Best Guillotine Fantasy Football League Strategy & Tips
One of the newer ways to play fantasy football, Guillotine fantasy football leagues offer a refreshing, cutthroat challenge for anyone brave enough to participate. You start a Guillotine fantasy football league with up to 18 teams, draft your rosters, and do your best not to come in last each week of the season. If you do end up with the lowest score of the week, you’re out. Today, I’ll dive into strategy and tips that you can use to help dominate your next Guillotine league.
The team eliminated each week drops all their players to the waiver wire where the remaining teams bid to acquire the available talent. In the end, there is only one squad left and they claim ALL the rewards! Sounds simple enough, right? Maybe, but I’m going to give you some tips on how to navigate your draft to help you avoid an early exit. For a more detailed explanation, check out What is a Guillotine League?
Guillotine Fantasy Football League Strategy
The best Guillotine League Fantasy Football Strategy is crucial because it fundamentally alters the traditional approach to fantasy football by introducing an element of survival. In a Guillotine fantasy football league, the lowest-scoring team is eliminated each week, creating a high-stakes environment that requires a unique and adaptable strategy. Unlike standard leagues, where consistency and long-term planning are key, Guillotine fantasy football leagues demand that managers make savvy decisions each week to avoid elimination.
This means prioritizing depth and balance on your Guillotine fantasy football roster, making timely and aggressive moves on the waiver wire, and understanding the nuances of player matchups and bye weeks. Developing a strong strategy can help you navigate the pressure of weekly eliminations, maximize your team’s potential, and increase your chances of being the last manager standing. As such, mastering the Guillotine fantasy football strategy is essential for anyone looking to succeed in this thrilling and competitive format.
Boom/Bust Players are Not Your Friends
In a lot of ways, a Guillotine league is the opposite of Best Ball. For Best Ball, you want a few players who can score a lot of points in any given week. Guys like De’Von Achane and Gabe Davis are known to tally 100 or more yards and multiple touchdowns in a single game but have also given rather disappointing numbers just as often. These are not ideal targets in your Guillotine draft. If you have multiple players underwhelming or laying an egg, it could send you packing early. Leave these guys for your opponents and let them suffer the consequences.
Opportunity is King in Guillotine fantasy football
Ideally, the best players in this league type are the type that will give you solid numbers every week. Workhorse running backs are absolute gold as they’re typically getting north of 20 touches per game. Obviously, with the smaller number of workhorse-backs, these players get drafted early so you’re really going to want to get one or two in those first few rounds. Travis Ettiene was a great early player to add last year as he was getting lots of work and scoring a bunch of touchdowns in the early weeks of 2023.
Outside of running backs, tight ends and wide receivers who are perceived to be the clear alpha in their teams’ passing game make for excellent foundational pieces for early season success. A receiver I am targeting as high as the 1.02 is Amon-Ra St. Brown as he saw nine or more targets in four of his first six games last year, surpassing 100 receiving yards four times. Solid stats that keep you alive.
Avoid Preseason Injuries
This is the most important rule when approaching your Guillotine fantasy football league draft. Last year, if you left your draft with Travis Kelce and/or Joe Burrow – both of whom suffered training camp injuries – things weren’t looking good for you. Kelce missed Week 1 and Burrow was never quite right all season. This also applies to players coming back from serious, season-ending injuries the year before, like Nick Chubb or T.J. Hockenson. If these guys see the field in those first couple of weeks, they’re almost never at 100% and could be used very conservatively.
Rookies Need Time
I won’t tell you to avoid rookies altogether, as you might want one or two further down the road when they’ve acclimated to the pro level. Even the best rookie campaigns like Justin Jefferson (five total catches in first two weeks) and Sam LaPorta (39 yards in Week 1) started out slow before they both exploded into the history books. While the rookies are all fun to draft, keep in mind this is for this year, not a dynasty fantasy football league.
For Guillotine leagues, focus on the veterans who didn’t just join their current teams in the offseason. They know the playbook and the schemes better than the new guys. On top of that, they already have the confidence of the coaches and will get their fair share of opportunities.
Waiting on Quarterback
Guillotine fantasy football leagues are traditionally always 1QB formats. If you’re in a 2QB or Superflex league, skip this part, and good luck with that chaos. More than any other league format, I’ve found that getting solid players at the other skill positions works out very well. Ideally, I’m leaving my draft with a workhorse running back, a solid tight end, and a couple of high-volume receivers.
If you take a quarterback in the first four or five rounds, you could be missing out on the safe and consistent numbers that will keep you battling in those early weeks. You can always claim another stud quarterback when one of your competitors falters. It’s been a widely perceived strategy in normal redraft leagues for a long time and it is all the more important when your season is on the line every week.
Best Guillotine Fantasy Football Strategy: Get Your Guys
Arguably, the most important tip for any kind of Guillotine fantasy football league is to build your roster the way you want it! Want to snag Jalen Hurts in the third round? Go for it. Interested in starting with four wide receivers to hoard volume? Do it. Think Cade Otton is due for a breakout this year? Take him.
Since we’re all here to have fun, you should be happy with the roster you create. It’s your team, and only you can turn it into a championship contender. Take the advice you want, make your choices, and enjoy the game.
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