Guillotine Leagues™ Rankings: Jordan Mason Headlines Targets Ahead Of Week 4

As we move through the season, we’ll be providing rest-of-season Guillotine LeagueTM rankings that will continue to update every week. These in-season rankings can be found on the app in Guillotine LeaguesTM under “rank” when you are drafting.

Since the ranks update every week, using them will allow you to adjust quickly to in-season variance when starting up a new, in-season league on guillotineleagues.com.

Of course, if you’re still involved in a league that started at Week 1, the rankings will also have tons of value. They’ll be a great assist in helping you navigate the big names on the waiver wire every week.

As always, you can pair the advice here with the fantasy football rankings, projections and other cool tools available with a Fantasy Life+ subscription (Use code “GRIND” for 20% off).

Week 3 had its share of injuries, but there was a lot going on to note in terms of usage and production (good and bad).

Let’s get into some of the biggest names to note in the rankings this week.

Week 4 Guillotine Leagues™ Targets

Jordan Mason, Vikings – Legit RB1

If you're drafting this week, you have to bump Mason way up in your theoretical preseason rankings. Yes, Aaron Jones will return eventually and eat into some work, but even when he does, Mason is going to retain a lot of his bell cow status, and potentially most of the short down and distance carries.

Through the first two weeks, Mason had already proven himself to be the more efficient runner and, via the Utilization Report, had taken 54% of the SDD (short down and distance) carries. After his big Week 3, he’s now averaging 5.4 YPC and 71 yards per game on the ground. The Vikings just got back their starting Tackle in Christian Darrisaw, and with J.J. McCarthy (ankle) out, you can pretty much guarantee they will be relying on Mason to carry as much of the burden on offense until they get that position settled.

The schedule toughens up for Mason after a decent matchup with Pittsburgh this weekend. However, with the Vikings getting healthier on the O-Line, and Mason handling a season-high 16 carries vs in a blowout win vs the Bengals, volume should carry him to at least a few more big weekends.

He’d be a player I’d be more than comfortable targeting as a high-end RB2 in new drafts, especially with him being bumped all the way up to RB14 in our Week 4 Guillotine Leagues™ rankings.

Trey McBride, Cardinals – Mr. Consistency

Through three weeks, McBride ranks as TE4 in PPR scoring, despite only finding the end zone just once during that stretch, in the Cardinals' Week 3 loss to San Francisco. He trails TE1, Jake Ferguson, by just 4.1 fantasy points on the season, with Juwan Johnson and Hunter Henry the other two names currently above him in points.

Considering the slower starts that other top TE names like Travis Kelce, Brock Bowers, and T.J. Hockenson have had, McBride’s start should be commended. He’s the only TE in the league to score 12.0 or more FP in PPR scoring in all three of his starts this season, despite not putting in a big spike week yet, like the ones that Henry (Week 3) or Ferguson (Week 3) have had recently.

He also remains the clear-cut number one target for Kyler Murray in Arizona. To date, McBride has an elite 27% target share, which leads the Cardinals, and is third in overall targets among TEs.

After going as the TE2 behind Bowers in most season-long drafts this season, McBride is now ranked firmly as the TE1 and up to 16th overall in our Week 4 Guilotine ranks. He’s a great building block for new drafters this week and will continue to provide a ton of stability to a very volatile position in Guillotine leagues going forward.

George Pickens, Cowboys – Opportunity awaits

Pickens’ owners had to sit and watch CeeDee Lamb catch 7 passes on 13 targets in Week 1, while the former Steeler managed just four targets and three receptions for 30 yards against the Eagles. Things balanced out a little vs the Giants, when Pickens managed to get 9 targets and find the end zone in what was arguably the wildest game of the season thus far, and then saw him repeat that effort vs the Bears (9 targets, 5 rec, 68 yards, TD) in a game which also saw Lamb leave early with a high ankle sprain.

Now, with Lamb out and Dallas sporting one of the worst defenses in the league (31st in EPA per play defensively), Pickens may be in a spot to put up some big numbers over the next month. Current reports have Lamb likely out anywhere from 3-4 weeks, and given the nature of high ankle sprains, his return to full efficiency may be much further away than that.

Now is the time to target Pickens, who is up to WR26 in the Week 4 ranks, and still a conservative buy-low target for new league startups given the opportunity in front of him.

Week 4 Guillotine Leagues™ Fallers

Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars – The "New Car" smell is gone

This week’s rankings have Lawrence down to QB19, and while you might think that’s his floor, the truth is that there isn’t much to suggest a turnaround is happening anytime soon. He’s currently just QB21 on the season in FP scored and is averaging just 5.9 Yards per attempt through three weeks, which is 27th in the league. Even in his three-touchdown game vs the Bengals, where most of his fantasy points came from this season, he needed 42 pass attempts just to get to 271 yards, and still hurt his owners with two INTs (-2 points each in Guilltine Leagues).

At this point, there are names below Lawrence in the rankings that I would rather look to in the rankings if I needed a spot-starter or backup. Until he shows more consistent upside in this Liam Coen offense, it’s OK to be a bystander rather than a passenger.

Chase Brown, Bengals – Tough times ahead

Through three weeks, the Bengals rank just 23rd in EPA per rush and 27th in success rate per rush. That’s led to a poor start for Brown, who has yet to have a rush longer than 11 yards this year. In fact, Brown’s start has been so poor that he’s had just one rush go for more than 10 yards, but 10 go for -1 yard or worse.

A poor O-Line is certainly to blame, but the loss of Joe Burrow has certainly taken its toll. Last week vs the Vikings, Brown was only able to muster three yards on 10 carries, and even in a plus game script for some passing work, just 3 receptions and 17 yards.

With more teams likely to stack the box vs Jake Browning, the tough times for Brown may continue into October. He’s been downgraded in the rankings this week and now projects as more of a boom or bust RB2 the rest of the way.

Sleepers For Week 4 Guillotine Leagues™ Drafters

TreVeyon Henderson – His time is coming

The New England Patriots RB room produced the following stat lines in Week 3:

Rhamondre Stevenson: 4 car, 18 yards; 3 rec, 38 yards, 2 fumbles
Antonio Gibson: 7 carries, 28 yards, 1 fumble
TreVeyon Henderson: 11 carries, 28 yards; 3 rec. 19 yards 0 fumbles

Henderson not only led the Patriots' backfield in touches vs the Steelers, but he was also the only Patriots RB not to lose a fumble. Mike Vrabel has already said he’s sticking by Stevenson, who has been very efficient this season, but Henderson’s carries are only going up from here; at the very least, we should expect him to bypass Gibson as the clear 1A option alongside Stevenson.

He’s quietly sitting inside the top 30 RBs in the current rankings, but certainly a player I would not hesitate to grab a little earlier than his current ADP if you’re drafting this week.

Tyquan Thornton – The new deep threat?

Thornton has now scored in consecutive games and is averaging 19.0 yards per reception on the season. Moreover, he’s become more than just a deep threat, as he led the Chiefs in targets last week with nine, and has a team-high 23% target share over the last two weeks.

The Chiefs WR room could get a little crowded soon with the pending return of Xavier Worthy (shoulder) and Rashee Rice’s suspension already halfway done, but don’t be shocked if the former Patriot continues to be a big part of this offense. His outright speed alone should continue to get him on the field and potentially even push veteran players like Hollywood Brown down the depth chart.