Week 2 is in the books, meaning a second squad in every guillotine league has been chopped from the competition. 

Let's take another look at early-season guillotine league strategy by taking some questions. 

Each week, I'm opening up the guillotine league mailbag to answer questions from new guillotine players and experts alike. Let's start with some basics ahead of Week 3.

Guillotine League Week 3 Strategy

With all of these early breakouts from rookies and unknowns, can I sneak in some cheaper bids than normal on star players?

Everybody loves the shiny new toy. While others will be having bidding wars over the likes of somehow-available or still-benched Derek Carr, J.K. Dobbins, Alec Pierce, Rashid Shaheed or Brock Bowers, their attention will not be on the old stars that have got off to slow starts. 

One thing they certainly will not be doing is placing multiple bids on the same position. You can probably get Jared Goff, D’Andre Swift, Amari Cooper (84th in points, 14th in targets!) or Sam LaPorta for cheaper than normal. Those are all high-volume guys that have got off to slow starts and will probably be widely available at a discount this early in the season. 

It sounds blasphemous, but should I consider dropping my injured studs? Say even CMC, Kupp, Puka, Tua?

In a standard league, it might make sense to take a couple zeros from these players in hopes of their return to stellar production later in the season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply here. As the weeks go on, everyone’s team will theoretically be getting better as the number of managers gets smaller.

Injuries are a death sentence in a guillotine league. After last week, four of the top 10 and seven of the top 15 most chopped players were injured. 

As painful as it might be to cast one of these studs aside, you can certainly use it to your advantage via Paul Charchian’s patented “Sabotage Drop.” It’s as simple as it sounds: Drop a high-profile player in hopes that another will likely overspend to pick up. 

Hell, the player doesn’t have to be injured (I’m looking at you Travis Kelce). I promise if CMC were to be dropped, some overzealous owner who has cruised through the first couple weeks will throw big bucks at him. Teams are getting better, injuries happen, and bye weeks are coming. Maintaining your FAAB is crucial this early in the season. 

Speaking of injuries, what should my contingency plan be for Cooper Kupp and Isiah Pacheco?

With Patrick Mahomes attempting only the 19th-most passes league-wide so far, the Chiefs’ starting running back will be a valuable position with Isiah Pacheco set to miss some time. Pre-season darling Carson Steele is the only other running back who has logged a carry for the Chiefs so far, but he’s managing only three yards per carry and has lost a fumble. 

Samaje Perine had an excellent run the last time he had starter volume with the Bengals in 2022; he averaged 21 touches, 110 total yards and 1.3 touchdowns over three games. Touches are what you need for a guillotine league, and Perine has proven he can handle volume, so he is the Chiefs back I would trust for now. I wouldn’t spend more than $50 FAAB on him at this point in the season. 

With Puka Nacua and now Cooper Kupp expected to miss extended time, you are probably wondering who else Matthew Stafford even has to throw to. In a guillotine league, targets are the most important factor when evaluating a, say, less-skilled receiver. Even though both Kupp and Nacua left games early, they still combined for over 41% of all targets from Matthew Stafford. That’s a lot of targets up for grabs with Stafford throwing the ball 38 times per game! 

Those targets have to go to somebody. Demarcus Robinson appears to have emerged as Stafford’s new favorite, as he’s averaged a modest six targets per game. I would favor him over Tutu Atwell and Tyler Johnson for now, but next week against the 49ers should be more telling. $30 FAAB should land you Robinson. 

Guillotine League Targets

I know it’s just a two-game sample size, but what trends are you seeing among defenses that I can exploit?

As I’ve hinted at earlier throughout this column, opportunity, touches and a high-floor are the keys to success in a guillotine league. For quarterbacks, it’s simple: high yardage and touchdown output. That might not necessarily mean the most talented quarterback in a given week, but rather which quarterback is going up against the worst defense. 

So far, the average quarterback is scoring 15.7 points per game. The Commanders have allowed opposing quarterbacks to score 29.5 points per game. Playing the Commanders is essentially giving you a bonus superflex spot! Looking down the schedule, target players that might not be as sexy but have a date with the Commanders (except for maybe Daniel Jones). Other teams that have struggled against opposing quarterbacks are the Chiefs, Rams, Cardinals and Panthers.

For running backs, it’s all about touches. In a similar vein to the quarterback discussion, the average defense is allowing 26.3 touches per game to opposing running backs. The Colts are allowing 40.5 touches per game to the position. Other teams that have hemorrhaged touches to opposing backs are the Panthers, Rams, Bengals and Seahawks.

For wide receivers, you want to chase targets. The average defense allows 17.6 targets per game to opposing wide receivers. The Lions are allowing 27.5 targets per game to the position. Other teams giving up a lot of targets to wide receivers are the Saints, Patriots, Buccaneers and Jaguars. 

Finally, for tight ends, the average defense has allowed four targets per game to the position. The Chiefs are allowing 15(!) targets per game to tight ends so far. If you need to stream a weekly tight end, just find out who the Chiefs are playing. Other teams that have struggled against tight ends so far are the Bills, Ravens, Seahawks and Panthers. 

Streaming is the way to go for tight ends in the guillotine league format. The top drafted typical studs such as Sam LaPorta (16th), Travis Kelce (28th) and Dalton Kincaid (21st) are struggling, while (former) nobodies such as Isaiah Likely (1st), Brock Bowers (2nd) and Mike Gesicki (6th) are thriving because they’ve had positive matchups. 

Opportunity, touches, and a high-floor? So the opposite of Rashid Shaheed?

Ah. The boom-or-bust super deep threat model is very difficult to gauge in guillotine leagues. Rashid Shaheed is currently ninth in scoring among wide receivers despite being 53rd in targets. You can probably get away with having one of these archetypes on your team, especially this early in the season, but I would not rely on them later on. 

Xavier Worthy fits this mold as well. Jameson Williams, on the other hand, appears to have graduated from this role, as he has seen 10 targets per game so far. If you are in a league that allows trades, I would try to pawn these guys off for, say, DJ Moore, Deebo Samuel or Amon Ra St. Brown, the three leaders in targets without a score so far this year. 

Guillotine League FAAB Recommendations 

What are your thoughts on the most chopped players from last week?

The top 10 cuts this week were Travis Kelce, Rachaad White, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Christian McCaffrey, Sam LaPorta, Josh Allen, Kenneth Walker, Tank Dell and Joe Mixon. Go read Paul Charchian’s article about spending strategy for these guys. Most are either hurt or had a bad week after a hot start. 

The two who do not fall into those categories are LaPorta and Kelce, the tight ends. Don’t go wasting your money on tight ends — just hunt the matchups. If you are still starstruck, I would go up to $100 FAAB for LaPorta, but I’m starting to lose hope on Kelce. 

If you feel good about your team and have found yourself near the top of points scored, keep saving that FAAB. With 15 teams left, your odds of being chopped due to chance alone is under 7%.