Guillotine League Week 3 Waiver Wire Options & FAAB Breakdown

Clearly, Week 2 wanted in on the fun, as more impactful narratives affected guillotine leagues. We had no police scuffle side stories, but Christian McCaffrey was placed on IR on Saturday, A.J. Brown was downgraded to out on Sunday right before lineup lock, and Hollywood Brown was announced as not probable for the regular season on Sunday, as well.

Of course, there were a plethora of injuries and poor performances that took place throughout the weekend which likely sunk most of the teams that were chopped in Week 2. This weekly article will go through the top players from the teams that got axed each week in guillotine leagues, focusing on the waiver wire and FAAB strategies.

Before I get into Week 3, here’s some pertinent information on guillotine leagues.

How it works:

• Set up and draft your team just like traditional fantasy football
• Each week the lowest-scoring team gets eliminated
• All of the players from the eliminated team become free agents
• A weekly FAAB bidding war starts among the remaining teams
• Survive the chop and be crowned champion

Because it's a survivor-style format, you can start leagues any week of the season for as long as you want!

Get in now!

Some pretty massive names got chopped in Week 2, but resist the temptation to blow a huge chunk of your bank this early in the season, unless you were on the brink of being chopped with a terrible team. Most guillotine leagues have a $1,000 budget so spend accordingly. Let your league mates back up the truck while you grab some bargain players this week.

Here are the top 10 players chopped across all positions and the percentage of leagues where they were axed.

Quarterbacks

There were six QBs among the top 50 players chopped in Week 2.

While I don’t like spending precious FAAB money on QBs this early in the season, three of the top 5 fantasy QBs are among the 50 most chopped players. People will most certainly overbid for Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson so don’t let that be you. If you really want an upgrade or are trying to replace Tua Tagovailoa, each of them is worth about 10-11% of your FAAB.

Anthony Richardson was chopped in 9.2% of leagues and could be worth a small bid if you want a top 10 QB on the cheap. We’re not sure which version of Richardson will show up since his two contests were vastly different but he’s a 5-6% player.

Standard Waiver QBs

• Gardner Minshew (42.7% available) - less than 1%

Running Backs

Within the Top 50 most chopped players, 14 of them were RBs in Week 2.

Rachaad White suffered a groin injury last week that is reportedly not serious but those can also linger. The Tampa Bay RB is averaging a brutal 2.0 yards per carry so far in 2024 and has the more efficient Bucky Irving waiting to get more work. He is still the starter in an offense that is highly functioning so if you’re into him, White is worth about 3-5%of your FAAB.

Christian McCaffrey got chopped in 14.1% of guillotine leagues this week and without an exact timetable for return, he’s tough to throw down significant FAAB. CMC is out until at least Week 7 but there’s talk of it being longer. Since we don’t want to think too far out in this format, he’s a pass for me but if you want to snag him now and not let someone get him for too cheap, stick a 1% bid in.

Ken Walker is dealing with an oblique injury but should retain the starting role upon return. He had 22 touches in Week 1 which is encouraging for his usage moving forward. If you need the RB help but maybe not this week, throw down a 10% bid.

The Bengals get a juicy matchup this week and Zack Moss seems to have taken control of the backfield for Cincy. He saw 80% of the snaps with 13 touches and should be an RB2/3 at home against Washington. Moss is worth 5% of your FAAB if you’re hurting at RB.

Standard Waiver RBs

• Antonio Gibson (30.3% available) 4%
• Braelon Allen (36.5% available) 4%
• Samaje Perine (42% available) 2%
• Cam Akers (50.2% available) 1%
• Carson Steele (65.3% available) 3%

Wide Receiver

A whopping 26 WRs were among the 50 most chopped players after the Week 2 games finished.

Tyreek Hill leads all chopped WRs thanks to a single-digit performance against the Bills. His QB is on IR until at least Week 8 which doesn’t help his situation, as they may lean more in the run. Hill is still an elite player so is worth a 10-12% bid, but someone in your league may go much bigger.

A.J. Brown would normally garner similar FAAB to Hill, but he could be out until after the Eagles Week 5 bye due to a hamstring issue. We want to stay alive as long as we can and save as much money along the way, so he’s a 4% bid for me.

As the WR3 for Houston, Tank Dell has seen seven fewer targets than Nico Collins and just one fewer than Stefon Diggs and has been on the field for 66% of the snaps. The fantasy points will come and he’s likely a WR you can get for under 3% of your FAAB budget.

Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase was axed in 11.1% of leagues in Week 2 after a meager 7.50-point output. Better days are ahead starting with a blowup spot this week against the Commanders' soft secondary. Chase is worth a 15% FAAB bid, even more, if your league mates are spendier and you’re weak at WR.

It’s been slow going in the first two contests after holding out for Brandon Aiyuk but he’ll serve as the 49ers WR1 with Deebo Samuel sidelined. San Francisco has a soft schedule on the horizon starting with the Rams this week. As the primary passing option for Brock Purdy, Aiyuk is worth a decent FAAB bid of 8-10%.

Standard Waiver WRs

• Darnell Mooney (25.5% available) 2-3%
• Tyler Johnson (36% available) 2%
• Jalen Nailor (43.8% available) 1%
• Jalen Tolbert (49.4% available) less than 1%
• Jauan Jennings (57.4% available) less than 1%
• Jordan Whittington(87.2% available) less than 1%

Tight Ends

There were four TEs among the 50 most chopped players from the second week of the 2024 NFL season.

Travis Kelce was the most chopped player in guillotine leagues across all positions this week after a second stinker on the stat sheet. Andy Reid could be preserving him for later on in the regular season as well as the playoffs, or Kelce could just be declining. He should bounce back though, and TE is such a wasteland that he’s worth a 5% bid.

Sam LaPorta leads all TEs in routes run but has just eight targets through the first two contests, which has been brutal for production. He should get his soon, especially if Amon-Ra St. Brown’s leg issue lingers. LaPorta is worth a 7% bid for TE needy teams which is likely everyone.

Standard Waiver TEs

• Hunter Henry (21.8% available) 3%
• Zach Ertz (25.1% available) 1%
• Greg Dulcich (60.8% available) less than 1%

For even more guillotine information from the man who invented the format Paul Charchian, check out the podcast Chop: The Guillotine League Podcast.