We have one of the best weeks of the year for DFS players and one of the worst weeks for content creators. It doesn’t help that DraftKings waited as long as possible to get these slates available to us! So, with that being said, I will do an abridged version of the Black Friday slate before Ethan and I go back to our normal formatting.
Quarterbacks
If you’re paying up for a quarterback, then you have to strongly consider Jaxson Dart ($9,900) against Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. He’s thrown for 300+ yards in three of his past four games and has shown 50+ fantasy point upside against an Arkansas team that many would say is better than Mississippi State. Ole Miss has a whopping 44-point team total on Friday!
Shedeur Sanders ($9,200) gives you a little bit of cost savings and a higher floor, but his ceiling is significantly lower than Dart. Colorado has a great matchup against Oklahoma State, but the game is not a potential blowout like Ole Miss.
If you’re trying to save some money at the position relative to Dart, though, Jordan McCloud ($8,900) is the guy to go with Friday. He’s thrown for seven touchdowns in the past two games, and Texas State has a 30-point implied team total in a game that could easily end 45-42.
Katin Houser ($6,600) is an intriguing option against Navy this weekend, as he’s gone for 30+ fantasy points in three of his past five games. He’s seen a downtick in performance from a fantasy perspective the past two weeks, but only because of touchdown equity. He’s red hot, and the Navy just struggled against Tulane to the tune of 9.9YPA and 138 yards on just 14 attempts. They’ve shown to falter against the pass this season.
Maealiuaki Smith ($6,000) looked the part against Texas Tech last weekend and now gets a Colorado team that struggled to stop Kansas last weekend. The Cowboys have tons of weapons on offense, which makes things easy for Smith going into his second career start.
Running Backs
Is Ollie Gordon II ($9,000) back? He scored three times last weekend and has found the end zone ten times in his past five games. His 10.4 YPC against the Red Raiders was extremely encouraging for those looking for 2023 Gordon to show up.
Considering the 27-point implied team total for East Carolina, I think rostering Houser or Rahjai Harris ($5,900) at their modest price tags feels like a great move. Harris has five touchdowns in his past two games and has broken 110+ rushing yards in three of his last four games. Where has this Harris been his whole career?
My guess is that Avery Morrow doesn’t play this weekend, so Justin Marshall ($4,000) is very much in play against Utah State. With Morrow out last week, he ran 20 times for 94 yards and a touchdown. Utah State is giving up 5.55 YPC on the season with 26 touchdowns allowed! This is a prime matchup for Marshall.
Bowling Green has been pretty subpar against the run in 2024, so wheels up for Keyon Mozee ($5,500). I don’t love the options at running back Friday, so sign me up for a guy whose matchup has given up five-plus YPC to Penn State, Texas A&M, Old Dominion, Akron, and Kent State this season.
Finally, Kaidon Salter has been unimpressive in 2024, but Quinton Cooley ($6,900) has been great! He’s generated 22+ fantasy points in four straight games and has broken the 1,000 rushing-yard mark yet again. With him seeing 20+ touches, he’s created quite the floor now that Salter isn’t Superman anymore.
Wide Receivers
Nick Nash ($10,100) fell back down to earth last weekend, but I will chalk that up to the rain and bad weather. Against Stanford at home is the perfect recipe for a bounce-back performance. The Cardinal are giving up 8.6 yards per attempt on the season and haven’t given up less than 200 yards through the air once in 2024. This is also a reason to want to target Justin Lockhart ($6,400), who has also been impressive for the Spartans.
Jamaal Pritchett ($7,700) comes at a much lower price tag but is likely to see high ownership against Texas State. Pritchett is averaging nearly 95 yards through the air per game and has eight touchdowns on the season. The volume is great; he averages over ten targets per game this season.
Is there any chance that we see Micah Davis ($3,000), listed as WR, is the running back to own from Ole Miss against the Bulldogs? He had 11 attempts for just 27 yards, but I’ll take a flier on a guy at this price tag with 10+ likely touches.
Javon Tracy ($5,700) often finds the end zone in MAC play, scoring four times in his past five games. He started slowly with those touch non-conference matchups but is coming on strong when we need him. In his past four games, Tracy has caught 21 passes.
I suspect that Joey Hobert sits for the game against South Alabama, giving Kole Wilson ($3,000) stock up as the likely WR1 in this Bobcats offense. He’s seen nearly 20% of targets this season and is second-best on the team. When Hobert was out last week, he saw eight targets, the third most on the team. Jaden Williams ($5,100) and Chris Dawn Jr. ($3,100) each saw nine targets in that matchup. Williams’ price tag makes me lean Dawn and Wilson when choosing between these receivers.
