Henry Muto Wins 2023 NFFC Cutline Championship & $75,000

[Greg Ambrosius]

Henry Muto of Geneva, Ohio won the 2023 NFFC Cutline Championship and that $75,000 grand prize, becoming our 11th different national champion in the 11-year history of this contest. Henry beat a field of 1,720 teams to win the grand prize as his team was consistently at the top of the standings all year long. When the final table of 12 owners was completed on Sunday Night, Henry was standing at the top and holding the $75,000 grand prize.

This is a fun survivor-style contest where the field is whittled in half after Week 10 and then whittled further after Weeks 12, 14, 15 and 16. After Week 16, there is a "final table" of 12 owners battling for the vast majority of the prize pool. Henry actually had two teams in the Final 12 and those teams finished 1st and 4th overall. Well done Henry.

Henry has had good success in this contest in the past and he was ALL IN on this contest in 2023. He took 16 teams and won 7 league titles and finished second in two others, including this championship team. Nine teams made the Championship Round and 6 teams were in the Consolation Round. His Muskrats team finished the regular season in 204th place overall, but he had other teams that were 9th and 31st overall. In fact, this Muskrats team that won the $75,000 grand prize is a perfect example of how you can never give up in the NFFC Cutline Championship.

After the first "cut" in Week 12, Henry's Muskrats team was 42nd overall and four teams survived that first cut. All four teams survived the "cut" in Week 14 and his Muskrats team had moved up to 28th overall. Three of his teams survived the "cut" after Week 15, but this Muskrats team was NOT one of them as it finished 78th overall that week. It moved down to the Consolation Round, where its only shot at winning the grand prize would be winning the Consolation Round in Week 16.

And of course, that's exactly what happened. Henry's Wolves team won the Championship Round in Week 16 with 567.66 points and his Muskrats team won the Consolation Round with 556.46 points to jump back into the Championship Round. In Week 17, that team scored 190.25 points to win the $75,000 grand prize with a total of 536.95 points, finishing 4.92 points ahead of Wayne Culley, who won $20,000. Devin Heesch finished 3rd to win $17,500 and Henry finished 4th to win $15,000. All 12 finalists earned prize money, while we also paid the Top 12 finishers in the Wild Card Tier. David Webb won the Wild Card Tier to earn $3,000.

The Muskrats were led in Week 17 by Lamar Jackson's 49.55 points, but Henry also got 27.60 from Breece Hall and 22.10 from Amon Ra-St. Brown. His 190.25 points were 12.50 more points than Wayne Culley scored in Week 17 and the highest total from that week.

Henry Muto is a veteran NFFC player who first joined our contests in 2009. He now is a two-time national champion in the NFFC as he also won the $100,000 grand prize in the Rotowire Online Championship in 2012. He has battled for this Cutline title and come close to winning it multiple times, including last year when he was at the "final table" and finished 6th overall. He also finished 11th overall in 2021. But this year he had two shots at the top prize and won it with his Muskrats team, while finishing 4th overall with his other team. Well done Henry.

We will be back with the Cutline in 2024 with another $75,000 grand prize and we expect a bigger year for this contest. Best Ball leagues are flourishing throughout the industry, but no contest has the survivor-style format like we have in the NFFC Cutline Championship. Thanks all and congrats to everyone who won money in this contest.

Here's the final standings from Week 17:

2023 NFFC Cutline Championship Week 17 Final Standings:
1 Henry Muto Muskrats NFFC Cutline Championship #2585 536.95
2 Wayne Culley Public Educator CL 2 NFFC Cutline Championship #986 532.03
3 Devin Heesch HeeschLilas 2 NFFC Cutline Championship #2410 500.29
4 Henry Muto Wolves NFFC Cutline Championship #3569 497.52
5 KEN TRINH Jalen-McCaffrey-No Lineups NFFC Cutline Championship #2557 483.5
6 Chester Mui CM12 NFFC Cutline Championship #3618 482.29
7 GEORGE WALLOFF Stormin Mormons NFFC Cutline Championship #2925 482.21
8 Mark Cacciola Cacciola NFFC Cutline Championship #3354 467.57
9 Christopher Saturno CSATCUT175NYJ NFFC Cutline Championship #2954 466.63
10 Ray Pelleane Gang green NFFC Cutline Championship #219 464.61
11 Steven Scharf Casa Lago NFFC Cutline Championship #3632 458.45
12 jared stein stein NFFC Cutline Championship #3634 456.47

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here was the payout for the NFFC Cutline Championship's Championship Round and Consolation Round for 2023:

2023 NFFC Cutline Championship
Overall Prizes
1 - $75,000
2 - $20,000
3 - $17,500
4 - $15,000
5 - $12,500
6 - $10,000
7 - $7,500
8 - $6,000
9 - $5,000
10 - $4,000
11 - $3,000
12 - $2,500

Consolation Prizes:
1 - $3,000
2 - $2,000
3 - $1,500
4 - $1,200
5 - $1,000
6 - $900
7 - $800
8 - $700
9 - $650
10 - $600
11 - $500
12 - $400

League Prizes:
1 - $350
2 - $150

[Greg Ambrosius]

Henry Muto drafted from the 5th spot in this August 20th slow draft league and he finished 2nd in this league to qualify for the Championship Round. Here were his draft results:

Muskrats:
Hill, Tyreek 1 5 WR Muskrats
St. Brown, Amon-Ra 2 16 WR Muskrats
Taylor, Jonathan 3 25 RB Muskrats
Stevenson, Rhamondre 4 36 RB Muskrats
Jackson, Lamar 5 45 QB Muskrats
Hall, Breece 6 56 FLEX Muskrats
Kittle, George 7 65 TE Muskrats
Dobbins, J.K. 8 76 RB Muskrats
Sutton, Courtland 9 85 WR Muskrats
Cousins, Kirk 10 96 QB Muskrats
Thomas, Michael 11 105 WR Muskrats
Njoku, David 12 116 TE Muskrats
Beckham, Odell 13 125 WR Muskrats
49ers, San Francisco 14 136 TDSP Muskrats
Ravens, Baltimore 15 145 TK Muskrats
Elliott, Ezekiel 16 156 RB Muskrats
Osborn, K.J. 17 165 WR Muskrats
Jefferson, Van 18 176 WR Muskrats
Miller, Kendre 19 185 RB Muskrats
Campbell, Parris 20 196 WR Muskrats
Tannehill, Ryan 21 205 QB Muskrats
Commanders, Washington 22 216 TDSP Muskrats
Falcons, Atlanta 23 225 TK Muskrats
Ross, Justyn 24 236 WR Muskrats
Dowdle, Rico 25 245 RB Muskrats
James, Richie 26 256 WR Muskrats

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here were Henry's Free Agent pickups from the three FAAB periods we had in the Cutline Championship and it included a big one right off the bat:

Week 2 - Puka Nacua 809
Week 2 - Calvin Austin 11
Week 2 - Adam Trautman 11
Week 2 - Mac Jones 3
Week 6 - C.J. Stroud 155
Week 6 - Keaontay Ingram 2
Week 6 - Ronnie Rivers 1
Week 6 - Detroit Lions TDSP 1
Week 6 - Tyler Conklin 1
Week 10 - Taylor Heinicke 2
Week 10 - Demario Douglas 2
Week 10 - Chicago Bears TK 1
Week 10 - Dalvin Cook 1

NICE PICKUPS of Puka and CJ Stroud!!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Henry Muto now joins our elite list of past champions as we have 11 different Cutline champions in 11 seasons.

Here's the great list of champions:

NFFC CUTLINE CHAMPIONSHIP OVERALL CHAMPIONS:

2013 - Ted Neff, VentureBros, 549.18
2014 - Chris Baker, Baker, 500.26
2015 - Thomas Greenwald, ONE GOAL 6, 524.93
2016 - Jared Daniels, 524.24
2017 - Nicholas Izzo, 511.31
2018 - Matthew Bayley, 608.65
2019 - Ronald Chan, 560.63
2020 - George Melbrod, 607.79
2021 - Steven Merrifield, 557.24
2022 - Peter Jennings, 561.89
2023 - Henry Muto, 536.96

[Greg Ambrosius]

David Webb won the top prize of $3,000 in the NFFC Cutline Consolation Round as we paid the Top 12 finishers in that bracket. A total of 75 teams were still alive in the Consolation Round in Week 17 and we paid the Top 12 overall. Here's the final standings:

2023 NFFC Cutline Championship Final Consolation Round Standings:
1 David Webb Webb 554.31
2 Jason Schoen JS30 545.68
3 Matt Newman Newman 539.68
4 Mark Szatkowski wacky Wednesday 536.6
5 Chester Mui CM14 534.8
6 Travis Loontjer Loontjer 529.77
7 Michael O'Brien Cheddarheads CL5 529.46
8 Joseph Dieffenbach Movin Da Chainz 523.03
9 Nehul Patel Mr Cook 518.38
10 Larry Goldstein Yellow Stickers & Red Ducks 10 517.81
11 Ray Pelleane Gassed up 513.09
12 thomas ruelas Bertha 2 512.42
13 David Hinkel TurfWars 512.16
14 Misty Meadows Dynamic DUO 511.72
15 Michael O'Brien Cheese Cutters 510.88
16 Bob Catsiroumpas delta 510.65
17 Chris Ferchen Fantasy Fabio 509.7
18 Chester Mui CM13 507.98
19 GEORGE WALLOFF Stormin Mormons 3 507.89
20 Kris Negus Negus CL Uno 505.82