back on track with a huge game but failed to score a touchdown. Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce also had eight and six targets, respectively.
• Kareem Hunt handled an incredible 33 touches en route to 130 total yards and a touchdown. The Chiefs expect Isiah Pacheco back soon and signed free agent RB Dameon Pierce this weekend, leaving the future of the Chiefs backfield up in the air.

SEAHAWKS @ TITANS

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s dominance doesn’t leave room for anyone else in the passing game, as he set the Seahawks’ single-season receiving yards record through just 11 games.
• Seattle’s backfield continues to swing more and more towards Kenneth Walker III, who had 15 opportunities compared to only six for Zach Charbonnet. Don’t let Charbonnet’s touchdown fool you, Walker is in control now.
• Titans QB Cam Ward had his best game of the season in an incredibly difficult matchup, which is encouraging for his prospects down the stretch of 2025 and beyond. Fellow rookie WR Chimere Dike showcased his explosiveness with a big game and should be considered as a “Flex” starter going forward.

VIKINGS @ PACKERS

Your weekly roadmap to the wire. Each Tuesday, Tony Kneepkens highlights the top adds across positions — complete with FAAB recommendations and context to help you prioritize based on your league size and format.

These are the top players to consider adding from waivers this week. Unless otherwise noted, all players below are available in greater than 50% of Yahoo leagues (as of Sunday evening). Priorities and FAAB recommendations are meant to differentiate between some of the options available and are assuming 12-team, single-QB, fantasy formats.

Week 13 teams on bye: none 

Week 13 offers a reprieve from bye weeks before the final four teams take their Week 14 byes next week. Having all teams and players available this week allows us to start to optimize fantasy rosters for the stretch run by loading up on injury-away RBs and other high-upside bench stashes. There is only one high-priority recommendation this week, another injury replacement RB option, and I’ve otherwise noted some players to consider for short-term spot starts or as longer-term bench holds heading into the fantasy home stretch.

QB Streamer of the Week

Trevor Lawrence, JAX, Week 13 at TEN

• QB shouldn’t be many fantasy managers’ top priority with all starting options available this week, but I’ll mention T-Law on the road against the Titans and sporting a 24.0-point implied team total as a solid streaming option, if you need him.
• Low-priority add. Most QBs and offenses have thrived against a generous Tennessee defense this season, making Lawrence my favorite widely available streaming option for Week 13.
• 3% or less of FAAB.

RB Pickups

Devin Neal, NO, Week 13 at MIA

• Neal racked up 61 scrimmage yards on a dozen touches last week after Alvin Kamara left the game with an MCL injury. He’s now set to take over lead-back duties moving forward in Kamara’s absence.
• High-priority add. Neal remains the only Saints RB with a touch this season other than Kamara and Kendre Miller (ACL tear). The team will likely mix in plenty of utility man Taysom Hill, who had a season-high 10 carries last week, but it looks to be Neal’s show in the NO backfield for the foreseeable future.
• 40 – 60% of FAAB.

Tyjae Spears, TEN, Week 13 vs JAX

• Spears maintains a significant role for the struggling Titans offense, acting as a secondary/complementary runner to Tony Pollard and as a regular passing game contributor. He has three or more receptions in six straight games.
• Low-to-medium priority add. Spears has been something close to a bright spot for an underwhelming Tennessee offense this season. The team should have every incentive to continue to feature him down the stretch; their only goal down the stretch should be finding long-term contributors to next year’s team and beyond.
• 5 – 15% of FAAB.

Dylan Sampson, CLE, Week 13 vs SF

• The rookie runner had some added opportunities last week with fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins missing time in the middle of the game being evaluated for a concussion, before later returning. Sampson topped 80 scrimmage yards last week, highlighted by an explosive 66-yard TD catch and run.
• Low-priority add. I thought it was worth mentioning Sampson here for the off chance that Judkins suffers some sort of setback, but worst case, Sampson is a talented young handcuff RB to stash down the stretch who has shown ability as a runner and a receiver in his rookie year.
• 10% or less of FAAB.

Some additional lower-priority or “handcuff” RB options to stash on fantasy benches ::

• Bhayshul Tuten (JAX) – Saw fewer opportunities than the previous week but remains one of fantasy’s top bench stashes down the stretch. I believe he has more opportunity to keep cutting into the starter’s role than the rest of the options on this list.
• Blake Corum (LAR) – Continues to see ~30-40% of the Rams RB touches and has seven-plus carries in five straight games for one of the league’s best teams.
• Brian Robinson Jr. (SF) – Capable backup to CMC, their roles wouldn’t look the same, but B-Rob would be a no-brainer RB starter if he happened to see a spot start in CMC’s absence down the stretch.
• Tyler Allgeier (ATL) – A similar asset to B-Rob, who actually has a stronger standalone role, but I prefer Robinson slightly on what I think is the superior offense overall.
• Ollie Gordon II (MIA) – The talented rookie continues to carve out a standalone role alongside superstar De’Von Achane. I think he’d get a shot for lead-back duties if Achane missed a game.
• Keaton Mitchell (BAL) – Continued to be the only Ravens’ RB with an opportunity behind Derrick Henry last week, even after Justice Hill’s return to the lineup.

WR Pickups

Mike Johnson (MJohnson86) has racked up nearly $500,000 in DFS profit as an NFL tournament player with success in all styles of contests

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The format:

My “Player Grid” for the Thanksgiving slate will take the format of my usual “Afternoon Only” article that I do every Sunday. A full-fledged Player Grid just didn’t feel like the right way to try to break down this slate with only three games on it and such a limited player pool to begin with. Rather, this slate very closely resembles what we see every Sunday with only three to four games in the late window. The added caveat on Thanksgiving is that we get time between each game to learn from what has happened already and the ownerships that have flipped over.

QB Strategy ::

Quarterback is always an important position, but that importance goes to another level on these small slates. There are two main reasons for this. First, on average, quarterbacks obviously score the most points of any position and we can only start one of them. Second, as noted above, correlation is even more important as the slates get smaller and there are fewer scoring opportunities to go around. By choosing the right quarterback, you are also increasing the chances that you are right at two other positions. Again, the shorter slate condenses the scoring across all lineups, making each position more vital to separating and giving yourself a chance to win. This is why quarterback strategy has its own section:

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Hilow is a game theory expert (courses at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Northwestern) and tournament champion who focuses on mid/high-stakes single-entry/three-entry max

MACRO SLATE VIEW::

There are three games on the Thanksgiving slate, each of which carries a game total between 49.0 (Packers @ Lions) and 52.5 (Chiefs @ Cowboys). That macro realization is going to guide much of our exploitative stances on this short slate, if nothing more than for the simple fact that Vegas is currently projecting three games with similar environments. The first two games on the slate carry spreads within three points, while the Ravens are favored by a solid seven. That leaves Baltimore with the highest Vegas implied team total, which has directly inflated the expected ownership of their players. We’ll discuss more of the nuanced aspects of that realization below.

As we discuss every year on the Thanksgiving slate, this slate is unlike any other throughout the season. The primary reason is that it is a slate played in sequence, rather than played simultaneously (as most other slates in the year are). I went into the theoretics of that truth on the Tuesday edition of DFS Labs, but will quickly touch on the wavetops here.

Picture the game tree of a slate as an upside-down Christmas tree, starting at a single point and extending upwards and outwards. This game tree represents every decision point along with every outcome available to us, is borderline infinite on a normal slate but carries far fewer total outcomes on a three-game slate, and will have an optimal path. On a full slate, we know we have more leeway away from optimal to win. On a one-game slate, we know we often must hit the exact optimal to win. On a three-game slate, in contests with more than 600,000 entries, we know we must be closer to the actual optimal to win on this slate. But the biggest change on the Thanksgiving slate is that the game tree is effectively three small trees placed on top of each other due to the sequential nature of the slate, with three games played back-to-back-to-back as opposed to at the same time. That means we get more information with each passing game, each passing quarter, and each passing play. As a general rule, the bulk of the field will not be approaching things in this manner, instead setting a roster, or portfolio of rosters, and letting things play out. We have a distinct edge in making adjustments at each new decision point in the game tree (each game) as more information is added.

Knowing that we must be as close to optimal as possible, if not exact optimal, to win on this slate, we should be adjusting the remainder of our rosters/portfolio based on how close to optimal a given roster is after each game is played.

RESTRICTIVE CHALK VS EXPANSIVE CHALK::

Quick explanation: Restrictive chalk is an expected highly owned piece that restricts the maneuverability of the remainder of your roster, while expansive chalk is an expected highly owned piece that allows for higher amounts of maneuverability on the remainder of your roster. Classifying various forms of chalk as either restrictive or expansive allows us to visualize what it means for roster construction on a given slate and how restrictive a certain player might be, meaning more of the field will look similar from a roster construction standpoint with that piece.

A quick note before we jump into the chalk. We’re only going to cover the top ownership expectation at each position to streamline our discussion on the Thanksgiving slate.

PATRICK MAHOMES

RESTRICTIVE CHALK. The quarterback for the team leading the league in PROE, who also ranks third in pass attempts per game, is against the Cowboys. Checks out, on paper.

JA’MARR CHASE

RESTRICTIVE CHALK. The receiver leading the league in XFP/G (ranks behind only Christian McCaffrey at all positions) is playing with his starting quarterback for the first time since Week 2 and without Tee Higgins. Checks out.

DERRICK HENRY

RESTRICTIVE CHALK. Henry has seen 20 or more opportunities in each of his previous six games, against the worst defense in the league. Checks out.

MARK ANDREWS

EXPANSIVE CHALK. Andrews has seen five or fewer targets in each game since the team’s Week 5 bye, making him heavily reliant on touchdowns for his fantasy production. Cracks are starting to show themselves.

RAVENS D/ST

NEITHER RESTRICTIVE NOR EXPANSIVE CHALK. The Ravens have started to play better football while getting much healthier, on both sides of the ball. That said, their opponents since their Week 7 bye were the Bears, the Dolphins, the Vikings, the Browns, and the Jets – not exactly a murderer’s row of offensive ability. They have only 18 sacks and 13 takeaways on the year and are averaging 2.0 sacks and 2.0 takeaways per game since their bye. More cracks.

CHALK BUILD::

XANDAMERE’S SHOWDOWN SLANT

We get a Black Friday game, so listen up, people who want to avoid going shopping: tell your partner there’s a Showdown and that you need to play it so you can make some extra spending money for Christmas. This one has the Bears visiting the Eagles for a 44.5 total game with Philly favored by a touchdown. This is something of a battle of two often-dysfunctional teams that both still have winning records, with the Bears luck-boxing into an 8-3 record despite having given up more points than they’ve scored, and the Eagles also at 8-3, mostly on the back of a very solid defense. Let’s see if we can figure this one out. 

PHILADELPHIA

On the Eagles side, Saquon Barkley has an elite role, but he himself has been far from elite this year. He only has three games over 4 yards per carry and just one game of reaching the 100-yard bonus while scoring just 6 touchdowns in 11 games. Last game against Dallas, Philly basically gave up on running the ball fairly early on, despite playing from a lead, because Saquon was getting stuffed over and over again. This is a much more forgiving matchup as the Bears have been one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, giving up more yards per attempt than even the Bengals. If there was ever a get-right spot for Saquon, this is it. Brand name alone has kept his price above $10k despite mediocre production for almost the entire season, so we aren’t exactly getting a discount, but on paper, this is a great spot as a big home favorite who is one of the few true bell cow backs in the league. RB2 Will Shipley and RB3 Tank Bigsby are both barely seeing any work, usually playing single-digit snaps per game. Dissly hasn’t even seen an offensive touch since Week 10 and has a grand total of 11 carries and 6 targets on the year, while Bigsby got some blowout run in Week 8 and seems to at least have some upside if the game gets out of hand. They’re both very thin plays.

Showdown Ownership Projections!

Ownership updates automatically

In the passing game, we know the deal with Philly: DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown play almost every snap, Jahan Dotson is a half-time or so player, and some guy named Darius Cooper has played a handful of snaps. Smith and AJB are 1A and 1B, with Smith having consistently been better, but only by a relatively modest difference. We know that we generally look to AJB when playing teams that use heavy-man coverage schemes, and the Bears are pretty close to league average there, so that makes me lean towards Smith. Smith is also $1k cheaper, which is likely to make the field lean his way as well. They’re both solid plays. Smith is probably the slightly better play but will also come with slightly higher ownership. Dotson is a dart throw who has a season-high of 3 targets and has only reached double-digit DK points once.

At tight end, Dallas Goedert is another core part of the offense, but I remember the last time I wrote up an Eagles Showdown, I said something to the effect of “I don’t like guys who usually see only a few targets per game and only tend to find ceiling by scoring touchdowns.” Since then Goedert has failed to score touchdowns and has flopped in three straight games. Imagine that. This is a slightly different situation as his price has come down significantly to a season-low of $5,200, and at this point I’m much more willing to take the risk. He’s much more appealing when priced near the kickers than when he was at a season-high price of $7,400 the last time I had to write up the Eagles. He probably still needs a touchdown, but at this price and in a great matchup, I’m game here (I like the two primary wideouts more). TE2 Grant Calcaterra is another dart throw option. The Eagles run a really condensed offense: it’s Saquon, Smith, AJB, and Goedert, and that’s basically it.

CHICAGO

Every Saturday, MJohnson86 posts full positional rankings (QB, RB, WR, TE, DEF) to get you ready for Sunday’s slate. Built for 12-team, full-PPR formats — with insights that translate across most league settings.

The weekend is here and it’s time to get our lineups set before Sunday’s full slate of games. Each week, the Saturday edition of the Daily Dose will feature my rankings for all players who have yet to play a game this week. Obviously this will not include the Thursday games, but always feel free to hit me up in Discord or on X/Twitter if you have some tough decisions around guys who play on Thursday. 

Most of the leagues I play in are full-PPR, 12-team leagues and these rankings are designed for those settings – you may need to make some slight adjustments based on your own league settings.

QB :: 

1. Drake Maye
2. Josh Allen
3. Justin Herbert
4. Matthew Stafford
5. Bo Nix
6. Jaxson Dart
7. Sam Darnold
8. Jacoby Brissett
9. Trevor Lawrence
10. Daniel Jones
11. C.J. Stroud
12. Baker Mayfield
13. Tua Tagovailoa
14. Brock Purdy
15. Marcus Mariota
16. Cam Ward
17. Aaron Rodgers
18. Bryce Young
19. Tyrod Taylor
20. Tyler Shough
21. Geno Smith
22. Kirk Cousins
23. Shedeur Sanders
24. Max Brosmer

RB ::

1. De’Von Achane
2. Jonathan Taylor
3. Bijan Robinson
4. Christian McCaffrey
5. TreVeyon Henderson
6. James Cook III
7. Breece Hall
8. Ashton Jeanty
9. Kyren Williams
10. Travis Etienne Jr.
11. Rico Dowdle
12. Kimani Vidal
13. RJ Harvey
14. Jaylen Warren
15. Kenneth Walker
16. Woody Marks
17. Quinshon Judkins
18. Bucky Irving
19. Devin Neal
20. Tyrone Tracy Jr.
21. Kenneth Gainwell
22. Zach Charbonnet
23. Aaron Jones Sr.
24. Zonovan Knight
25. Tony Pollard
26. Tyjae Spears
27. Bhayshul Tuten
28. Rhamondre Stevenson
29. Tyler Allgeier
30. Blake Corum
31. Chris Rodriguez Jr.
32. Devin Singletary
33. Rachaad White
34. Michael Carter
35. Jordan Mason
36. Brian Robinson Jr.

WR :: 

Each week, Juan Carlos Blanco spotlights 4–5 under-the-radar plays who combine DFS tournament upside with season-long streaming value. These matchup-driven picks are usually available in most leagues.

Each week, Streaming Sleepers will highlight at least five non-QB skill-position players and one team defense that currently have start or roster rates of 20% or less in season-long leagues but may be prudent options this week due to matchups and other circumstances, particularly in deeper formats. 

Additionally, the plays suggested here could be viable DFS large-field tournament options for the coming slate and are likely to carry modest ownership rates in that format as well.

Chris Godwin, TB vs. ARI – 7% start rate

It’s alarming to see Godwin’s start rate this low, but a very quiet Week 12 performance in his return from a long absence has his fantasy outlook muted for the moment. However, Godwin should seem a bump from the 25 snaps he played without setbacks in a difficult matchup against the Rams, a game where he also had to play with Teddy Bridgewater for the entire second half.

Baker Mayfield is set to play through his shoulder issue Sunday against Arizona, and Godwin should operate in his usual No. 2 role while potentially logging close to a normal amount of snaps. The veteran wideout still has plenty of upside and chemistry with Mayfield, and in a game in which the Bucs have an implied team total of well over three TDs (24.5), Godwin is a consideration if you’re in a pinch.

Jakobi Meyers, JAX at TEN – 20% start rate

Meyers likely loses a little luster in the fantasy community this week due to the return of Brian Thomas from his ankle injury, but the former is still a viable option against a beatable Titans defense. Meyers has utilized Thomas’ three-game absence to build some chemistry with Trevor Lawrence, posting a 12-155-1 line on 15 targets.

Meyers averaged a solid 2.35 yards per route run in that sample as well, and Sunday, he’s facing a Titans defense allowing 236.8 passing yards per home game at 11.5 yards per completion. Tennessee is also playing zone at the league’s 11th-highest rate (73%), while Meyers is averaging a solid 1.9 yards per route run against that scheme, including 2.3 in his road games with the Raiders and Jags.

Jordan Addison, MIN at SEA – 20% start rate