Week 9 Guillotine Leagues™ Bidding Advice: How Much FAAB To Bid On Bijan Robinson & More

If you're reading this, you've already made it to Week 9 of the Guillotine Leagues™ season. If you started in Week 1, there's a good chance that a lot of your leaguemates may have dwindling FAAB, and the players hitting the chopping block each week are only getting better. So, how do we beat it and win the wire?

Before I jump into the Week 9 Guillotine Leagues™ bidding advice regarding some of the most highly chopped players of the week (10%+), a handful of housekeeping items:

Bid recommendations will be pulled directly from our Guillotine Leagues™ Waiver Wire Tool. The tool offers the ability to gauge bids by type (aggressive, conservative, average, etc.), league size, and recommendations relative to your remaining FAAB.
The players included in this article will be among the 10 most chopped players from the previous week. This data is pulled directly from Guillotine Leagues™.
Not every bid recommendation will come from the same settings. For example, if Ja'Marr Chase is on the waiver wire, I am more likely to bid aggressively on him than a mid-tier player further down the list, who I might place an 'average' bid on.
If you have not yet synced your Guillotine Leagues™ with our fantasy football league sync—do it. There is no better way to get fully personalized and actionable recommendations to help you survive the chop.
REMINDER: You can still create/enter new Guillotine Leagues™ ahead of Week 9 with single-chop leagues of up to 10 people. Join a league today!

Be sure to run through the full refresher on Guillotine Leagues™ waiver wire strategy and advice before placing your bids, too.

FAAB Bidding Advice For Week 9 In Guillotine Leagues™

Chopped Players Due To Injury Or Bye Week

Lamar Jackson (QB, BAL), 18.52% chopped: Hurt on the very first play of the game, the outlook surrounding Jackson's thumb injury is not a good one, as he's speculated to be sidelined for the rest of the season. Recommended Bid: Pass

Christian McCaffrey (RB, SF), 17.56%: CMC is this week's superstar on a bye who hit the chopping block, and he's one of my top two targets if available. We haven't seen the nuclear ceiling this season with a somewhat limited touch load compared to last season, but he's still ranked as the RB7 overall, averaging north of 20 ppg (20.6), the RB1 in target share (25%), and the RB5 in Utilization Score (89). When he's on the field, he produces. His bye week is behind him, and now he gets a juicy matchup against a Raiders run defense, allowing a +3.3-point fantasy boost to opposing RBs. The only thing preventing me from bidding aggressively on McCaffrey is the slight ambiguity surrounding his health coming out of the bye. Recommended Bid: 30%

Highly Chopped Players To Bid On In Guillotine Leagues™ For Week 9 (Of Top-10 Most Chopped Players)

Bijan Robinson (RB, ATL), 19.33%: The disappointing stretch of floor games continues for Bijan, and it's been especially frustrating knowing RB2 Brian Robinson has been sidelined for the last two games, too. Despite the disappointing box scores, Bijan has posted his two highest snap rates (84%, 83%) of the season, commanding 75% of the rushing attempts and running over 55% of the routes. He's bound to bounce back, but his upcoming schedule is tough: CIN (-1.6 fantasy boost), KC (-1.1), BYE, MIN (-4.1). That's the only thing keeping my bidding this week in check. Recommended Bid: 30% (Average)

Drake London (WR, ATL), 17.68%: London had his first true dud with Michael Penix at the helm in Week 8, posting only 1.8 points. Like Bijan, though, the underlying numbers don't have me worried. His 24% target share last weekend was his lowest since Week 2, he ran 100% of the routes, and had a 10.4-yard aDOT. The issue was that only 20% of his targets were deemed catchable. Annoying? Yes. Sustainable? No. Also like Bijan, the Falcons' upcoming schedule isn't easy, but it's more encouraging from a pass-catcher perspective with the Bengals (+2.1 fantasy boost) on tap this week. He still has a bye in two weeks, so I'm not going crazy, but I definitely want to bid on London this week. Recommended Bid: 20% (Average)

Javonte Williams (RB, DAL), 14.14%: Sunday marked only the second time this season that Williams finished outside of the top 18 running backs on the week, but, as we continue the theme of these bidding targets, the underlying utilization hasn't swayed me. Williams' 70% share of the rush attempts was in line with his 74% season average, his 47% route rate was his highest rate since Week 4, and he's handled 100% of the inside-the-five rush attempts this season. This high-powered offense gets to tee off against the Colts in Week 9, which should be a very positive game script for Williams, and he doesn't have his bye until Week 14. Recommended Bid: 22.5-25% (Average)

More highly chopped players to bid on: Parker Washington (WR, JAX, 15.15% chopped), Sam LaPorta (TE, DET, 14.02%), Jared Goff (QB, DET), 12.7%, Kenneth Walker (RB, KC, 12.25%), George Kittle (TE, SF, 12.09%), Malik Nabers (WR, NYG, 12.05%), CeeDee Lamb (WR, DAL, 10.81%), Ollie Gordon (RB, MIA, 10.81%)

Players To Avoid Bidding On In Week 9 Guillotine Leagues™

Zay Flowers (WR, BAL), 21.86%: The most-chopped player of the week, I'm hesitant to bid on Flowers this week, and it has nothing to do with him individually. He looks healthy and is earning targets at an elite clip (29% target share, 0.28 TPRR). The issue is that the Ravens could be looking at a QB straight off the street for Thursday's game with Jackson and Tyler Huntley out and QB3 Joe Fagnano banged up. They signed Kedon Slovis on Monday, who has -2 career passing yards. If I'm going to bid on Flowers this season, I'll take my chance that he hits the wire next week when we hopefully have more QB clarity here.

DK Metcalf (WR, PIT), 16.11%: As a Metcalf manager in my main home league team, it's been a frustrating season to roster him. And it would only be more frustrating in Guillotine Leagues™, as his floor (4 finishes outside of the top 36 WRs in 8 games) has been crippling. His 24% target share is encouraging, but it's not a high-volume passing attack, and Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson are bound to return soon.

Jeremiyah Love (RB, ARI), 11.89%: Another Jeremiyah Love game, another Jeremiyah Love injury. He sustained another ankle injury in Week 8, which is reportedly different than the one he suffered before the regular season. With so much uncertainty at QB, a constantly rotating backfield, and injuries to worry about, Love is not someone worth rostering in a format like Guillotine Leagues™.