NFL Thanksgiving: Expert Player Rankings
Thanksgiving and football have been synonymous as long has football has been around. The Lions have played on every Thanksgiving since 1933 and the Cowboys have played on all but two Thanksgivings since 1966. In recent years, the NFL has even added a third game; pitting two fierce divisional rivals against each other.
The three game slate also means there’s enough action for daily fantasy tournaments to be run across the industry. I can’t think of anything better than combining a big Thanksgiving dinner with a nice GPP sweat.
This week, as a special thanks to our incredible members, we rounded up 9 of the best and brightest in daily fantasy and they gave us their positional rankings for the three game schedule. Here’s the lineup of experts:
Thanksgivings NFL Player Rankings Experts
- STLCardinals84 – Ranked #17 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- HeadChopper – Ranked #18 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- DB730 – Ranked #78 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- TommyG1979 – GrindersLive NFL Host. Well-known socialite.
- AlSmizzle – Ranked #28 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- Notorious – Ranked #8 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- Ehafner – Ranked #5 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- RotoGrindersCal – Ranked #29 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
- Beermakersfan – 2011 FFFC Champion, 2010 FFFC Finalist, Ranked #127 on the 2013 NFL Leaderboard.
All of these guys either provide Expert Picks for NFL and/or do GrindersLive shows each and every week. It’s truly an impressive cast of characters, so without further ado, here are their Thanksgiving Day Rankings by position.
Half point PPR was assumed in the rankings.
Top player at each position on the depth chart included, as well as top-2 wide receivers on the depth chart for each team
Quarterback Rankings
| Quarterback | STL | Chop | DB | Tommy | Smizz | Noto | Ehaf | Cal | Beer | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Stafford | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.33 |
| Tony Romo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.78 |
| B. Roethlisberger | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3.78 |
| Joe Flacco | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.78 |
| Matt Flynn | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4.89 |
| Matt McGloin | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5.44 |
Aggregate QB Rankings
| Aggregate Quarterback Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Stafford | Romo | Big Ben | Flacco | Flynn | McGloin |
Running Back Rankings
| Running Backs | STL | Chop | DB | Tommy | Smizz | Noto | Ehaf | Cal | Beer | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reggie Bush | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.56 |
| Eddie Lacy | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2.22 |
| DeMarco Murray | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2.78 |
| Rashad Jennings | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3.56 |
| Le’Veon Bell | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5.11 |
| Ray Rice | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5.78 |
Aggregate Running Back Rankings
| Aggregate Running Back Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Bush | Lacy | Murray | Jennings | Bell | Rice |
Wide Receiver Rankings
| Wide Receivers | STL | Chop | DB | Tommy | Smizz | Noto | Ehaf | Cal | Beer | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calvin Johnson | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.22 |
| Dez Bryant | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2.11 |
| Antonio Brown | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3.22 |
| Jordy Nelson | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3.78 |
| Torrey Smith | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4.78 |
| Nate Burleson | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6.56 |
| Jarrett Boykin | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.11 |
| Rod Streater | 11 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8.44 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 8 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9.33 |
| Denarius Moore | 10 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9.56 |
| Terrance Williams | 7 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10.11 |
| Jacoby Jones | 12 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 10.78 |
Aggregate Wide Receiver Rankings
Top 6 WR’s only shown in graphic below
| Aggregate Wide Receiver Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Johnson | Bryant | Brown | Nelson | Smith | Burleson |
Tight End Rankings
Players were ranked before Rivera was listed as probable. Rivera’s value is slightly higher than the rankings below would indicate
| Tight Ends | STL | Chop | DB | Tommy | Smizz | Noto | Ehaf | Cal | Beer | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Witten | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.00 |
| Heath Miller | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2.44 |
| Brandon Pettigrew | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2.56 |
| Andrew Quarless | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4.44 |
| Ed Dickson | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5.11 |
| Mychal Rivera | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5.44 |
Aggregate Tight End Rankings
| Aggregate Tight End Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Witten | Miller | Pettigrew | Quarless | Dickson | Rivera |
Defense Rankings
| Defenses | STL | Chop | DB | Tommy | Smizz | Noto | Ehaf | Cal | Beer | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1.89 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2.33 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2.56 |
| Detroit Lions | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.44 |
| Green Bay Packers | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5.00 |
| Oakland Raiders | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5.78 |
Aggregate Defense Rankings
| Aggregate Defense Rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Dallas | Baltimore | Pittsburgh | Detroit | Green Bay | Oakland |
Off the Board Picks
We also gave the option of adding one player, if not listed in the rankings above, for Thursday’s games as a potential sleeper.
- James Jones – Jones could have easily been listed as the WR2 for Green Bay, and Chop, TommyG, Ehafner, Cal and Beermakersfan all listed him as their off the board pick.
- Jerricho Cotchery – DB730 thinks Jerricho could find pay dirt as a deep sleeper on Turkey day.
- James Starks – Notorious likes James Starks to be an under-the-radar option at running back.
- Barry Sanders – AlSmizzle quote “Dude always killed it on Thanksgiving.”
We hope you enjoy the rankings for Thanksgiving day, and be sure to check out Notorious’ special edition Thanksgiving Daily Plays column as well as the Thanksgiving NFL Grind Down Article! Have a great holiday.