Happy Thanksgiving, #FootClan! Hope you enjoy the slate of three DFS Turkey Day matches and have a great holiday. Before diving into specific choices for this three-player game, I wanted to give some thoughts on how to handle smaller slates. If you’re looking for more analysis for the Thanksgiving Day slate, Kyle and I have also broken down this slate on that. special episode of the Fantasy Footballers DFS podcast.
Additional resources for the Thanksgiving Day slate:
Strategy for NFL DFS small slates
- Avoid setting strict rules – Since there are only three matches, if you set specific rules for your rosters, chances are you’ll exclude roster builds that have a legitimate chance of winning. For example, on the main roster with 12 or 13 games, we usually avoid two RBs from the same game (and certainly from the same team) or stack our QB with only one or two pass catchers. On a small slate, you can stack three or four options if you think this team is going, or you can play multiple players against your defense. The list of viable players on this list is small, and if you avoid players against your D you will limit access to some of the best games on the list. That’s not to say you should actively try to play multiple players against your DST, but if the rest of your lineup is working, don’t be afraid to do it.
- Expect higher list percentages – With a smaller pool of players, the roster percentages will condense. On the main roster, we are used to finding good players who are listed at 5-8%. It just doesn’t exist on a smaller slate. “Contrarian” games are likely the ones that rank 15-20% on this list. Likewise, the “best games” on the slate are going to hover around 40-50% in GPPs.
- Use Late Exchange if you’re running late – The list percentage report for this list can be very useful because it will let us know what our opponents are likely to do. With three games all taking place independently of each other, we’ll have plenty of actionable insights based on how the upsetting and chalky options fared in the Buffalo and Detroit game. As a result, if you played a contrarian player in the first game and that player didn’t play, you’ll want to leave the board in the second and third game.
