DFS guide: Week 12 in DraftKings tournaments

Week 12 may be my favorite week for DFS tournaments. Not only does it provide its own mini three-game slate for Thanksgiving, but this weekend’s slate of games sets up phenomenally as far as player pricing and the games themselves. After several weeks of tight pricing by DraftKings, the algorithms seem to have dialed it back a bit and has thus allowed us more elbow room to create lineups that we can actually feel good about entering. I’m pumped for this weekend’s slate and I hope you are too.

(For the DraftKings cash game guide, click here)

Quarterback

We can go any number of directions at the quarterback pricing with several studs set up for big days and quite a few punt options that offer significant salary relief. I mentioned Russell Wilson in my cash game guide as a strong play this week and I’m going to have plenty of exposure in both cash and tournaments.

Another quarterback that has the potential of far exceeding his salary-based expectation is Marcus Mariota ($6,300). The Titans look like a team I want to target here this week in a number of ways, with them having a very real chance of blowing out the Colts. Indianapolis has allowed the second-most passing yards and their pass rush ranks second-worst in converting pressures into sacks. That combination should leave Mariota with plenty of time to progress through his reads and throw deep while still providing an outlet to take off on the ground against their lackadaisical pass rush. If you haven’t noticed, Mariota’s rushing upside is back. We saw him run a touchdown in on the ground last week and rush for 50-plus yards the week before. Quarterbacks that can accrue fantasy points in a diverse number of ways present an incredible ceiling for tournaments.

While his rushing upside may be limited, there’s no denying that Tom Brady ($7,700) has one of the highest ceilings week-in and week-out. Brady has now thrown for multiple touchdowns in four of his last five games. He’s hit the 300-yard mark in 6-of-10. He draws a fantastic matchup against his divisional rival, the Miami Dolphins. Miami is the fourth-best matchup for QBs per PFF’s Positional Matchup Chart, with the Dolphins struggling lately after giving up 19.9 fantasy points to Ryan Fitzpatrick last week and 35.7 to Cam Newton the week before. Miami’s corners and linebackers have proven to be exploitable in pass coverage and I’m expecting Brady to tear them to shreds with New England currently implied for a slate-leading 32.25 points.