Three Players I'm Higher On In Guillotine Leagues™ For 2026

Guillotine Leagues™ are all about being just enough. That's life in a game where the top score and the second-lowest score receive the same award: The chance to compete for another week.

Accordingly, top targets in guillotine leagues should be those with high enough floors to consistently help managers rack up the needed points to keep the squad alive. This is the main idea for the five players I'm higher on in this format: Dudes who might not be the sexiest names, but project for the sort of volume that managers should be able to immediately and dependably rely on.

Nico Collins | WR | HOU

Four certifiably good things about Nico Collins ahead of the 2026 season:

Still just 27 years young, Collins is in the middle of his prime and ranks second only to Puka Nacua in yards per route run over the past three seasons.
This isn't exactly the most crowded passing game in the world. Fantasy Life Projections accordingly have Collins earning 128 targets (12th-most among wide receivers), and that feels low to me considering he had 120 in just 15 games last season.
The Texans have MILLIONS of reasons to feature Collins more than ever, considering he's one of just 11 wide receivers making at least $30 million annually.
C.J. Stroud might not be confused with Joe Burrow by the end of the season, but as we stated earlier, he was already a top-20-or-better QB in EPA per dropback, success rate and completion percentage over expected in 2025. Even a modest improvement could have Nico dealing with most people's idea of an above-average signal-caller.

If betting on 6-foot-4, 215-pound gazelles looking at a monstrous workload in a potentially ascending passing game is wrong, I don't want to be right. Collins is my WR7 (highest of the Fantasy Life rankers) and someone I'm willing to take ahead of guys like Drake London and A.J. Brown.

Quentin Johnston | WR | LAC

QJ's 12.2 PPR points per game were good for the 23rd-highest mark among wide receivers and far superior to Ladd McConkey (11.3, WR35) and Keenan Allen (10.8, WR37). The 2023 first-rounder has often been criticized for dropping everything thrown his way, but in reality, Johnson's total drops (11, tied for 33rd) and drop rate (5.2%, 69th among 110 qualified receivers) over the past three seasons don't really stand out relative to the rest of the position. Guys like CeeDee Lamb, Davante Adams and Jaylen Waddle among other big names have worse drop rates during this span and you don't really hear too much about it!

What we do have is a 24-year-old talent—QJ is only 2 months older than McConkey!—who has improved his counting numbers and efficiency metrics in every season of his career. The twitched up 6-foot-2, 208-pounder looks overwhelming for defensive backs of most shapes and sizes when everything is clicking.

Quentin Johnston pic.twitter.com/xrlDr09gHN
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) June 5, 2026

Oh yeah, there was also this little quote from McDaniel on Johnston …

“I think he's a guy that has some traits in his game that are similar to some very powerful, explosive, productive receivers that I've had in the past, namely like Julio (Jones) and Andre (Johnson), and so we're pushing him.”

Throw in a newfound fantasy-friendly floor thanks to the departure of Allen and promise for more YAC-friendly targets, and I'm the highest Fantasy Life ranker on QJ (WR36, nobody else has higher than WR42). He's a priority target at his affordable WR38, pick 79.7 ADP.

Javonte Williams | RB | DAL

It was easy to be wary of Javonte Williams entering 2025. Sure, there wasn't a ton of competition, but many metrics painted the ex-Bronco as one of the league's worst RBs in two seasons following his devastating 2022 knee injury. If Williams couldn't get anything going in a solid Denver offense, why would things be that different in Dallas?

Well … they were! Williams racked up 1,338 total yards and 13 scores as THE running back, y'all, of the league's seventh-ranked scoring offense. He posted rather elite marks in rushing success rate (56.3%, 4th), yards per carry (4.8, tied for 10th), and tackles avoided per carry (21.4%, 7th), largely looking fresher than ever along the way. Add it all together, and Williams was the RB12 in PPR points per game!

Fast forward to this season … and it sure looks like Williams is again entering the sort of situation very much capable of enabling another RB1-worthy campaign!

Dallas showed its love to Williams by signing him to a three-year, $24M extension with $16M guaranteed.
This Cowboys offense returns all 11 starters from last season. Would it surprise anyone if they finish as the No. 1-ranked scoring group in the league?
The team made literally zero meaningful additions to the backfield: Malik Davis and Jaydon Blue are both projected to (again) serve as Williams' backups.
Our fantasy football projections see Williams racking up the 13th-most touches (295) and 14th-most half-PPR points (219.1) among all RBs.

Sure, things were a bit more productive in Weeks 1-9 (17.3 PPR points per game, RB9) than Weeks 10-17 (12.4, RB21), but hell, that latter mark still bested guys like Breece Hall, Rico Dowdle, Josh Jacobs, Kenneth Walker and Quinshon Judkins, among others.

At the end of the day: Williams really doesn't have a red flag to speak of in terms of his age (26), offensive environment or workload categories. Nobody is mistaking him as a top-five real-life talent at the position, but his aforementioned efficiency numbers were undeniably solid last year, and guess what: Good-not-great ability can still produce ELITE fantasy numbers in an offense capable of producing all sorts of goal-line volume—just like the Cowboys.