The best way to play fantasy football during the NFL playoffs

10.01.2025 18:34

Everything you need to know about the “Guilloteenie” format – the hottest fantasy tournament

Back in July, when fantasy football legend Matthew Berry announced he had purchased Guillotine Leagues, we prepared ourselves for some fun. The game itself? Awesome. But it’s a postseason version of the game that’s created The Hottest Ticket in Fantasy Sports.

Postseason games tend to be a little blah – giant contests that require a player to balance belief in teams going far with the players who will get them there. If a few of your players are on teams that bounce early, you essentially have to pick up your toys and go home.

The Guilloteenie solves for that. It’s a five-team mini-tourney where the lowest-scoring team is “chopped” every week, with the free agents going back into the player pool and waivers running each week up to the Super Bowl for the remaining teams.

This is the disruptor you didn’t realize postseason fantasy needed.

You can jump in a Guilloteenie here — create your own with four friends, play in contests with strangers… what you do in your free time is up to you! But we’ve gathered some rankings, tips, and tricks to help you as you enter the mini-fray!

(…and hey look, if you still love the giant fields, there are giant “CHOPionships” you can enter, with the lowest-scoring 25% of the teams each week getting cut)

THE RULES

There’s a full guide here to the Guillotine League Guilloteenie rules, but in its simplest form, the Guilloteenie is this:

Draft a team of 8 starters
Drink, eat, and watch games over the weekend
Survive elimination
Pick up new players mid-week through FAAB bidding
Repeat Steps 2-4 until you emerge victorious

RANKINGS

We ranked every postseason player on FantasyLife.com for free, but here’s a glimpse at the Top 20:

	All Positions Overall	Team			Estimated
	Player Name	(Seed)	Position	Grade	Games	GXG=
1	Josh Allen	Buf (2)	QB	5	4	20
2	Jalen Hurts	Phi (2)	QB	5	4	20
3	Saquon Barkley	Phi (2)	RB	5	4	20
4	James Cook	Buf (2)	RB	4	4	16
5	A.J. Brown	Phi (2)	WR	4	4	16
6	Khalil Shakir	Buf (2)	WR	3	4	12
7	DeVonta Smith	Phi (2)	WR	3	4	12
8	Lamar Jackson	Bal (3)	QB	5	2	10
9	Jahmyr Gibbs	Det (1)	RB	5	2	10
10	Derrick Henry	Bal (3)	RB	5	2	10
11	Amon-Ra St. Brown	Det (1)	WR	5	2	10
12	Puka Nacua	LAR (4)	WR	5	2	10
13	Kyren Williams	LAR (4)	RB	5	2	10
14	Mark Andrews	Bal (3)	TE	5	2	10
15	Baker Mayfield	TB (3)	QB	4	2	8
16	Bucky Irving	TB (3)	RB	4	2	8
17	Mike Evans	TB (3)	WR	4	2	8
18	Jared Goff	Det (1)	QB	4	2	8
19	Zay Flowers	Bal (3)	WR	4	2	8
20	Ladd McConkey	LAC (5)	WR	4	2	8

ADVANCED STRATEGY

Fantasy HOFer Paul Charchian wrote a deep strategy guide for Guilloteenies that you can find in the playoff Guillotine League Cheatsheet. We’ve shared some of his tips below:

Since you can improve your roster after each round, you can spread out your players across more NFL teams. In this format, it’s a far more viable strategy to pick players from teams that might lose. Maybe you love Puka Nacua, but you’re worried the Rams will lose to Minnesota. You can still draft Nacua, grab his points in the Wild Card Round, and if the Rams lose, replace Nacua on the waiver wire next week.

Because you can grab any Lions and Chiefs who get chopped in the Wild Card round, orient your draft to emphasize the teams playing in the Wild Card Round.

I recommend massively deprioritizing the two No. 1-seeded teams, the Chiefs and Lions. Even Jahmyr Gibbs. Remember, there’s no bench and you’ll get zero points from Chiefs and Lions in the Wild Card Round. And that could get you chopped next Tuesday morning.

Prioritize drafting players with strong Round 1 opportunities and emphasize good players players from the teams likely to score the most points.

Wild Card Round combo-platter players who can score big points and are likely to survive to Round 2