NFFC Champions Profile - Thomas Libretti

[Tom Kessenich]

There is so much that goes into a single fantasy season. The preparation. The endless nights of anxiety, hours spent pouring over every draft day prep and lineup decision plus all the Waiver Wire maneuvering, hoping each move made will be the one that results in a championship season.

All of that work being put into winning one championship is taxing enough. Imagine the amount of effort it must take to win two national titles in a single season.

For Tom Libretti, such imagining became reality a season ago.

Libretti accomplished the seemingly impossible in the NFFC in 2021 winning not one but two of our most prestigious contests. He took home the titles in the Primetime, winning its $200,000 grand prize. As if that wasn’t enough he also won the industry’s only single-entry high-stakes contest the Silver Bullet, snaring the $35,000 grand prize in that contest as well.

He became only the second player in NFFC history to win two national contests in the same season, joining Jeff Dawson and Scott Kelly, who first accomplished the feat in in 2017 when they won the Classic and RotoWire Online Championship.

“My first reaction was that I couldn't believe it,” Libretti said. “Immediately after the final Sunday night game was completed, friends and the NFFC community reached out with kind words.

“At that point, I began to understand what had just happened. The next day I checked back in on the site, and no changes occurred; mild celebrating ensued that day. It was a pleasant and humbling feeling all around.”

Libretti’s team had a dominating performance in the Championship Round of the Primetime, scoring 733.46 points, the second-highest total in NFFC Primetime history. That dominant run came after finishing third in his New York Primetime league where he posted an 8-6 record. However, he finished with the second-most points in his league to qualify for the playoffs.

From there, his team got hot. That isn’t to say the playoff run came without some anxious nights, though.

“They were very nerve-wracking,” he said of the playoff weeks. “Before the start of the playoffs, I was doing a rough walkthrough of my players and which teams were sitting at the top of the standings; I was cross-referencing everyone's rosters. I was going over what it would take to perhaps finish in the Top 10. After absorbing all that info, I knew I needed my premium players to finish strong, so it was just a wait-and-see approach from there.”

Interestingly, it was a guest spot on our Sirius show earlier in the season that had given him some hope that his Silver Bullet team might be good enough to make an electrifying run through the postseason should everything break right in his favor.

“I didn’t think I would win one during the season, let alone both titles,” he said. “It wasn't until Tom and Greg invited me on their show to discuss the Silver Bullet team during the playoffs that I thought I had a chance at one.

“I saw some friendly matchups with my players, and the leading players on my roster were still solid heading into the playoffs. At this point, the NFL was also discussing their in-season awards, and I saw I had some of these players on my fantasy rosters leading to some more potential excitement. Things were developing at this point, and I was excited just to have a chance.”

That Silver Bullet team won its league title and began the Championship Round in 19th place overall. After the opening week of the playoffs it moved into third and after the second week Libretti took the top spot and held on in the final week to garner the $35,000 grand prize.

As a firm believer in the Zero-RB approach to drafting, Libretti planned to heavily address wide receivers and the tight end position in his drafts a year ago. That approach was a key part of his success in the Primetime and Silver Bullet.

“Rather than sprinkle in an RB within my first five rounds, I wanted a top-tier tight end to round out my roster before addressing the running back position,” he said. “In 2021, I had four wide receivers and a top-tier tight end with my first five picks. That was precisely what I wanted to accomplish before selecting my running backs, so I was happy with this start in both the Primetime and Silver Bullet.”

He also worked the Waiver Wire successfully in the closing weeks of the regular season.

I was also fortunate enough to pick up Gabriel Davis (for $1 in the Silver Bullet), a considerable addition late in the season,” he said. “Defense is also a key position for matchups down the stretch and adding the Cowboys' defense (for $17 in the Primetime) against Washington for Week 16 was a nice hit.”

Once the season was over and the celebrations had died down, the time came to figure out what to do with all of his prize money. For the 40-year-old Libretti, a top priority was re-investing in the hobby he has grown to love like no other.

“I already doubled my 2021 NFFC registrations,” he said. “I haven’t done anything else significant yet, but I did start a small project in the hobby. I started a user-friendly website (mooseonahill.com) and podcast to talk more about hobby itself. Hopefully it amounts to something because connecting with other like-minded folks in the industry and perhaps newcomers is always fun.”

And for those who may be intimidated by the notion of attempting to accomplish the seemingly impossible in the NFFC, Libretti has a simple piece of advice.

“I'm just a regular guy who loves sports, particularly fantasy football,” he said. “There's something for everyone in the NFFC, and winning a grand prize can happen to anyone. If you want to start small and work your way up and compete against the main participants, you can.

“If you're going to jump right into the pool and test your knowledge against theirs, you can. Don't be intimidated because it's the friendliest atmosphere.”