Week 2 Guillotine Leagues™ Bidding Advice: How Much FAAB To Bid On Ja'Marr Chase, Colston Loveland & More

The first week of the season has come and gone, and if you're reading this, congratulations on surviving the first chop of the 2026 season.

There are some elite names hitting the chopping block after some surprising duds. Before I jump into the Week 2 Guillotine Leagues™ bidding advice, 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 the 10 most chopped players from the previous week. This data is pulled directly from Guillotine Leagues, and you can find full write-ups of the Most Chopped Players from Week 1 here.
Not every bid recommendation will come from the same settings. For example, if (spoiler alert) 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 2 with single-chop leagues of up to 17 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 2 In Guillotine Leagues™

Note: The most chopped player from Week 1 Guillotine Leagues™ is Kyler Murray (14.71%), followed by Brock Bowers (14.44%) and A.J. Brown (14.17%). Due to the likelihood (or certainty, in Brown's case) that they will miss Week 2, I am excluding them from this list and focusing on the 10 subsequent players.

Ja'Marr Chase (WR, CIN)

Week 1: 3.2
Week 2 Matchup: @ HOU

If we've learned one thing over the last few seasons, it might just be to prepare for Ja'Marr Chase to be on the waiver wire come Week 2 in your Guillotine Leagues™, having not topped 9.2 fantasy points in Week 1 in any of the last four seasons. But what else have we learned? It simply doesn't matter, especially because he still notched a 97% route rate. Chase is a legitimate needle-moving, league-winning alpha WR that you want on your roster. He is an exception to the unwritten rule that you don't want to splurge too much after Week 1, because he has the ability to individually carry your team each and every week.

His Week 2 matchup is tough, but we just saw DJ Moore light up Derek Stingley for 100 yards and a touchdown, and he's a shell of the receiver that Chase is. I am bidding on Chase aggressively if he's available in my leagues. Even if you take the aggressive bid (below) from the waiver wire tool, don't be surprised if you get outbid for Chase. That said, I would not go above the recommended aggressive bid, as that will completely hamstring your FAAB for the next 16 weeks.

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Recommended Bid (Aggressive): Up to $496 (49.6% of FAAB)

Drake London (WR, ATL)

Week 1: 5.5
Week 2 Matchup: vs. CAR

While Drake London is another elite receiver hitting a large number of chopping blocks, he's one I'm far more bearish on when it comes to my Week 2 bidding. The quarterback situation is putrid in Atlanta, but a looming Michael Penix return provides a glimmer of hope. Still, his Week 2 matchup against Jimmy Horn isn't a great one, despite the Bears posting almost 60 points on the Panthers in Week 1. With the current QB situation, I'm taking a long-view approach with London and likely fading him entirely on the Week 2 waiver wire, but he's someone I'm going to target on later wires, hoping he has a few more duds until things regulate in the QB room.

If bidding on London in Week 2, I recommend a conservative bid.

Recommended Bid (The Hoarder): $180 (18.0% of FAAB)

Jaylen Waddle (WR, DEN)

Week 1: 1.2
Week 2 Matchup: vs. JAX

Despite the worse game than London, I'm far more inclined to bid on Jaylen Waddle, who finds himself in a much better offense that simply sputtered out of the gate in a brutal road spot in Arrowhead. He still ran 82% of the routes and had a team-high 33% target share on third/fourth downs. He now enters Week 2 in what should be a back-and-forth affair with the Jaguars, and I still trust the offseason drumbeat of Waddle being the fixture of the passing game with the intent to move him all over the field in an offense that will pass a ton.

He comes at a recommended bid price significantly cheaper than the aforementioned receivers, but still not one I want to take an aggressive stance on. I will be placing an average bid on Waddle for Week 2.

Recommended Bid (Average): $83 (8.3% of FAAB)

Saquon Barkley (RB, PHI)

Week 1: 9.0
Week 2 Matchup: @ TEN

While not a total dud, the 9.0 points from Saquon Barkley were definitely disappointing against a defense that allowed over 140 rushing yards per game in 2025. That said, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry (elite), and the Eagles ranked top-five in run-block grade in Week 1 (75, per PFF). He has an elite matchup on the horizon in terms of projected game script, as the Eagles are currently 7-point road favorites against the Titans, and there's a chance that managers could start souring on Barkley after a disappointing 2025 coupled with the disappointing opener.

That said, this is a spot where I don't fully agree with our GL waiver wire tool. The bid recommendation for an average bid is $374, 37.4% of your full $1,000 FAAB. There's simply been too much downside with Barkley over the last year for me to get there, but he's someone I would still put a conservative bid on, though conservative to the point where I want to override the recommendations.

Recommended Bid (The Hoarder): $239 — This is the lowest recommended bid amount (The Hoarder) in our tool. For Barkley in Week 2, I am comfortable with a $175 (17.5%) bid.

Omarion Hampton (RB, LAC)

Week 1: 8.3
Week 2 Matchup: vs. LV

One reason to not break the bank for Barkley is that you can likely get a player like Omarion Hampton for significantly less of your FAAB. The Chargers, as a whole, disappointed in Week 1, and Hampton did cede pass-game work to Keaton Mitchell, but he still commanded 75% of the rushing attempts. He has a lower floor than expected in trailing game scripts, but gets another favorable, bounceback spot in Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders. He finds himself in the same low-end RB1 tier as Barkley for a discount on the waiver wire. While I can't quite get there on his average recommended bid in the tool ($234), I am happy with a conservative bid here.

Recommended Bid (Conservative): $163 (16.3% of FAAB).

Colston Loveland (TE, CHI)

Week 1: 0.0
Week 2 Matchup: vs. MIN

There isn't a player that I am more excited to bid on this week than Colston Loveland, who posted a total goose egg in Week 1. Given how popular of a preseason darling he was, I have a hard time imagining people abandon ship after one week, but he's still going to come at a fraction of the price as most of the players listed above. This is especially appealing to me given the value of a player at the tight end position capable of distancing themselves from the field, which we've seen Loveland do before.

He posted an elite 89% route rate, higher than literally every other tight end in football (even Trey McBride) and averaged over 15 points per game with a 28% target share (29% TPRR) towards the end of last season. His floor is (clearly) low, so I am not getting crazy aggressive with my bids, but I want to take a stand and trust the Loveland breakout we saw toward the end of last season in this buy-low window.

Recommended Bid (No Tomorrow): $125 (12.5%) — this is the most aggressive setting on our GL waiver wire tool. The aggressive bid recommendation ($50) feels far too light of a bid given the pre-season hype around Loveland and how he's widely being regarded as a buy-low target this week.

Matthew Stafford (QB, LAR)

Week 1: 4.1
Week 2 Matchup: vs. NYG

I am going to keep the Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye writeups short and sweet given the lack of importance at the QB position this early on in Guillotine Leagues™; the position is just too deep to spend meaningful money on this week. Stafford gets a favorable draw against the Giants in Week 2 and comes in as Freedman's QB15 in his early Guillotine Leagues rankings, so it's not like you're getting an upgrade, either, unless you somehow started a guy like Bryce Young in Week 1 (why would you do that, anyway?).

The most conservative bid recommendation (The Hoarder) in our tool gives a $97 bid (9.7% of FAAB), and that feels far too high.

Recommended Bid: None — if unusually desperate, I genuinely believe you can get away with a $5-$10 bid here, as the likelihood that someone needs a QB is razor-thin.

Drake Maye (QB, NE)

Week 1: 9.8
Week 2 Matchup: vs. PIT

Echoing what I said about Stafford, the QB position is simply not a priority this early on the waiver wire unless a truly game-breaking QB is available (à la Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson). Drake Maye has upside, and we saw it last year (QB3 finish), but losing his WR1 for the next six weeks lowers both his floor and ceiling, and he draws a tough matchup against the Steelers defense in Week 2. He may be a better long-term answer at QB than someone you are currently starting (Jaxson Dart, for example), but it doesn't feel like the long-term opportunity cost is even worth enough to make an effort to bid.

Pass.

Recommended Bid: None — if unusually desperate, I genuinely believe you can get away with a $5-$10 bid here, as the likelihood that someone needs a QB is razor-thin.

De'Von Achane (RB, MIA)

Week 1: 10.6
Week 2 Matchup: @ SF

Oh boy, this is a tricky one. On one hand, De'Von Achane's talent and role are unquestioned. He posted an 88% snap share, commanded 85% of the rushing attempts and posted a 78% route rate. But he was still able to turn this into only 10.6 fantasy points in what might have been his most favorable spot of the season. The Dolphins are simply not running enough plays (50 in Week 1) and won't score enough to unlock the elite RB1 upside we saw last season, while he maintains a scary-low floor given the offensive environment.

I am fine bidding on Achane if you are hurting at RB2 or FLEX, but he is not the RB1 in fantasy land that we've grown accustomed to seeing, so don't bid on him as if he is.

The Hoarder bid recommendation gives us a bid of $304 (30.4%), which still feels steep given the concerns around Achane, so I will be IKB-ing this bid for a lower amount.

Recommended Bid: $150 (15.0%) (this is not a can't-miss star I would be upset with if I simply lose the bid on).

George Pickens (WR, DAL)

Week 1: 5.8
Week 2 Matchup: vs. WAS

The entire Cowboys passing game seemed to stay in the locker room on Sunday night against the Giants, but Pickens still led all receivers with an 89% route rate compared to CeeDee Lamb's 81%. While the latter bested Pickens in both TPRR (28% vs 19%) and target share (26% vs 19%), Pickens still accounted for 40% of the team's air yards and an elite 18.0-yard average depth of target. There may not be a receiver with more contingent upside than Pickens, who gave us top-five WR upside with Lamb out last season, and this is an offense I want to continue to invest in given their pass-happy nature and strong QB play. Dwain McFarland still has Pickens as a low-end WR1 for the rest of the season, and that would only skyrocket if Lamb were to miss time.

I'm in line with the average bid recommendation that the tool is providing, albeit a hair lower.

Recommended Bid (Average): $301 (30.1%) (the tool gives an average bid of $314, but I think you can get away with saving a couple bucks and going a touch lower, just over the even number of $300).