2023 NFFC Champions Profile - Henry Muto

[Tom Kessenich]

Having tasted the sweetest nectar of fantasy success once in his life before in the NFFC, Henry Muto could have settled. He had won the RotoWire Online Championship in the NFFC in 2012. That title alone guaranteed him a spot among the greatest players in the annals of fantasy history.

But Henry wasn’t satisfied with winning that title only. Since that illustrious moment more than a decade ago he had been chasing something even greater. Something even more special.

A second NFFC championship.

And in 2023, that moment became reality when Henry Muto became a two-time national champion in the NFFC after taking home the Cutline championship and winning its $75,000 grand prize.

“Finally is how I felt,” he said. “I’ve been chasing (another) major championship since (2012).”

Muto became the 11th different champion in the 11-year history of this contest. He 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, he was standing at the top and holding the $75,000 grand prize.

He actually had two teams in the Final 12 and those teams finished first and fourth overall. He’s 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 seven league titles and finished second in two others, including this championship team. Nine teams made the Championship Round and six teams were in the Consolation Round.

“I had a strong year in the Cutline,” he said. “Everything just fell into place. What I didn't ever expect to happen in Week 16 was having one of my two Wild Card teams finish in first place out of the 110 teams and move into the Championship Round.

“Going into the Monday night Week 16 game I had already wrapped up 1 spot in Week 17 with my team that was in 1st place overall in the championship round but it was my other team moving into 1st place that night in the Wild Card round giving me both 1st places in Week 16 which felt great. I was still disappointed as I sat (Amari) Cooper and his 51 points costing me a third team in the final 12 for Week 17.”

Like many players in the NFFC, Muto is a big believer in building his drafts around elite wide receivers in the early rounds. His championship team was no exception as he drafted Tyreek Hill and Amon-Ra St. Brown with his first two picks.

However, he credited a subtle shift after those two selections with playing a huge part in his $75,000 season.

“Despite starting two wide receivers I went running back heavy with Jonathan Taylor in the third round and Breece Hall in the sixth while adding an elite quarterback with Lamar Jackson in the fifth and a good tight end in the seventh with George Kittle,” he said.

Taylor and Hall weren’t the only running backs who paid big dividends for his championship team, though. A 16th-round pick also proved pivotal in the latter stages of the season.

“The other key ironically was drafting Ezekiel Elliott as my handcuff to (Rhamondre) Stevenson,” Muto said. “He was huge in Week 16 pouring in 21 much-needed points to get me to first place in Week 16 to get back into the championship round.”

With limited FAAB in the Cutline one move or two can often be the difference in making or breaking a team’s chances to pay big dividends in the quest to make the Championship Round. For Muto, he hit on the player who unquestionably was 2023’s biggest Waiver Wire pickup of the season.

Puka Nacua.

“He was available in 12 out of my 18 leagues and I bid over $800 in every single league and won him on 11 including the one that won the championship,” Muto said.

A $155 bid for C.J. Stroud also paid off nicely as well. Both set the stage for Muto’s championship run.

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. Henry also finished fourth overall to win another $15,000.

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.

“The Thursday night for Week 17 is when I knew I had a real shot with Hall scoring 27 points and (David) Njoku adding 18 points,” he said. “I thought on Saturday night when (CeeDee) Lamb went off for 42 points I might be in trouble but then I remembered that almost every team had (Christian McCaffrey) except for my team that finished first and one other team and I had St Brown score a TD in the final minute which proved to be huge in the end.”

After splurging a bit following his Online Championship win in 2014, Muto was more practical with his grand prize winnings last year.

“I invested it at the bank,” he said. “After winning my 2012 Championship I bought a new car and I have owned that car ever since so I am likely to use some of the money to buy another new car.”

Muto first joined our contests in 2009. 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.

“It is an amazing feeling to even have a shot to win a major contest the odds are so stacked against you and to now to have done it three times and twice in the NFFC is hard to believe,” he said. “While I do play a lot of leagues I do not play nearly as many as some of the heavy hitters in the industry.

“This takes a lot of work all through drafting season and then waivers/lineups that winning is a great accomplishment one that you think is impossible, yet someone has to win each year. I am thankful that the NFFC runs such a great contest.”