Billed as one of the most bruising industry leagues of 2025, Year 1 of the annual FI Invitational proved to be every bit as brutal as expected. Once the dust began to settle and our field of contestants narrowed, there were only two left standing: Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros) - and the hometown hero, Ian Allan.

The Teams

Team PatFitz
Record: 9-5, 1 seed

For the Fitzmaurice squad, the barren wasteland of the Invitational was oddly welcoming. Despite injuries to George Kittle and some swing-and-miss in the middle of the board (Brian Thomas at 14; Tony Pollard at 59; Aaron Jones at 62), Fitzmaurice was stabilized by an enormous campaign from Puka Nacua (11th overall) and a quiet bounce back from Patrick Mahomes (86th overall). This, combined with workmanlike production from his running backs, a successful Week 2 waiver claim on Harold Fannin and comfortably the league's most forgiving schedule allowed Fitzmaurice to scratch his way back from a 4-4 midseason mark to clinching a first round bye in Week 13, leaving the rest of the combatants to continue frantically gouging each other's eyes out in the regular season finale.

Team IanAllan
Record: 8-6, 2 seed

Fittingly, the universe tasked Ian with a much tougher row to hoe. After a season opening win, Ian Allan was checked into the glass relentlessly: Over a five-week stretch that saw him go 1-5, Allan was stuck going against the league's highest or second-highest scoring teams of the week in all five losses (including once by Tom Mignone, our 2024 FI Blackout champ). Limping into Week 8 in desperation mode, Allan's team finally turns it on: A 70-point blowout in what would be the first of two meetings with Fitzmaurice. Team Allan stays hot from there on out, dropping only a Week 10 tilt with our own Andy Richardson over the rest of the regular season.

The turnaround was always inevitable. Armed with Josh Jacobs (10th), Kyren Williams (15th), James Cook (34th), Courtland Sutton (38th), Jaylen Waddle (63rd), Tucker Kraft (106th), Brock Purdy (111th), Blake Corum (135th), and Jake Ferguson (154th), Allan left the draft with all the groceries to whip up a playoff run; he comfortably outscored every other team in the league (as expected), averaging a robust 124 points per game. A Week 14 win combined with some helpful peripheral losses allowed Allan's top-scoring team to climb back from 2-5 to 8-6, forcing a six-way tie for 2nd place. With his top points scored as a tiebreaker, Ian claimed the second Week 15 bye.

The Matchup

The championship featured two teams battered and bloodied: Fitzmaurice had just lost Patrick Mahomes to an ACL tear that at least had the decency to fall in his first round bye; having lost backup Michael Penix to the same injury a few weeks prior, Fitzmaurice was forced to resort to plucky rookie Tyler Shough under center. Perhaps even more devastating was the Week 16 injury to famed December dominator George Kittle, forcing another rookie into Fitzmaurice's lineup. Things weren't much better on Ian's end: The loss of ascending star Tucker Kraft and fifth round pick Calvin Ridley combined with the injury-diminished Josh Jacobs had him nearly as shorthanded.

For Allan, the calamity was immediate and sustained. After capping off Dallas' opening drive against Washington on Christmas Day with a touchdown, Jake Ferguson would depart with a calf strain in the second quarter and did not return. That, combined with an empty 40 yards from Courtland Sutton and just Aaron Jones' second game producing more than 12 points since the season opener made it a rather disappointing Christmas for FI's head man. Advantage, Fitzmaurice.

While he would also see his starting tight end knocked out in the first half, strong production from emergency replacement Tyler Shough and dribs and drabs from the rest of his lineup had Fitzmaurice on track to win comfortably heading into Sunday night. This, thanks to the avalanche of stinkers that should have sunk Ian: After being listed as a full practice participant earlier in the week, Josh Jacobs 3-yard performance certainly sunk championship hopes far and wide last Saturday. This, combined with Jaylen Waddle's injury-shortened clunker and James Cook being mostly bottled up by Philadelphia had Ian on life support; even with another strong game from waiver wire hero Michael Wilson, Allan was going to need major fireworks, starting with Chicago at San Francisco.

Brock Purdy provides. Purdy's 5-touchdown day brought Team Allen roaring back up off the canvas on Saturday night, and suddenly the championship was down to a Monday night coinflip: With the score 89-88 Fitzmaurice, it would be Ian's Kyren Williams vs. Pat's Puka Nacua for all the marbles. In a game dominated early by Atlanta, Kyren Williams 130 scoreless yards were most of what the Rams could muster. But the Rams rallied hard in the fourth quarter, and with 2:52 left Puka Nacua took a screen pass 11 yards to the house, bringing Fitzmaurice back within a half point of Allen for the lead.

As he did in Tampa a few weeks ago, Kirk Cousins then calmly took the offense on a nine-play, 33-yard drive that ate up over two minutes of clock and depleted all three of Los Angeles' timeouts, getting them in position for Zane Gonzalez to connect on a 51-yarder, allowing Atlanta to retake the lead with 25 seconds left. The Rams would get a shot at overtime, which would have spelled big trouble for Ian.

After two incompletions got the Rams to 3rd & 10 from their own 35-yard line with :10 left on the clock, it was Puka time. Stafford dialed Nacua's number deep down the right sideline for what initially appeared to be an absolutely incredible 30-yard catch. But upon review the call on the field was overturned, taking 3.5 points back off the board for Fitzmaurice and bringing Ian within one play of the title. Stafford's final heave of the game was intended for Nacua, but would fall incomplete. With that, FI's Ian Allan emerged victorious in a fantasy football instant classic: 106.6-106.2, final.

Congratulations to our Ian Allan on his hard-fought conquest over a field of hard-eyed, battle-tested fantasy football jockeys in the 2025 FI Invitational. Thanks to all who participated, and we will see you guys in June (that's right, June) for the next one.

—Luke Wilson