Ramon Valentin & KJ Duke Win 2021 Kickoff Gridiron Titles

[Greg Ambrosius]

Ramon Valentin of Lutz, Florida and KJ Duke of San Diego, California won the 2021 NFFC 14-Team and 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League titles, respectively. Both contests were held live in Las Vegas this year and are one of the staple kickoff events on Thursday in Las Vegas.

Ramon led the 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League over the last six weeks to win the $6,500 league prize. Ramon finished 52.10 points ahead of Chris Eibl for the title, while Michael Cole finished in third place. Chris won $3,500 and Michael won $1,500.

Here's the final standings:

2021 NFFC 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Final Standings:
1 Ramon Valentin Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox 2,842.50
2 Chris Eibl Rex Grossman 2,790.40
3 Michael Cole Alabama Abandoned 2,660.30
4 Wayne Ellis Coltsfan 2,655.10
5 Scott Stauffer Out of the Shadows 2,635.30
6 john spurlock spurlock 2,634.75

Even more money can be won each week as more than $800 was paid out to each weekly winner. Ramon won two weekly prizes, while Chris won three weekly prizes. Scott Stauffer won his first weekly prize in Week 17 when his team scored 196.90 points. Here's a full list of the weekly prize winners throughout the year:

Here's the weekly winners:

NFFC 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Weekly Winners:
Week 1: Chris Eibl
Week 2: Billy Wasosky
Week 3: Ramon Valentin
Week 4: Ramon Valentin
Week 5: Jules McLean
Week 6: Wayne Ellis
Week 7: John Spurlock
Week 8: Wayne Ellis
Week 9: Jules McLean
Week 10: Chris Eibl
Week 11: Chris Eibl
Week 12 - Michael Cole
Week 13 - Jules McLean
Week 14 - Scott Keikoan
Week 15: Billy Wasosky
Week 16: Jules McLean
Week 17: Scott Stauffer

KJ Duke led the NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League for most of the season and he wound up winning the title and the $5,600 league prize. Michael Cole jumped into second place with a big Week 17 and Billy Wasosky finished third. Michael won $2,800 for his runner-up finish and Billy won $1,500.

Here's the final standings:

2021 NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Final Standings:
1 KJ Duke Duke 3,006.35
2 Michael Cole Alabama Abandoned 2,982.40
3 Chris Eibl Eibl 2,870.15
4 Bill Wasosky Wifes Slush Fund GI12 - BWAZ 2,822.20
5 john spurlock spurlock 2,805.35
6 Pat Chamberlain Webbys Walls 2,804.60

KJ also won five weekly prizes to lead the way, while John Spurlock won the Week 17 prize with 219.35 points. That was his first weekly prize of the season.

Here's the weekly winners:

NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Weekly Winners:
Week 1: Billy Wasosky
Week 2: KJ Duke
Week 3: KJ Duke
Week 4: Billy Wasosky
Week 5: KJ Duke
Week 6: Pat Chamberlain
Week 7: Michael Cole
Week 8: Pat Chamberlain
Week 9: Matthew Shepherd
Week 10: Pat Chamberlain
Week 11: Scott Keikoan
Week 12: Pat Chamberlain
Week 13: KJ Duke
Week 14: Matthew Shepherd
Week 15: KJ Duke
Week 16: Pat Chamberlain
Week 17: John Spurlock

[Greg Ambrosius]

Not counting the weekly prizes for each format, here's the payouts for the final regular season finishers:

NFFC 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Prizes:
1 $6,500
2 $3,500
3 $1,500

NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Prizes:
1 $5,600
2 $2,800
3 $1,500

[Greg Ambrosius]

In this format, owners bid for their 1st round picks with real money and all of that money goes into the weekly pot. They also bid for their second round pick with real money and that is the spot they have for the rest of the draft. Ramon had the 6th highest bid in the first round and he held off until the ninth pick in the second round, getting the 6th pick the rest of the way. Here's how he built that championship team:

Waller, Darren 1 6 TE Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Mixon, Joe 2 23 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Moore, DJ 3 37 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Johnson, Diontae 4 48 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Boyd, Tyler 5 65 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Samuel, Deebo 6 76 FLEX Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Mayfield, Baker 7 93 QB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Dillon, AJ 8 104 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Meyers, Jakobi 9 121 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Carr, Derek 10 132 QB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Conner, James 11 149 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
White, James 12 160 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Sanders, Emmanuel 13 177 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Saints, New Orleans 14 188 TDSP Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Bears, Chicago 15 205 TDSP Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Packers, Green Bay 16 216 TK Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Conklin, Tyler 17 233 TE Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Vikings, Minnesota 18 244 TK Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Brown, Malcolm 19 261 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Perine, Samaje 20 272 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Watkins, Quez 21 289 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Jets, New York (NYJ) 22 300 TK Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Mitchell, Elijah 23 317 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Cephus, Quintez 24 328 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Rodgers, Amari 25 345 WR Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox
Wilson, Jeff 26 356 RB Dr. Jerah Jones Whisky & Botox

[Greg Ambrosius]

KJ Duke bid the second most amount in the first round of the NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League to land Derrick Henry and then got Justin Jefferson by holding off until the second-last pick of the second round. He drafted from the 2nd spot the rest of the way. Here was his winning draft:

Henry, Derrick 1 2 RB Duke
Jefferson, Justin 2 23 WR Duke
Kupp, Cooper 3 35 WR Duke
Robinson, James 4 38 RB Duke
Herbert, Justin 5 59 QB Duke
Pitts, Kyle 6 62 TE Duke
Mostert, Raheem 7 83 FLEX Duke
Lawrence, Trevor 8 86 QB Duke
Gallup, Michael 9 107 WR Duke
Williams, Mike 10 110 WR Duke
Goedert, Dallas 11 131 TE Duke
Moore, Rondale 12 134 WR Duke
Mooney, Darnell 13 155 WR Duke
Bernard, Giovani 14 158 RB Duke
Ravens, Baltimore 15 179 TDSP Duke
Johnson, Ty 16 182 RB Duke
Bears, Chicago 17 203 TDSP Duke
Engram, Evan 18 206 TE Duke
Bateman, Rashod 19 227 WR Duke
St. Brown, Amon-Ra 20 230 WR Duke
Panthers, Carolina 21 251 TK Duke
Saints, New Orleans 22 254 TK Duke
Kirk, Christian 23 275 WR Duke
Jets, New York (NYJ) 24 278 TDSP Duke
Giants, New York (NYG) 25 299 TK Duke
Newton, Cam 26 302 QB Duke

[Greg Ambrosius]

This was Ramon Valentin's first title in the NFFC 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League and it was KJ Duke's first title in the NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League. Here's the list of champions from these two great best ball leagues:

NFFC 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Champions:
2021 - Ramon Valentin
2020 - Chris Eibl
2019 - Chris Eibl
2018 - Wayne Ellis
2017 - Michael Cole
2016 - Mark Moyer
2015 - KJ Duke
2014 - Mark Moyer
2013 - John Rozek
2012 - Shawn Childs & Chris Schinker

NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League Champions:
2021 - KJ Duke
2020 - Mark Moyer
2019 - Billy Wasosky
2018 - Glenn Lowy
2018 - Matt Shepherd
2017 - Billy Wasosky