In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by FantasyLife+:
Happy Thanksgiving, Fantasy Life family! We are all very thankful that you guys make us part of your morning routine.
We have three games on tap today with varying degrees of intrigue (“Sorry Mom, dinner is going to have to wait, Drew Lock is on TV” - Ian, probably).
Here is everything else you need to know before locking in for today’s action …
The Fantasy Life Thanksgiving prop sheet. Hammer the over on Turducken references, BTW. Broadcasters live for silly words. Here is one other one I’d add to the list …
Who will get the most revenge? We got two RBs squaring off against their former teams today: David Montgomery and D’Andre Swift. Considering the Lions have a 28.5 team total and the Bears like to use Roschon Johnson at the goal line, I have to go with DMont serving up the colder dish.
DFS Guide. Whether you are drafting teams on Underdog, building lineups on DraftKings, or slamming together pick ‘ems & props, I got you covered with a DFS strategy guide. Love that Jahmyr Gibbs’ longest rush one.
Freedman’s Favorites (Pie Edition). Cherry is a wild choice for Thanksgiving, but Freedman is a wild man, so this tracks. There’s more to him than just pie takes, though. He also has a comprehensive betting breakdown for Giants/Cowboys.
Ian’s Manifesto and 3 bold predictions. We are aligned on Rome Odunze. Today is the day.
Have a wonderful day. We’ll be back tomorrow for a quick pivot to the Black Friday game and Week 13 Main Slate.
What else is in today’s newsletter?
- Stat of the Day: A Titan of An RB1
- Watercooler: Rest-of-Season Rankings Updates
You can get the full Fantasy Life Newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, seven days per week, by subscribing for free below:
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A True Titan In The Backfield
- By Matt LaMarca
Stat: Tony Pollard had a 94% snap share in Week 12
The Titans were playing without Tyjae Spears in Week 12, who has served as the No. 2 option in the Titans’ backfield all season. He’s played on 38% of the team’s snaps when available, and he’s handled 26% of their carries and 10% of their targets. Those aren’t enough to make him a viable option for fantasy purposes, but it’s enough to be a thorn in Pollard’s side.
Without Spears last week, Pollard emerged as one of the biggest workhorse backs in the NFL. He played on nearly 94% of the team’s snaps, and he racked up 24 rushing attempts and five targets. Pollard responded with his best fantasy performance of the year, finishing with 21.6 PPR points. That was good enough to make him the six-highest scorer at the position.
Spears’ status for Week 13 is currently unknown, but if he misses his second-straight contest, Pollard enters RB1 territory. Our rankers had him as a midrange RB2 in Week 12, and that was clearly a pit too pessimistic.
The matchup for Week 13 is also significantly more favorable. The Texans actually have a pretty good run defense—they’re ninth in EPA per rush defensively—and they’ve allowed the seventh-fewest PPR points per game to the position. The Commanders are merely 28th in rush defense EPA and have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing RBs.
RELATED CONTENT:
- Rankings specific to the Thanksgiving Day slate.
- Looking ahead to the Black Friday game between the Chiefs and Raiders.
The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds:
👀 Could Taysom Hill break fantasy football two games in a row? More risers and fallers in the rankings.
📊 Rest-of-Season rankings update. Waz has you covered.
😍 Love/Hate for Week 13. Matthew has the goods.
🚑️ Bummer news for J.K. Dobbins … but it could have been worse.
💓 Jordan Love has an incredible signature. So good.
✈️ Daniel Jones finds a new home. Dimes back in the playoffs?
🎯 Predicting every winner between Friday and Monday. Let’s do it.
⚔️ We got you covered today … projections for all three games.
