Did you conquer your opponents in an 18-team Guillotine League and end up the last man standing? Did you fall just short of glory? Or, perhaps, far from glory? Maybe you had FOMO all year because your friends were all playing in Guillotine Leagues and talking about how awesome they were. 

If you’re any of the above, you’re in luck, because we’re bringing you more Guillotine action with the Playoff Chopionship. Below, we’ll outline the general overview of the Playoff Chopionship and offer advice on how to (once again) be the last man standing amongst the carnage. First, let’s set some ground rules.

What is a Playoff Chopionship?

At GuillotineLeagues.com, you can set up a brand new guillotine league that takes place during the NFL playoffs. Your entrants will select a 14-player team (comprised of eight starters and six reserves) from the remaining NFL players in the playoff pool. The goal is to survive each week/round of the playoffs (detailed below) by staying out of the bottom 25% of the lowest-scoring teams. If you advance to the next round of the contest, you can edit your starting lineup using players from your bench, but there is no free agency.

Contest Duration

The Guillotine Playoff Chopionship lasts for 4 weeks/rounds:

  • Round 1 - Wild Card Round
  • Round 2- Divisional Round
  • Round 3 - Conference Championships
  • Round 4 - Super Bowl

At the conclusion of Round 1, the lowest-scoring 25% of teams are chopped, and the remaining teams advance to Round 2. In Round 2, the process repeats, with the lowest-scoring 25% of teams again being eliminated.

This cycle continues in the Conference Championships (Round 3), where the top 25% of the league will advance to the finals in the Super Bowl (Round 4).

Roster Requirements

All rosters will consist of 14 players: eight starters and six reserves.

There is a maximum of three players permitted from each NFL team. Starting lineups must consist of the following:

  • 1 Quarterback
  • 2 Running Backs
  • 2 Wide Receivers
  • 1 Tight End
  • 2 FLEX (RB/WR/TE)

NOTE: Players in your starting lineup can be moved from a mandatory positional spot (RB, WR, or TE) to a FLEX spot (and back) after their game(s) have kicked off, but they cannot be moved to your bench in favor of another player (whose game has not started yet).

How to Win a Chopionship

To win the Playoff Chopionship, you need to have the most possible players playing in any given round, particularly in the Conference Championships and Super Bowl.

The Wild Card and Divisional Rounds are fairly straightforward — draft awesome players on awesome playoff football teams, and profit. There are 12 teams that play on Super Wild Card Weekend and eight in the Divisional Round. The differentiator is going to happen in the Conference Championships, when only four teams remain, and especially the Super Bowl, with only two.

For basketball fans, a helpful way to think about this problem would be to put your March Madness caps on. The best path to winning your March Madness pool is to exploit market inefficiencies: Pick the less popular teams that still have a realistic chance of making it to the championship. Everyone with the ability to use their phone had 1-seed UConn in the championship last season. The market inefficiency was 1-seed Purdue, which lost to a 16-seed as a No. 1 seed the year prior, scaring off the casuals.

Transposing March Madness to the NFL: Who’s going to be UConn? Who’s going to be Purdue? Let’s consult our friends at DraftKings:

NFC Champion Odds

  1. Lions +190
  2. Eagles +290
  3. Vikings +500
  4. Packers +600
  5. Rams +1200

Everyone’s teams are going to be loaded with Eagles and Lions players, and for good reason; they’re our UConns. I personally prefer Eagles players to Lions/Vikings players, as the Eagles are less likely to end up with the first-round bye. The market inefficiency here is pretty easily the Packers. They’re an excellent road team, with their only road loss coming in Detroit, so there’s less concern about them having to survive a road playoff schedule. Packers players offer the secondary benefit of being cheap. Outside of Josh Jacobs, there isn’t another heliocentric (to borrow another basketball term) player. Jordan Love, Romeo Doubs, and even Tucker Kraft are going to be some of my favorite targets.

AFC Champion Odds

  1. Chiefs +170
  2. Bills +225
  3. Ravens +270
  4. Steelers +1500
  5. Chargers/Texans +1700

The AFC is a bit tougher. The Chiefs, Bills, and Ravens are rightly bunched together at the top; they’re our UConns. I’m avoiding the Steelers; their floor is nice, but they do not have a championship ceiling to me. 

The value lies with the Texans and Chargers, particularly the Texans. I know, I know, they’ve been excruciating to watch at times this year. I keep coming back to the 2021 Bengals, though — second-year head coach and talented quarterback coming off a frustrating but ultimately successful regular season. Plus, they’re guaranteed at least one home playoff game by virtue of locking up the dysfunctional AFC South before Christmas. CJ Stroud isn’t worth taking a chance on based on his 2024 body of work, but Joe Mixon and Nico Collins will be peppering my rosters. John Metchie and Robert Woods are worth cheap flyers as well.

How to Advance in the Guillotine Chopionship

That's all well and good, but I’m not even sure I can make it past the first round — what would be your advice to guarantee at least one advance?

Matchups. Matchups. Matchups. Not every playoff team is perfect; in fact, most of them are quite flawed. Some even sport bottom-five units against certain fantasy football positions. Let’s take a look at some of the most favorable playoff matchups for each position.

Quarterback

  • Buccaneers – third-most FPPG allowed
  • Ravens – fifth-most FPPG allowed

You could do worse than CJ Stroud or Justin Hebert against the Ravens.

Running Back

  • Bills – second-most FPPG allowed

Gus Edwards’ running style is perfectly suited for Buffalo winters. Najee Harris too, I guess.

Wide Receiver

  • Vikings – most FPPG allowed
  • Ravens – second-most FPPG allowed
  • Falcons - fourth-most FPPG allowed 
  • Lions – fifth-most FPPG allowed

The Packers’ wide receiver conglomerate is worth taking shots on.

Tight End

  • Chiefs – fourth-most FPPG allowed

Dalton Schultz and Pat Freiermuth are typically underwhelming options that could find themselves in plus matchups.

The last bit of advice I’ll leave you with: In the playoffs, styles make fights. Each of these teams can beat any of these other teams on any given day. In the postseason, teams tend to hyper fixate on what they do well and what their opponents do poorly. Use that to shape your thinking!

Happy new year and happy chopping!