In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Guillotine Leagues:
The 2025 NFL playoffs are more wide open than usual.
Sure, the Lions and Chiefs deserve to be the favorites, but this feels like a year where four to five teams are in legitimate contention to win it all.
That’s what makes drafting playoff contests so fun …especially ones like the CHOPionship, where it’s tempting to fill out a starting lineup with all of the #bestplays.
But this Guillotine LeaguesTM contest requires more creativity than that, which I love.
If you’re not familiar with the format, I highly recommend checking out this full strategy guide from Paul Charchian. It’s a completely different type of contest than the Guilloteenies, which we discussed yesterday.
In the CHOPionship format, you select 14 players and fill out a weekly starting lineup comprised of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, and 2 flex players (RB, WR, or TE).
In the CHOPionship, there is no free agency, so you are stuck with what you select before the playoffs start. There is also a max of three players from any one team. And finally, each week the lowest scoring 25% of teams get chopped.
TLDR: You’ll need both a floor to survive and advance, but also a ceiling for the Super Bowl where you’ll want to be able to start the max of six players.
My favorite way to attack this contest is to build your bracket in reverse and load up on three players from four teams you think will play in the conference championships, and then select two players who can help ensure you advance out of Round 1.
Here’s a fun, contrarian roster I just built:
Ravens: Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Mark Andrews
Lions: Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Sam LaPorta
Bucs: Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, and Jalen McMillan
Chargers: Ladd McConkey, J.K. Dobbins, and Quentin Johnston
This team makes some big stands (no Chiefs nor Bills) and allows me to play a scenario where I’d have 12 players in the Conference Championship if the bracket breaks my way (Ravens vs. Chargers, Lions vs. Bucs).
It also gives me two cracks at the onesie positions from each conference to ensure I have a QB and TE to start in my forecasted Super Bowl.
Barkley and Puka give me two pieces that can help my team advance in a win or a loss.
Now just don’t dupe me, please.
For more picks, check out Freedman’s picks below …
CHECK OUT ALL OUR GUILLOTINE LEAGUES CONTENT
- Freedman’s Favorites for The CHOPionship: Paying the Bills
- CHARCH CHEATSHEET: CHOPionship Strategy
- Guilloteenie Mock Draft: Who would you take No. 1?
- Postseason Rankings to help with your Guilloteenies and CHOPionships.
Freedman’s Favorites: Top Targets For The CHOPionship
by Matthew Freedman
This season, my favorite fantasy experience was at Guillotine Leagues, where the Fantasy Life content creators all participated in an 18-team league. I finished No. 2, behind the sharp Dwain McFarland.
Congrats to Dwain, obviously.
I mean, he was certainly aided by the fact that in Week 17 I was without QB Jalen Hurts and RB Chuba Hubbard. And it definitely didn't help me that RB De'Von Achane was sabotaged by an offense without QB Tua Tagovailoa. But I'm not bitter.
If Dwain is fine with winning a championship by default, good for him. That's his business. He's the one who must look himself in the mirror every day. Ouch. Especially with that head of hair.
And I haven't mentioned yet that I was without my Round 1 pick—RB Christian McCaffrey—for almost the entire season.
Again, heartfelt congratulations to Dwain on his fake win. Very deserved.
Now, onto the postseason.
In the CHOPionship, though, you need to beat 25-500 teams to take down the contest and win the grand prize—and let's be clear: That's the goal. In the words of Reese Bobby: "If you ain't first, you're last." And beating 25-plus other teams might necessitate getting a little dangerous.
So that's what this article—the last Freedman's Favorites of the 2024-25 season—is about: Helping you take down the CHOPionship.
Quarterbacks
Jared Goff (Lions): He's No. 1 in composite EPA + CPOE (0.189, per RBs Don't Matter) and is on the team with the best odds to make the Super Bowl.
Running Backs
James Cook (Bills): He has a paltry 5.4 Utilization Score since the Week 12 bye (per our industry-leading Fantasy Life Utilization Report), but he still finished the year with 1,267 total yards and a studly 18 TDs despite losing goal-line carries to QB Josh Allen.
Wide Receivers
Puka Nacua (Rams): It's conceivable for a healthy Rams team to make it to the NFC Championship—maybe even the Super Bowl—but they almost certainly won't be valued that way in this contest. Nacua should benefit from sitting out last week, and he has 67-838-3 receiving on 89 targets with 8-34-1 rushing in his eight full games since returning from injury.
Tight Ends
Sam LaPorta (Lions): He has 35-360-4 receiving on 51 targets in seven games since returning from injury, and over the past month he has averaged 8 targets per game. I love the idea of LaPorta in Lions stacks with or without QB Jared Goff.
MORE FREEDMAN’S FAVORITES FOR THE CHOPIONSHIP
The Best Sweat in Fantasy Football Just Got Sweatier
Playoff Guillotine League contests are now LIVE.
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds:
👀 Where will Sam Darnold play in 2025? Good question …
🎯 Dive into how to win playoff best ball contests and who to target ahead of the Wild Card Round.
🐬 Tyreek Hill was all talk? An update on him wanting “out” of Miami.
🦁 The Lions are getting help. Great development.
😆 The struggle is real. 10 teams to root for!
🎲 Who will be the Jags next HC? Here are the odds.
⚡️ The Chargers add an RB. He’s ring chasing.
The CHOPionship Cheatsheet
Key rules to know for the CHOPionship
No draft! Just choose your favorite 14 playoff-bound players.
Your roster is: 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, and 2 flex players (RB, WR, TE).
You can select up to three players from each NFL team.
The players you choose will be rostered for the entire playoffs. There's no free agency.
Each week, the lowest scoring 25% of teams get chopped.
There is a bench and you'll need to make start-sit decisions each week.
Get the full CHOPionship ruleset here.
Join a CHOPionship league here!
Basic Strategy
Obviously, but you'll want to choose players from teams that will play the most playoff games. Players who play only one playoff game can't accumulate many points for you—even great players.
Your top priority is to identify Super Bowl-bound teams because those teams will play at least three times. Ideally, you want to find a non-No. 1 seed that will advance to the Super Bowl, because those teams will play four times.
MORE KEY CHOPIONSHIP STRATEGIES
Happy Wednesday before the Guilloteenies and CHOPionships take over our lives! Before we get into today’s question, the answer to yesterday’s question is Calvin Johnson, who in his record-setting, 1,974-yard season in 2012 averaged an incredible 122.8 receiving yards per game!
Now, on to today’s trivia …
Bryce Young closed out the regular season strong, throwing for 3 touchdowns and rushing for 2 more in a 44-38 overtime win vs. the Falcons. He joins a pretty exclusive list of players to achieve both in the same game. Which of the following QBs has NOT pulled it off?
