Congratulations to Mike Piotrowski. He’s the grand prize winner in our Fantasy Index Open competition, outperforming a field of 600 other entries.
A 58-year-old bartender from Ocean City, Md., Piotrowski put together a strong overall entry, ranking 2nd in the running backs category and in the top 30 at quarterback and tight end. He ranked an above-average 78th at wide receiver but wasn’t as strong at the less notable categories, finished 386nd at kicker and 482nd in the combined defense & special teams category.
As the winner, Piotrowski takes home a gigantic, Super Bowl-type trophy from the team at Affordable Trophies. They’ve have been partnering with us in this competition for years.
Piotrowski went with an aggressive approach. At running back, that included ranking unproven James Cook 4th and Raheem Mostert 8th. As a Ravens fan, he ranked Lamar Jackson and Justin Tucker No. 1 at their positions, and Mark Andrews was his No. 2 tight end. (Growing up, Piotrowski was a Colts fan, attending a home playoff game against the Steelers in the ‘70s.) He plays in two keeper leagues and has been playing fantasy football since the mid-‘90s.
Second place went to John Knebels from Havertown, Pa. He teaches business classes at a variety of universities in the Philadelphia area, as well as dabbling in some writing for some websites covering high school sports – philadelphiasportsdigest.com and catholicphilly.com (this year, for the first time, he drafted onto his fantasy team a player he previously had written about at the high school level – D’Andre Swift).
Knebels’ “Blaisin’ Katiemen” (a combination of the names of his two children) finished the highest at quarterback (11th), running back (37th) and kicker (48th). But he finished in the top 25 percent in the other categories as well – defenses (79th), tight ends (93rd) and wide receiver (120th). A life-long Eagles fan, he went the home-cooking route at quarterback, ranking Jalen Hurts first. Knebels is 61 and has won his 10-team league in eight of its 30 years (including the just-completed season).
As winners, Piotrowski and Knebels both earn spots in the Experts Poll in the 2024 edition of Fantasy Football Index, competing against 18 industry experts.
To see how your own Fantasy Index Open entry fared, log onto the fantasyindex.com site and click on the “Your Stuff” box at the top of the page. Click on the “Fantasy Index Open 2023” link, and you’ll see all scores displayed, as well as a scoring breakdown for every pick.
In scoring the selections, we use a combination of the production (using PPR scoring) and where he was ranked. Daniel Carlson, for example, finished the season with 110 points. Had you ranked him as your No. 1 kicker that would be worth 2,750 points (110 x 25). If he were you’re No. 2 kicker, he would count 2,640 points. Rank him 20th and it would be worth 660 (6 x 110). Follow that produced for every player, and you get the overall scores, with only three put together picks totaling over 364,000 points – Piotrowski, Knedel and Treavor Phipps from Salem, Ind.
| FANTASY INDEX OPEN -- TOP 30 FINISHERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Hometown | Points |
| 1. | Mike Piotrowski | Ocean City, Md. | 365,814 |
| 2. | John Knebels | Havertown, Pa. | 364,833 |
| 3. | Treavor Phipps | Salem, Ind. | 364,093 |
| 4. | Tom Morande | Tinley Park, Ill. | 362,978 |
| 5. | Mark Ryan | Victor, N.Y. | 361,722 |
| 6. | Murphy Delaune | The Woodlands, Texas | 361,529 |
| 7. | Ed Burke | Clifton Heights, Pa. | 361,419 |
| 8. | David Aikenhead | Lancaster, Calif. | 361,288 |
| 9. | Thomas McKenna | Philadelphia | 360,934 |
| 10. | Eric Petru | Cincinnati | 360,864 |
| 11. | Kenneth Yuen | Arlington Heights, IL | 360,762 |
| 12. | Paul Buske | Lakeville, Min. | 360,531 |
| 13. | Bryce Emmanuel | unknown | 360,472 |
| 14. | Troy Rasmussen | Bonney Lake, Wash. | 360,446 |
| 15. | Kevin Chelius | Woodinville, Wash. | 360,357 |
| 16. | Chad Henslee | Nederland, Texas | 360,322 |
| 17. | Richard Jackson | Berkeley, Calif. | 360,309 |
| 18. | Dave Cohen | Brooklyn, N.Y. | 360,117 |
| 19. | Scott Sang | Chicago | 360,046 |
| 20. | Brad Dewald | Regina, Sask. | 359,978 |
| 21. | Mike Gola | Trenton, N.J. | 359,942 |
| 22. | Michael Murillo | Brandon, Fla. | 359,904 |
| 23. | Tom Irwin | Argyle, Texas | 359,897 |
| 24. | Brack Varnon | Pearland, Texas | 359,853 |
| 25. | Ralph Remy | Canton, Ga. | 359,791 |
| 26. | Matt Garves | La Crosse, Wis. | 359,790 |
| 27. | David Weissmiller | Mount Carroll, Ill. | 359,750 |
| 28. | Terry Larro | Woodland Hills, Calif. | 359,677 |
| 29. | Fantasy Index staff | Seattle, Wash. | 359,561 |
| 30. | Ken Edwards | Salinas, Calif. | 359,545 |