Guillotine Leagues™ Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Building Around Ashton Jeanty At 1.16

You might think you're a fantasy football degenerate.

And you might be.

But, my friends, if you haven't yet completed a Guillotine Leagues™ mock draft using our fantasy football mock draft simulator—Fantasy Life's 2026 Draft Champion tool—you're not the sicko you think you are.

And that's fine.

That means you have something to aspire to.

But I'm a sicko: I just did a Guillotine mock. In July. Because why not?

Some specifications:

Teams: 18
Roster: 8 Starters (QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 2 FL), 6 Bench Spots
Draft Type: Snake
Draft Position: 16th
Strategy: Late-Round QB

Let's get into my quick breakdown!

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View full draft board here.

Guillotine Leagues™ Mock Draft From The 1.16

1.16: Ashton Jeanty | RB | Raiders

Ugh, it's Round 1, and I already feel a little disgusting. But that's what happens in Guillotine Leagues™, where the player pool thins out incredibly quickly.

Ashton Jeanty isn't someone I'm actively targeting in drafts. But at No. 16, he's probably too cheap, and so I'll draft him and hope he can rebound from his disappointing rookie season.

By the way, as far as disappointing rookie seasons go, Jeanty's 1,321-yard, 10-TD effort on the league's worst team was pretty good, and in his final six games (after former OC Chip Kelly's dismissal), he was the No. 5 RB in Utilization Score (85, per our Utilization Report).

With new HC Klint Kubiak and QBs Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders will likely be better this year, and Jeanty independently should enjoy some natural second-season progression.

In 2026, the potential should turn into production (I hope).

2.03: A.J. Brown | WR | Patriots

Part of me wants to draft RB Jeremiyah Love or RB Chase Brown. That's the part of me that started playing fantasy football 20 years ago.

And I love that part of me. It's perhaps the purest part of me.

But if I don't take a WR here, I fear I'll hate myself (more than I already do) when I get to 3.16.

So I'm taking A.J. Brown, one of just four WRs with 1,000+ yards receiving in each of the past four seasons … and now he's with QB Drake Maye and OC Josh McDaniels on the Patriots.

3.16: Emeka Egbuka | WR | Buccaneers

Emeka Egbuka is something of a Rorschach test.

Last year, he started his rookie campaign wonderfully (40-677-6, 76 targets in nine games). And then he ended it terribly (23-261-0, 51 targets in eight games).

Which one is the real Egbuka?

Well, since I got him in this mock, I'll be optimistic. His fit is uncertain in new OC Zac Robinson's system, but Egbuka is a talented first-rounder, and this year he could see more than the 127 targets he got last year now that former No. 1 WR Mike Evans is gone.

What former college teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba did in his 2024 second-year breakout (100-1,130-6 receiving, 137 targets), Egbuka could do this season.

4.03: D'Andre Swift | RB | Bears

D'Andre Swift isn't an exciting selection, but we're now at Pick No. 57, and RBs TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins and Bhayshul Tuten all went off the board at the turn of Rounds 3-4.

At the RB position, there's arguably no one exciting left, but at least Swift is serviceable, and that honestly might be selling him short, given that he's coming off a career-best 1,386-yard, 10-TD campaign and is still just 27 years old.

While he's not a full-blown workhorse, he's one of only nine RBs with 1,200+ scrimmage yards in each of the past three seasons, and in that stretch he has had 220+ carries and 40+ targets every year.

No. 2 RB Kyle Monangai is a threat, but Swift still has a chance to outperform his ADP for a fourth straight campaign.

5.16: Alec Pierce | WR | Colts

I'm the highest on Alec Pierce in our fantasy football rankings, and I'm OK with that. He's one of my 2026 favorites.

He has been the NFL's most explosive WR over the past two seasons (11.9 yards per target), and last year he popped off with a career-best 47-1,003-6 receiving.

With his strong development, Pierce secured a four-year, $116M contract from the Colts and pushed the team to part ways with WRs Michael Pittman and Adonai Mitchell over the past 12 months.

Now poised to emerge fully as the team's No. 1 receiver (a role he has secretly held in the shadows since 2024), Pierce is likely to see his efficiency decline, but he's also in line for 100+ targets for the first time in his career.

I think his floor is the 824 yards he got in 2024 and the six TDs he got in 2025. His ceiling, though, is 1,200+ yards and 10+ TDs.

I'm happy to get that upside with my No. 3 WR in Guillotine Leagues™.

6.03: Jayden Reed | WR | Packers

I also took Jayden Reed in my recent 12-team PPR mock. This might be a bit of a luxury pick, but I like Reed way more than the average human probably should.

He had a terrible 2025 (235 yards, 1 TD), but he missed 10 games with injuries, which impacted his entire season.

Even so, Reed was his typical efficient self (9.4 yards per target, 9.3 yards per carry), and in his two prior campaigns he proved himself to be a big-play producer (1,932 yards, 17 TDs).

For the Packers, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks are gone, Matthew Golden looked lost last year as a rookie and Christian Watson has never had 700 yards in a season.

With this pick, I strongly considered RBs Jordan Mason and Jonathon Brooks and TE Harold Fannin, but I see Reed as someone with league-winning 1,000-10 potential.

I just didn't want to pass up on that at Pick No. 93.

7.16: Mark Andrews | WR | Ravens

Mark Andrews had the least efficient season of his career in 2025 (6.0 yards per target), but that makes sense: He turned 30 years old just before the campaign started.

So I have a real fear that Andrews is approaching his age cliff. In fact, he might already be there.

But over the past two seasons, he still has had a beefy 16 TDs receiving and has also pitched in as a situational "Tush Push" runner (14-53-1 rushing).

In our 2026 Fantasy football projections, we have Andrews projected to lead the Ravens this year in TDs receiving (6.2), and it's not easy to find this late in most drafts guys who legitimately have a shot to finish with team-best scoring numbers.

Plus, if Andrews can bounce back to his career-long efficiency (8.5 yards per target), he will be a steal at Pick No. 124.

8.03: Isiah Pacheco | RB | Lions

What if teammate Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 1 pick in the draft) were to suffer a meaningful injury, as RBs unfortunately often do? Or what if Isiah Pacheco inherits much of the role previously occupied by the departed David Montgomery?

At pick No. 129, I'm simply looking for a guy who has at least a couple imaginable paths to more-than-expected production.

9.16: Calvin Ridley | WR | Titans

Calvin Ridley had a career-worst season in 2025 (17-303-0 receiving, seven games), but even so, he was efficient (8.4 yards per target), and in the two prior seasons, he enjoyed back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns.

It's not likely, but Ridley has a shot to rebound in 2026 and reclaim the No. 1 WR job for the Titans.

10.03: Chris Bell | WR | Dolphins

We're now at Pick No. 165. Every other team has a QB, and the one that picked right after me at the turn of Rounds 9-10 just selected its second QB.

If I were a cautious man, I'd grab my QB now instead of my … counting … No. 6 WR.

But QB (in my opinion) is fairly fungible in Guillotine Leagues™, so if I miss out on my preferred guy in this range, I'll live with it.

But if I missed out on Chris Bell, I don't know what I'd do with myself. I'd be inconsolable.

Yes, he didn't break out until his final collegiate season (72-917-6, 11 games), and he tore his ACL in November.

Nevertheless, the third-round rookie has a shot to leverage his Josh Gordon-like combination of size (222 pounds) and speed (22.5-second 200-meter dash in high school) into the No. 1 WR gig in Miami.

And at this point in the draft, Bell might be the last WR available with a legit chance to lead his team in receiving.

11.16: MarShawn Lloyd | RB | Packers

Well, I missed out on QB Tyler Shough, the guy I wanted. Not a surprise.

And a number of other QBs also went off the board as well.

So I now desperately need to draft a QB … but there are only two other teams selecting between this and my next pick, and one of them already has two QBs, so I'm rolling the dice and drafting instead my … counting … No. 4 RB.

If starter Josh Jacobs misses part of this year for the Packers because of injury or legal issues, the talented and finally healthy MarShawn Lloyd figures to get a shot at a workhorse role.

12.03: Bryce Young | QB | Panthers

Well, here we are. I guess I'm drafting Bryce Young.

On the positive side: He has improved throughout his career. As a rookie, he was abysmal (5.0 AY/A, 2-14). In his second season, he was benchable (6.0, 4-8). This past season, he was almost tolerable (6.2, 8-8).

On the negative side, last year he was still No. 31 in passing efficiency, and his rushing regressed (54-216-2 vs. 43-249-6 in 2024).

Young is better than he was, but he's not yet good.

All that said:

Maybe this is finally the season he becomes good-ish? Maybe???
As long as I'm not chopped early on, I'll likely get a shot to add a notably better QB within the first month of the season. Even though I'm not bullish on Young, he'll be good enough to suit my purposes.

13.16: George Holani | RB | Seahawks

What if veteran Zach Charbonnet (knee) struggles to return to form and rookie Jadarian Price struggles to adapt to a lead role after being a backup in college?

I'm just saying …

14.03: DJ Giddens | RB | Colts

As I noted recently in my article on the season-long prop market, over the past four years, starter Jonathan Taylor has missed 16 games for the Colts.

There's a chance that No. 2 RB DJ Giddens will get some playing time in 2026.