With three games on the slate, Christmas Day is beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving! I love the fact that the NFL is gifting football fans with three games on December 25th! Admittedly, I, like many of us, overspent this Christmas season, and the opportunity to set some NFL DFS lineups and win some cash at this time of year truly makes this a potential season of joy! 

Unfortunately, almost all of the starting NFL DFS RBs on the Christmas Day slate come with their own set of risks vs. rewards. Between health issues and tough matchups, finding more than one NFL DFS RB to confidently use in your Christmas Day DFS lineup is a real challenge. A couple of the NFL DFS RBs playing on Christmas Day should send letters to Santa Claus asking him for relief from their nagging injuries. Maybe old Santa could put his finger to his nose and use some of that North Pole magic to make their discomfort disappear. 

As we know, opportunity doesn’t always lead to viable fantasy football production, but as this article is being written, there are six NFL DFS RBs who will likely play their usual range of snaps on Christmas Day. Several of those RBs have a high ceiling and can be used to help you build a competitive Christmas Day NFL DFS lineup. Merry and happy everything, and I hope your Christmas Day is a profitable one! 

 

 

 

NFL DFS RB Top Pick For Christmas Day

Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $8,300 | FanDuel: $9,400 

I can come up with reasons to both use and avoid using Gibbs in DFS on Christmas Day, but overall, and not surprisingly, he’s probably your best NFL DFS RB option. The Lions have scored the second-most points in the NFL, but they’ve been relying on their passing game a lot more recently. They’ve run the ball at the lowest rate (28.72%) of any NFL team over the last three weeks.  Gibbs’ average carries per game has decreased from just under 15 in his first 12 games of the season to just under 11 in his last three games.  Gibbs is still averaging the second most PPR fantasy points per game (22.7) among all NFL DFS RBs, and in his last seven games, he’s averaging just over 29 DK fantasy points and just over 24 FD fantasy points. He takes on the Vikings on Christmas Day, and they held Gibbs to just 25 rushing yards in Week 8. However, in his five career games against the Vikings, Gibbs has scored eight total touchdowns, and he’s averaged 5.20 YPC. With the Lions needing this game to keep their playoff hopes alive, they’re going to pull out all the stops, and that includes unleashing all that Gibbs has to offer against the already eliminated Vikings on Christmas Day.

 

 

 

High Risk/High Reward NFL DFS RB Options For Christmas Day

Javonte Williams, RB, Dallas Cowboys - DraftKings: $6,300 | FanDuel: $7,500 

I love Williams’ Christmas Day matchup against the Washington Commanders. The Commanders have given up the third most total rushing yards to NFL DFS RBs this season and 5.42 YPC to the position over the past three weeks. Keep an eye on the Cowboys’ injury report as kickoff approaches. Williams has been dealing with a neck injury that has kept him limited at practice this week. He was dealing with the same injury last week and played 56.9% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps in Week 16, which is way below his 71.6% season average. With the short turnaround from Week 16, Williams may continue to play a limited number of snaps for at least one more game. He’s one of those NFL DFS RBs who have high risk, but a high ceiling that I talked about earlier in this article. Your risk tolerance will ultimately be the determining factor on whether you use him in DFS or not.

Aaron Jones, RB, Minnesota Vikings - DraftKings: $5,700 | FanDuel: $6,700 

Jones Sr. has been limited in practice this week due to an ankle injury, so watch his progress as kickoff approaches. If he’s active on Christmas Day, he should be very busy with Jordan Mason (ankle) seemingly unlikely to play.  At first glance, Jones Sr. seems to have a tough matchup against the Detroit Lions, but over their last five games, the Lions are giving up 5.0 YPC and seven total TDs to NFL DFS RBs. In his Week 8 matchup against the Lions, Jones Sr. had only nine carries, but he made the most of them as he picked up an average of 8.7 YPC every time he touched the ball. 

Chris Rodriguez, RB, Washington Commanders - DraftKings: $5,500 | FanDuel: $6,100 

Rodriguez Jr. was back in action in Week 16 after having missed Week 15 due to a groin injury. He scored a TD against the Philadelphia Eagles and played a season-high 51.9% of the Commanders’ offensive snaps. Before suffering his most recent injury, Rodriguez Jr. had leapfrogged over Jacory Croskey-Merritt and taken over as the Commanders’ lead NFL DFS RB. He’ll likely lead the Commanders' backfield in snaps played on Christmas Day against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys’ run defense has improved lately, but they have given up 4.55 YPC and the seventh most overall PPR fantasy points to NFL DFS RBs this season.

 

 

 

NFL DFS RBs Who Might Find Themselves On the Naughty List Christmas Day 

RJ Harvey, RB, Denver Broncos - DraftKings: $6,500 | FanDuel: $7,300

Harvey has what appears to be a challenging matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. The Chiefs have been tough against the run all season long, having given up the fifth fewest PPR fantasy points to NFL DFS RBs thus far. In Harvey’s first meeting of the season against the Chiefs in Week 11, he managed to score just eight PPR fantasy points. You do have to wonder how motivated the Chiefs will be on Christmas Day. After all, they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and their star QB is out for the rest of the season. If you’re looking for reasons to start Harvey on Christmas Day, you can point to the fact that the Chiefs gave up 4.52 YPC to Tennessee Titans NFL DFS RBs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears in Week 16 and that Harvey has scored five rushing TDs in his last four games. 

Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs - DraftKings: $5,100 | FanDuel: $6,000 

With Chiefs QB Chris Oladokun checking down to him in Week 16, Pacheco scored the most PPR fantasy points of the season. If you believe that will happen again, you should know that the Broncos have given up the fewest catches (42) to NFL DFS RBs this season. If you’re hoping that Pacheco could get it done on the ground, think again, because the Broncos have given up the second-fewest overall rushing yards to NFL DFS RBs this season. I would avoid adding Pacheco to your NFL DFS Christmas Day lineups if possible.