It’s finally here. This is my favorite time of the year. I look forward to Thanksgiving the way some people look forward to Christmas or the Fourth of July. What more could you ask for? A few days off work, time with my family, AMAZING food and of course, football all day long. Whether you are a fan or not, everyone knows football just goes with Thanksgiving.

I am extremely thankful to be where I am at in life right now. I am always thankful for my family, a roof over my head, healthy kids, food to eat and everything in between. I am also thankful for the opportunity to write for Rotoballer. Even more than that, I am thankful for everyone who follows me and interacts with me on Twitter, that reads my articles and most importantly, likes to hear my advice.

When you come together this week for food, football or fun, keep those close to you in mind. Even if you aren’t spending the holiday together, your friends and family are what make Thanksgiving a great holiday. There are many people, including our service men and woman who don’t get to spend this holiday with those closest to them. So, whether your fantasy team lets you down on Thanksgiving or has a big performance to get Week 12 started off right, just keep it in perspective. Nothing should get you down today, unless you miss out on the last piece of pie. Now that’s a bummer. This week I have four players who are also thankful for something this season. The things they are thankful are a little different than what I mentioned, but they still wanted to take some time and share this Thanksgiving.

#TrendingUp

Samaje Perine (RB, WSH)

This holiday season, Samaje Perine is thankful for his health. For his other Redskins running back teammates, they don’t have the opportunity to be thankful for that. In the last week, Washington has lost two running backs to the IR. Robert Kelley saw his season come to an end at the beginning of last week when he was diagnosed with a sprained MCL. This left the door open for Chris Thompson to take over as the lead back with Perine seeing carries as well. Late in the third quarter against the Saints though, Thompson had a defender roll on the back of his leg breaking his fibula.

Even though Perine hasn’t had the best season so far, this is now his job moving forward. This will be significant playing time for Perine to establish himself as the back of the future in Washington. If he can have a great showing the rest of the year, the Redskins could decide to move on from Kelley who has fought injuries the last two years. It was a great time for Perine to breakout as well, running for 117 yards on 23 carries to go with a touchdown. Perine has an excellent college pedigree. He set the single game rushing record with 427 yards and five touchdowns against Kansas two years ago. He also holds the Oklahoma career rushing record with over 4,100 yards.

Perine won’t be able to fill the void of Thompson as the passing game back, so don’t expect to see him working those situations. For owners that currently have Perine, he has a favorable upcoming schedule to get you into and through the playoffs. The Redskins have three straight games against teams outside the top 20 in rush yards against per game. The Giants (30^th), Cowboys (22^nd) and Chargers (32^nd) all offer Perine the chance to lock down the starting job in 2018. I still don’t believe in Perine enough to buy into him yet, but you couldn’t ask for a better situation then what he currently has.

Corey Coleman (WR, CLE)

This holiday season, Corey Coleman is thankful for being drafted by an organization that is young and loaded with talent. The Browns are a lot better than the 0-10 record they currently hold. They have athletes all over the field, both on defense and offense. They need a better coaching staff though. If the Browns could figure out their QB situation, and soon, this could be a very good offense next season.

Just take a second to think about the weapons on that team. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson in the backfield, David Njoku at tight end and let’s add Corey Coleman, Ricardo Louis and the newly reinstated Josh Gordon at receiver. I am not a Browns fan, not even close, and I am still excited about the potential this offense holds. 2016 wasn’t great for Coleman who only saw 413 yards on 33 catches. He suited up to start the year putting together six catches for 62 yards and a touchdown but suffered a broken hand in practice and wasn’t able to return to game action till this past weekend. This weekend, against one of the league’s best pass defenses, Coleman went for 80 yards on six catches.

Fantasy owners know the talent is there but are weary of a Browns organization that seems to swallow up talent and spit them back out as mediocre shells of their former self. I can’t sit here and toss a bunch of stats out as to why Coleman is #TrendingUp, because there isn’t much to go on. The only thing I can convince you of is the whole Browns offense has a mass amount of untapped potential. I have to be a really good salesman to make that happen though, but I’ll give you my best shot. Over the course of the last four seasons, a team that finished 24^th or lower in team offense the year prior finished in the top 10 the next season.

 
It can be done, and in every case, a good draft or key pieces in the offseason was all that was needed. This section turned into a plea for owners to invest early in the whole Browns offense instead of just Coleman. Just keep in mind how valuable a WR like Coleman could be if teams have to focus on the run, a legit WR1 in Gordon and a constant mismatch in Njoku. He will see targets and they will be quality targets, not just quantity. I will go on the record right now with a bold prediction for 2018. By the end of next season, we will be able to add the Browns and their top 10 offense to the list above.

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Cameron Brate (TE, TB)

This holiday season, Cameron Brate is thankful for free agency. Well, restricted free agency anyway. Let’s take a second for a quick riddle. What happens when you finish seventh in PPR formats in 2016? Done guessing? The answer is: your team drafts a player at the same positon in the first round of the 2017 draft.

When the season began, I told dynasty owners not to panic. Typically, tight ends take a little time to catch on and don’t offer a ton of value right away. Rob Gronkowski finished as TE11 in PPR formats during the 2010 season, the highest finish for a rookie TE ever. Brate was not going to lose many targets to O.J. Howard for at least a season or two. Honestly, I don’t even believe Howard is going to be a true fantasy football threat as a TE. A really good real life TE? Absolutely. Not a must own fantasy asset though. Brate actually got off to a smoking start, averaging four catches for 57 yards and .57 touchdowns per game through the first eight weeks of the season.

Since then, Brate is miserable averaging one catch per game for 10 yards. He hasn’t found the end zone since Week 6 either. Howard’s performance isn’t even the reason Brate has seen a dramatic decrease in numbers. Howard only has three games this year in which he has 50 yards receiving or more. The alarming statistic is within the snap count. Howard is averaging almost six more snaps a game then Brate (43.1 to 37.8.) With Weapons like DeSean Jackson, Mike Evans, Adam Humphries and Chris Godwin, the Bucs won’t be running many two tight end sets. The Bucs also have some young players that will need extensions soon. I doubt they will bring Brate back to Tampa regardless of what another team offers him. His time is running out and I am not one to jump on players who appear headed to free agency with little stock.

DeVante Parker (WR, MIA)

This holiday season, DeVante Parker is thankful for playing football in Miami. If he was playing football anywhere else, he would be much less thankful. Even though the season has been a disappointment for him and his team, you can’t beat warm weather, beaches and the fact that your fans and media are more worried about how bad Jay Cutler has been then you. To be somewhat fair, Parker hasn’t been awful this year, but you could make a case for one of the biggest busts in comparison to ADP (Terrelle Pryor and Jay Ajayi would be ahead of him) with only 404 yards receiving on 34 receptions. Parker also missed three weeks with an ankle injury which hasn’t allowed him the opportunity to really find a groove.

Now, I mentioned Cutler above and how Parker could place some of the blame on him. If he were to do that however, how could we justify a career high in touchdowns for Jarvis Landry when we are only in Week 12; or that Kenny Stills is on his way to setting a career high in receiving yards. Parker is still averaging more targets then Stills and more receptions, but Stills has shown the ability to make more out of his opportunities than Parker. According to Pro Football Focus, Dolphins QBs have a rating of 77.9 when targeting Parker compared to a 117.4 rating when targeting Stills. The biggest issue facing Parker doesn’t really have to do with him, but with fellow WR Landry. It has been well documented that the Dolphins have not had serious negotiations with Landry on an extension. There was even talk at the deadline of moving Landry since the team felt they would not be competing the rest of the year. Did the Dolphins not move Landry because they couldn’t find a suitor? Hard to believe. Maybe it had to do more with the team’s uncertainty around what they have in Parker.

If Parker can’t turn it around the rest of the season, the Dolphins may decide to pay Landry and keep him in Miami. If that happens, I cannot see a team shelling out WR1 money to two different guys within a couple years of each other. To me, that would signal the end of Parker in Miami and the team could look to trade him instead or keep him with the possibility that he never turns into the player they thought he would. Anyway you spin it, nothing about the Dolphins offense excites me outside of Landry in PPR formats. Stills is a decent WR3/Flex option, but I won’t buy into Parker long term. If that means I miss out on the breakout, so be it.

More 2017 Dynasty League Strategy