Guillotine League Strategy, Tips and Rankings for 2024

Guillotine League Strategy, Tips and Rankings for 2024

This article is part of our Fantasy Football Draft Strategy series.

Last year I wrote an article for RotoWire featuring seven tips to give you a winning edge in guillotine leagues. Apparently my league mates didn't read the article because I rode that strategy all the way to winning the championship with just a couple of scares along the way! 

This article is intended to help you build your draft board with the unique rules of a guillotine league in mind. When you're drafting in a 17- or 18-team league, your roster is going to be stretched thin, and every team is going to have weaknesses. There are a few guidelines you can follow to give yourself the best chance to last until the end.

What is a Guillotine League?

In a guillotine league, you don't face just one opponent each week. Instead, you compete against every team in your league. The objective is simple: don't be the worst team in any given week. The team with the lowest score each week is eliminated, and their players are put on waivers, giving the remaining teams a chance to claim them. This process continues each week until one champion remains.

Typically, you will start with 17 or 18 teams, with no divisions or set schedule, but you could start the league or end the league at any point, so the number of teams is up to you. There are fantasy sites that specifically offer guillotine leagues, but you really can play on any platform. (We run my guillotine league on ESPN, and the commissioner just has to manually drop the players from the eliminated team each week. We also have several bench spots available, while some other leagues don't.) Some variations include starting a team defense and kicker, while others may exclude these positions. Always check your league's specific rules and settings to ensure you're fully prepared.

Guillotine League Strategy & Advice

1.  Draft a balanced roster.

Although strategies like "Zero RB" can be effective in traditional redraft leagues, a more balanced approach is advisable in a guillotine league. Focus on assembling the strongest starting lineup you can in the early rounds. You can focus on building depth as the season progresses.

2.  Make "safe" draft picks.

You don't need the highest-scoring team; you just need to avoid being the lowest scorer. Instead of going for big risks, focus on players who get consistent touches. Aim for stability in your lineup by selecting players with reliable, high floors.

3.  Avoid pairing and stacking players who have early bye weeks.

An A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts and Dallas Goedert stack may seem like a great idea, but it will backfire when you've got them all on bye in Week 5. Unless you are going to be very aggressive with waiver bids in the first month of the season, you probably will not be able to build enough depth to make up for multiple star players sitting in Weeks 5 or 6. Nearly every Chargers, Eagles, Titans, Lions, Vikings, Chiefs, Rams and Dolphins player takes a slight dip in my rankings because of an early bye.

4.  Pick players with favorable schedules and avoid players with tough schedules early in the season.

I refer to RotoWire's Strength of Schedule tool to find advantages. It helps me find the best matchups using rankings that are adjusted for quality of opponent, and I can custom sort by any time period. For this exercise, I looked at the first four weeks.

5.  Monitor injury reports and suspensions.

This may seem obvious, but it's especially crucial in a guillotine league. With player depth being a concern during the early weeks of the season, a single poor performance could end your season.

6.  Try to grab a top-5 TE.

Gain an advantage by focusing on a scarce position. With the emergence of Dalton Kincaid, Trey McBride and Sam LaPorta, I don't feel as strongly about this strategy as I did in previous years because I believe there are more 900-yard potential tight ends than ever before. However, in a league like this, the gap between the No. 5 tight end and the No. 18 is still massive. 

As teams are eliminated, you'll have ample chances to pick up their top QBs, RBs and WRs from waivers.

7. Push QBs down the draft board.

I absolutely want to have either Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson on my roster by midseason, but I won't be drafting any of them. I would rather draft positional players who I can count on to get targets or carries early in the draft. I feel confident that there are about 20 different quarterbacks who will produce enough the first few weeks to keep me alive, which means I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the last person to pick a QB in my guillotine league this season. 

8.  Act swiftly on the waiver wire when a team is eliminated and a top player at a position becomes available. But don't go "all-in" until late in the season.

Mahomes, Allen, Hurts, Jackson, Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, Bijan Robinson, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Tyreek Hill, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Travis Kelce and Sam LaPorta are players that I want to get on my roster as soon as possible. However, I expect to compete deep into the season and need to make sure that I maintain a budget that will allow me to keep getting better every week. I avoid spending more than 25% of my budget on any one player during the first half of the season, unless I have an injury to one of my top players and am desperate to replace him.

Guillotine League Rankings

RankPlayerPosTeam
1Christian McCaffreyRBSF
2CeeDee LambWRDAL
3Breece HallRBNYJ
4Bijan RobinsonRBATL
5Tyreek HillWRMIA
6Justin JeffersonWRMIN
7Ja'Marr ChaseWRCIN
8Jonathan TaylorRBIND
9Amon-Ra St. BrownWRDET
10A.J. BrownWRPHI
11Garrett WilsonWRNYJ
12Saquon BarkleyRBPHI
13Mike EvansWRTB
14Puka NacuaWRLAR
15Nico CollinsWRHOU
16Chris OlaveWRNO
17Drake LondonWRATL
18Travis KelceTEKC
19Travis EtienneRBJAC
20Davante AdamsWRLV
21DJ MooreWRCHI
22Jahmyr GibbsRBDET
23Derrick HenryRBBAL
24Kyren WilliamsRBLAR
25Cooper KuppWRLAR
26Jaylen WaddleWRMIA
27Marvin HarrisonWRARI
28Isiah PachecoRBKC
29Sam LaPortaTEDET
30Brandon AiyukWRSF
31Deebo SamuelWRSF
32De'Von AchaneRBMIA
33DK MetcalfWRSEA
34DeVonta SmithWRPHI
35Michael PittmanWRIND
36Stefon DiggsWRHOU
37Josh JacobsRBGB
38Amari CooperWRCLE
39Josh AllenQBBUF
40Mark AndrewsTEBAL
41Trey McBrideTEARI
42Tee HigginsWRCIN
43Chris GodwinWRTB
44Joe MixonRBHOU
45Christian KirkWRJAC
46George PickensWRPIT
47Zay FlowersWRBAL
48Dalton KincaidTEBUF
49Calvin RidleyWRTEN
50Malik NabersWRNYG
51Tank DellWRHOU
52Kyle PittsTEATL
53Rachaad WhiteRBTB
54Aaron JonesRBMIN
55James CookRBBUF
56Najee HarrisRBPIT
57Patrick MahomesQBKC
58Jalen HurtsQBPHI
59Lamar JacksonQBBAL
60Alvin KamaraRBNO
61Terry McLaurinWRWAS
62Keenan AllenWRCHI
63Kenneth WalkerRBSEA
64James ConnerRBARI
65David MontgomeryRBDET
66George KittleTESF
67Evan EngramTEJAC
68Rhamondre StevensonRBNE
69Anthony RichardsonQBIND
70C.J. StroudQBHOU
71Kyler MurrayQBARI
72Jayden ReedWRGB
73Diontae JohnsonWRCAR
74Courtland SuttonWRDEN
75Zamir WhiteRBLV
76Javonte WilliamsRBDEN
77Jake FergusonTEDAL
78D'Andre SwiftRBCHI
79Rome OdunzeWRCHI
80Raheem MostertRBMIA
81Chase BrownRBCIN
82Rashee RiceWRKC
83Jaxon Smith-NjigbaWRSEA
84Christian WatsonWRGB
85Marquise BrownWRKC
86Joe BurrowQBCIN
87Dak PrescottQBDAL
88Devin SingletaryRBNYG
89David NjokuTECLE
90Jakobi MeyersWRLV
91Tony PollardRBTEN
92Jaylen WarrenRBPIT
93Jordan AddisonWRMIN
94Zack MossRBCIN
95Ladd McConkeyWRLAC
96Austin EkelerRBWAS
97Jerome FordRBCLE
98Khalil ShakirWRBUF
99Joshua PalmerWRLAC
100Jordan LoveQBGB
101Jared GoffQBDET
102Brock PurdyQBSF
103Brock BowersTELV
104DeAndre HopkinsWRTEN
105Jameson WilliamsWRDET
106Rashid ShaheedWRNO
107Gus EdwardsRBLAC
108Keon ColemanWRBUF
109Tyjae SpearsRBTEN
110Xavier WorthyWRKC
111Brian RobinsonRBWAS
112Brian ThomasWRJAC
113Zach CharbonnetRBSEA
114Chuba HubbardRBCAR
115Tyler LockettWRSEA
116DeMario DouglasWRNE
117Nick ChubbRBCLE
118Mike WilliamsWRNYJ
119Dallas GoedertTEPHI
120Jerry JeudyWRCLE
121Ezekiel ElliottRBDAL
122Jayden DanielsQBWAS
123Tua TagovailoaQBMIA
124Romeo DoubsWRGB
125Michael WilsonWRARI
126Jonathon BrooksRBCAR
127Caleb WilliamsQBCHI
128Curtis SamuelWRBUF
129Blake CorumRBLAR
130Pat FreiermuthTEPIT
131Dalton SchultzTEHOU
132Darnell MooneyWRATL
133Trey BensonRBARI
134Dontayvion WicksWRGB
135Josh DownsWRIND
136Brandin CooksWRDAL
137Ray DavisRBBUF
138Wan'Dale RobinsonWRNYG
139Tyler ConklinTENYJ
140Tyler AllgeierRBATL
141Trevor LawrenceQBJAC
142Kirk CousinsQBATL
143Demarcus RobinsonWRLAR
144Gabe DavisWRJAC
145Adonai MitchellWRIND
146Cole KmetTECHI
147Adam ThielenWRCAR
148Rico DowdleRBDAL
149Cade OttonTETB
150Baker MayfieldQBTB
151Roschon JohnsonRBCHI
152J.K. DobbinsRBLAC
153Matthew StaffordQBLAR
154Jaleel McLaughlinRBDEN
155Marvin MimsWRDEN

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve
Steve has served several roles with RotoWire, starting as an intern working on breaking news and analysis, moving to NBA beat writer and (years later) taking over as "marketing guy" and multi-sport contributor. He's also the undisputed best bowler at RotoWire, with multiple 800 series and 300 games. He will be thrilled when fantasy bowling becomes a thing someday.
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