Mike's Thanksgiving Player Grid

Mike Johnson's Top Plays and Rankings for the Thanksgiving Slate

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One Week Season
November 26, 2025

OWS Fam –

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

By :: Mike Johnson (@mjohnson86)

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. We have a lot of content up on the site for you to dig deeper into the specific strategies for this type of slate.

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:

    • Mahomes and Lamar stand out on this slate due to the way the Dallas and Cincinnati defenses look on paper with being among the league’s worst for the season. Dallas has improved a bit recently, but most of their improvements have been in run defense which only increases the chances of the Chiefs playing through Mahomes. Cincinnati is a complete mess, so yea, Lamar could smash the slate if Baltimore’s scores come through the air. However, this could also easily be a game where Lamar doesn’t have to run the ball much and throws four touchdown passes without racking up a ton of yardage. Mahomes has clear primary stacking partners (Kelce and Rice), which makes that part somewhat “easier” but also means the full block/stack is going to be highly owned which forces you to do some unique things elsewhere on your build. Lamar’s stacking partners are also pretty clear (Flowers and Andrews), but the Ravens don’t have the same pass volume. Mixing in a secondary Chiefs receiver or a cheap Ravens tight end is a good way to differentiate if playing those QBs.

    • Burrow and Dak are appealing because they are such good passers and likely to have a ton of volume in their matchups. They also have dominant receivers who can carry them to a big game. Dak doubles with both stud WRs will probably be lower-owned relative to the upside because of the cost, while Burrow “triples” make sense to me as if he truly does hit it’s probably both a massive game for Chase and a game where they are throwing 50 times and a couple other cheap guys are posting very usable scores.

    • Jordan Love makes sense as the cheapest QB on the slate against an aggressive Lions defense playing on a short week. If a Love stack wins a tournament, it will probably involve one of his cheap WRs with a ton of uncertainty around them (Golden, Reed, or Wicks) breaking things open. Good luck figuring out which.

    • Jared Goff is tough to trust in this matchup, but if I do play him I will probably look to include rookie WR Isaac TeSlaa, who is min-price and has worlds of talent.

My guess on final ownership ::

  • Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes – 22-28%

  • Everyone else – 8 to 18%

Defense Strategy ::

  • The Ravens and Packers defenses are probably the best defenses on the slate and have matchups where it is easy to tell the story of them racking up fantasy points through sacks and turnovers. Baltimore is facing the Bengals in Burrow’s first game back and without Tee Higgins. The Bengals’ offensive line is sub-par, and if the Ravens make them play from behind, then Cincinnati will probably be throwing a lot with Burrow’s mobility potentially limited and accuracy unlikely to be in peak form. Green Bay already dominated Jared Goff once, so it doesn’t take much imagination to see that one playing out.

  • I won’t be playing the Bengals, but they scored a defensive touchdown last week which is the X-factor that always makes choosing a defense hard. I am more of the mindset that the fluky play happening last week makes it that much more unlikely they pull the rabbit out of the hat again.

  • Detroit’s defense stands out to me as Green Bay has not looked great on offense and the Lions are the highest-priced defense on the slate, which is likely to make them the lowest-owned, while the price isn’t THAT much above the other teams to where it drastically alters what you can do with your roster. I also like from a strategic perspective that they play in the first game, so if they post a big game (18 to 20 points) it gives you a huge strategic edge on all those rosters who haven’t played their defense yet.

  • Dallas and Kansas City are fine options who are in the mid-range of pricing and will likely fall in the mid-range of ownership. They don’t stand out to me from a schematic perspective and obviously both offenses are very good, but as noted before, all it takes is one or two plays for a D/ST to change the slate. Of the two, I probably prefer the Chiefs as a special-teams breakdown or sloppy turnovers seem more likely from Dallas.

Positional Rankings ::

(My favorite plays on the slate at each position when considering all elements, including salary/ownership – these are also specific to DraftKings)

RB ::

  1. Jahmyr Gibbs

  2. Derrick Henry

  3. Javonte Williams

  4. Chase Brown

  5. David Montgomery

WR ::

  1. Rashee Rice

  2. Ja’Marr Chase

  3. CeeDee Lamb

  4. George Pickens

  5. Amon-Ra St. Brown

  6. Christian Watson

  7. Jameson Williams

  8. Zay Flowers

  9. Xavier Worthy

  10. Romeo Doubs

TE ::

  1. Mark Andrews

  2. Mike Gesicki

  3. Travis Kelce

  4. Isaiah Likely

  5. Jake Ferguson

Game-by-Game For This Slate ::

Be sure to check the NFL Edge game breakdowns I wrote for this slate for deeper dives into these games and be sure to check out the great breakdown of the entire dynamic of the slate from JM in his Journal.

SHORT SLATE-ONLY OPTIONS ::

  • Here are a few cheap options that I’ll be considering in larger fields on the Thanksgiving slate that can help you make a unique lineup, but you probably wouldn’t consider using on a Main Slate::

    • Isaac TeSlaa

    • Mitch Tinsley

    • Matthew Golden

    • Samaje Perine

    • Charlie Kolar

Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving – let’s feast!!!

-Mike