Thank you, everyone, for participating in the Annual Fantasy Index Guillotine League over on GuillotineLeagues.com! I hope everyone had fun. I’m happy to announce our winner of the 2023 season, Todd Voorhees! Here is a little breakdown of how Todd’s draft and budget spending went on his way to becoming champion.
Todd’s Draft: It’s worth reiterating that this was an 18-team draft, so it’s not going to be stacked with stars in the slightest. It’s common to take shots in the dark in ambiguous situations, hoping a player might come forward as a starter for a team. The scoring format was full points per reception, so some of the picks will make a little more sense. If you’ve never gone back and graded one of your drafts before the season, it’s a great reminder of how silly some of the picks were. Todd was drafting from the third spot. While he had his pick of the litter with most players (only Justin Jefferson and Christian McCaffrey were off the board), he also had to wait 30 picks until he got to pick again. His first pick was Travis Kelce. His quarterback was Tua Tagovailoa. At running back, he drafted Kenneth Walker, Brian Robinson, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, James Robinson, Ronald Jones, and Mohamed Ibrahim. The wide receivers he drafted were DeAndre Hopkins, Kadarius Toney, Courtland Sutton, DJ Chark, and Tim Patrick. Again, it’s an 18-team league and you’ve got to take shots. It’s shocking to see that Todd didn’t draft some of the best late-round values such as Raheem Mostert, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Adam Thielen, or Nico Collins and yet he still won the championship!
Todd’s Spending: Remember, in a guillotine league, as teams are chopped and sent to the waivers, everyone gets to bid on them, and a team will look completely different by Week 6. Todd did his best job of utilizing a strategy I love, he waited and was conservative with his budget. He didn’t spend a significant amount of his budget until Week 4, when he acquired Derrick Henry for 18 percent of his budget. In Week 7, he spent 17 percent of his budget on Justin Jefferson. This was while he was injured, but Kirk Cousins was still healthy. If someone only had to wait a couple more weeks for Jefferson, I could see the allure. Unfortunately, Cousins would get injured, and Jefferson wouldn’t come back until Week 14. The following week, he added Jalen Hurts and Rashee Rice for 18 percent of his budget. Going into Week 10, a little over 60 percent of his budget was gone. This is the sweet spot to be in, as it’s possible to get star players for pennies on the dollar, and that’s exactly what Todd did. With his remaining 40 percent of his budget, he was able to scoop up CeeDee Lamb, Josh Jacobs, Najee Harris, DK Metcalf, James Cook, Devin Singletary, Calvin Ridley, D’Andre Swift, Breece Hall, Chris Olave, and Jonathan Taylor. Lamb, Swift, Olave, and Taylor were all starting on his roster in the championship.
My thoughts: Guillotine leagues are fun because there are numerous ways to win. Todd showed that it’s possible to win by trying to conserve your budget until the end of the season. The objective isn’t to be first each week, but to not come in last. Todd rode a fine line between the chopping block and surviving. He had a whopping six near-death experiences. Next highest was yours truly with three. Of the 17 week season, he only had two weeks in which he came in first, and one of those was the championship. With an average points per week of 114, he wasn’t even the highest average scorer - he was fifth. Again, hats off to Todd on his victory, and we can’t wait to see you all again next season!
—Colt Williams
Williams is working towards a degree in economics and statistics at Sonoma State. A United States Air Force veteran, he’s been playing fantasy football since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @_ColtWilliams