Paul Charchian uncovers the winning Guillotine LeaguesTM strategy for the CHOPionship.

Note: The CHOPionship is one of two playoff games at GuillotineLeagues.com. You can learn more about our other way to play, Playoff Guilloteenies, here. 

The CHOPionship: How it works

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. 

Advanced Strategy—Specific to the CHOPionship format

The Guillotine scoring system skews toward passers—quarterbacks commonly score 50% more than other positions. I wouldn't get cute here. Roster a good one who'll likely survive multiple games. And be sure to pick two, even though you can only start one. You'll need to be able to pivot to someone else.

While we're talking about positional strategies, I recommend rostering two tight ends. If one of them gets knocked out, you want to be able to pivot to someone else.  And, further, it makes sense to choose two tight ends from the same conference, which increases the likelihood that one of them remains standing all the way to the Super Bowl.

Unique to this game, the bottom 25% of teams will be eliminated each week. That has two major ramifications on your roster construction: 

  1. You can't stack your roster with No. 1-seed teams. Those teams aren't playing this week, and you'll imperil your chances of surviving the first round of the playoffs.
  2. Min-maxxing your roster is particularly dangerous in this format because the bottom 25% of teams get chopped each week. Your roster consists of 14 players. If 12 of your 14 players are from the same four teams, and two of those teams lose in the same week, you're cooked. 

The number of people in your league directly affects your risk profile. If you're in a smaller CHOPionship league, with 25 or 50 teams, you'll want to skew toward safety. That means scattering your roster across more teams and choosing more tried-and-true players.

If you're in a bigger league, with 100+ teams, you'll need to differentiate your team two ways: 

  • First, consolidate your roster to players on fewer teams, and then hope those teams survive a long time. Based on my outlook for the playoffs, I'd focus on Bills, Eagles, Ravens, and Lions. I also see multiple games coming for the Chiefs, Chargers, Rams, and Bucs. 
  • Second, you'll want to roster some unique players who are less likely to be rostered by others. Scroll down for recommended differentiators from each team.

In very large CHOPionship leagues, with 500 teams, you could even roster backups, banking on injury befalling the starter. As one example, Kenneth Gainwell could be a league winner if injury strikes Saquon Barkley. Russell Wilson is so wobbly, Justin Fields could end up replacing Wilson.

Lastly, don't roster (m)any player who will face each other in the first round of the playoffs. There's no point in getting a chunk of your roster wiped out in the first round.  So, don't roster both Vikings and Rams, for example. Pick a side. Or if you're not sure who will win, avoid the game altogether.

Three recommendations per team, plus a dart-throw differentiator

You can roster a maximum of three players per team, so I'm going to list the order in which I'd choose three players from each team, plus a dart-throw differentiator who can make your roster stand out from the pack.

Remember, everyone can pick the same players, so a key part of your strategy is building a roster with some differentiators.  

NFC Seed 1: Detroit

1. RB Jahmyr Gibbs
2. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
3. RB David Montgomery
Differentiator: WR Jameson Williams

NFC Seed 2: Philadelphia

1. RB Saquon Barkley
2. QB Jalen Hurts
3. WR A.J. Brown
Differentiator: TE Dallas Goedert

NFC Seed 3: Tampa Bay

1. RB Bucky Irving 
2. QB Baker Mayfield
3. WR Mike Evans
Differentiator: WR Jalen McMillan

NFC Seed 4: Los Angeles Rams

1. RB Kyren Williams
2. WR Puka Nacua
3. QB Matthew Stafford
Differentiator: WR Cooper Kupp

NFC Seed 5: Minnesota

1. WR Justin Jefferson
2. WR Jordan Addison 
3. RB Aaron Jones
Differentiator: QB Sam Darnold

NFC Seed 6: Washington 

1. QB Jayden Daniels
2. WR Terry McLaurin
3. RB Brian Robinson
Differentiator: RB Austin Ekeler

NFC Seed 7: Green Bay 

1. RB Josh Jacobs
2. QB Jordan Love
3. TE Tucker Kraft
Differentiator: WR Dontayvion Wicks

=================

AFC Seed 1: Kansas City

1. TE Travis Kelce
2. QB Patrick Mahomes
3. WR Xavier Worthy 
Differentiator: RB Isiah Pacheco 

AFC Seed 2: Buffalo

1. QB Josh Allen
2. RB James Cook
3. WR Khalil Shakir
Differentiator: WR Keon Coleman

AFC Seed 3: Baltimore

1. QB Lamar Jackson
2. RB Derrick Henry
3. TE Mark Andrews
Differentiator: WR Rashod Bateman

AFC Seed 4: Houston

1. WR Nico Collins
2. RB Joe Mixon
3. QB CJ Stroud
Differentiator: TE Dalton Schultz

AFC Seed 5: Los Angeles Chargers

1. WR Ladd McConkey
2. RB J.K. Dobbins
3. WR Quentin Johnston
Differentiator: QB Justin Herbert

AFC Seed 6: Pittsburgh Steelers

1. RB Najee Harris 
2. WR George Pickens
3. TE Pat Freiermuth
Differentiator: QB Justin Fields

AFC Seed 7: Denver

1. WR Courtland Sutton
2. QB Bo Nix
3. WR Marvin Mims
Differentiator: WR Devaughn Vele

 

Here's a sample "chalk" roster with superstars at every position, from teams that are likely to go far in the playoffs. Also, this lineup features players from eight different teams, so it's lower risk. Remember you only get one quarterback. 

QB–Josh Allen 

RB – Saquon Barkley, James Cook, Jahmyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry, Kyren Williams, Bucky Irving

WR – AJ Brown, Amon Ra St. Brown, Khalil Shakir, DeVonta Smith, Ladd McConkey

TE – Mark Andrews, Travis Kelce

Note that I've limited this roster to three players with bye weeks in Week 1, and none of them are required starters.  This roster has no players who will face one another in the first round.

 

Here's a min-max roster, entirely built from players from 5 teams (LAC, LAR, BAL, BUF, and PHI), and 12 of the 14 players are from three teams. 

QB—Lamar Jackson 

RB—Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Jahmyr Gibbs, Bucky Irving, J.K. Dobbins,

WR—Zay Flowers, A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan, Ladd McConkey

TE—Dallas Goedert, Sam LaPorta

Also note this roster has no players who see each other in the first round.