Two Must-Draft Players To Target In 2026 Guillotine Leagues™: Ashton Jeanty Is An Elite Early-Round Target
Ian Hartitz and Pete Overzet offer up their must-draft player for 2026 Guillotine Leagues™
Approaching a Guillotine Leagues™ draft requires you to look at the board through a completely different lens than you do with a traditional redraft league. Bye weeks are increasingly important, floor matters just as much, if not more than ceiling and the schedule comes into play early in the season more than you care about in redraft leagues.
Dwain McFarland outlines tips on how to navigate the draft and season that he learned from his first time winning a championship, and Pete and Ian are here with a pair of players whose 2026 profiles are perfectly suited for Guillotine Leagues™ contests.
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Ashton Jeanty | RB | LV
Pete: It's hard not to like Ashton Jeanty. He has everything you look for, specific to early-season security in Guillotine Leagues™:
Late Bye Week: The Raiders have one of the latest bye weeks of 2026, not getting their week off until Week 13 of the season. That gives you 12 weeks until the zero from Jeanty hits your lineup, shoring up your RB1 spot for two-thirds of the season. For the sake of comparison, other running backs being drafted around Jeanty's early offseason fantasy football ADP include: James Cook (Bye: 7), Saquon Barkley (Bye: 10), De'Von Achane (Bye: 6), Omarion Hampton (Bye: 7) and Kenneth Walker (Bye: 5).
All but one running back in his ADP range (Barkley) has a rather early-season bye. That's a massive consideration. And with Barkley, in particular, we saw how low his floor can be last season, and he's now a year older in an offense that just lost one of its premier playmakers in A.J. Brown.
High Floor: While his rookie season may not have been exactly what we hoped after drafting him in Round 1 last summer, Jeanty showed a reliable floor thanks to his pass-catching chops. He posted a 19% TPRR rate with a 14% target share last season and all indications are that he's going to be operating as a three-down workhorse in 2026.
Soft Opening Schedule: The Raiders open the 2026 season against the Dolphins in Week 1 and could find themselves in a shootout in Week 2 against the Chargers. They also face the fast-paced Saints team in Week 3 and face the Jets a number of weeks later in Week 8. With a combination of soft matchups and high-powered offenses, we could see the Raiders put points on the board.
Tyler Warren | TE | IND
Ian: With up to 18 teams in a Guillotine Leagues™ draft, landing a premier tight end is already enough of an advantage, but Tyler Warren, in particular, stands out for this game mode.
Changes In The Offense: Michael Pittman took his talents to Pittsburgh. Alec Pierce should be recovered by Week 1, but the latest reports about a potential absence through camp and into the preseason create a fair amount of concern. Daniel Jones will certainly be less mobile after coming off his Achilles tear from late last season. Do you hear that music? (No, Josh Downs, we're not doing this again, sit down). Tyler Warren has legitimate 150-plus-target upside this season, and it's like none of you even care!
Late Bye Week: Similar to Jeanty, Warren's bye week doesn't come until Week 13, so you lock up what projects to be a premier option at a onesie position for the vast majority of the season—a massive advantage.
Reasonable Cost: Unlike the top three premier tight ends—Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, Colston Loveland—Warren comes at a discount with a mid-round price tag. Sign me the hell up.
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