First time Blackout participant Nate Swanger’s relentless focus on the receiver position fueled an epic comeback leading to a decisive win in the season long contest.
Nate’s got an early taste of success with a 75th place finish in Week 2 but otherwise struggled through the first 5 weeks. That’s when, in his words, “...My home league of 20 years fell apart after week 5 with injuries to Nabers and Lamar Jackson.” That turned out to be bad news for Blackout managers as Nate turned his attention to the Blackout and finished 18th in Week 6. After that he finished just outside the top 100 twice and averaged 45th place. To put that in context, the 2nd place finisher, a FI veteran since 1989, averaged 88th place in the final thirteen weeks.
According to Nate the trick to maintaining consistent success was, “...To use the pass-catching advantage to help pace my team ... and dig into the lead.” Looking at Nate’s selections throughout the season, he seemed willing to eschew orthodoxy and stay dialed in on situational matchups and hot hands. The receivers he used most often were George Pickins (6 times), Michael Wilson (6 times) and Tetairoa McMillan (5 times). Among players with at least seven eligible weeks, Pickens finished as the WR1, averaging 18.10 points per game. You did have to pick your spots with Pickens though, despite his overall production he only produced elite scores as an eligible player in Week 4 (33.30), Week 6 (31.80) and Week 11 (29.40). McMillan finished as the WR13 based on average score in eligible games, but he flew under the radar as a quality innings-eater this year. He was the WR2 among players who were eligible in at least 15 weeks and averaged 12.92 points with a selection rate of just 6-percent. Wilson didn’t make much of a dent on the season long rankings, but his performance down the stretch was incredible.
Making your hay at receiver wasn’t easy this season, as Nate observed: “Who would have thought Justin Jefferson would be available to use? Only to deliver single digits. The rise and fall of Emeka Egbuka, the back-end of Michael Wilson's year and George Pickens having an incredible first year in Dallas. What an odd year of fantasy.” Tight end he viewed as a touchdown or bust position, which is pretty much the way it plays with the top options unavailable. One of his favorites was Juwan Johnson (5 times) who finished as the TE11 but was another rock-solid contributor. Among players eligible in 15 or more games, he was the TE2 with an average of 10.80 points in 16 games.
At running back, Nate told me he liked Devon Achane to chase PPR points. He started Achane in 7 of his 11 eligible weeks. His second most selected back was Ashton Jeanty who finished as the RB2 among players eligible in at least 15 weeks. Below you’ll find a roster of all Nate’s most frequent starts:
| 2025 Blackout Winner, Favorite Picks Roster | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nate Swanger | ||||||
| (Maximum-points picks in bold) | ||||||
| (Duplicate score in italics) | ||||||
| Season % | Selected | Name | Position | Team | 25' Score | Average |
| 12.72% | 5 | Jared Goff | QB | DET | 314.15 | 22.44 |
| 21.72% | 4 | Dak Prescott | QB | DAL | 284.65 | 21.90 |
| 4.25% | 4 | Drake Maye | QB | NE | 138.80 | 27.76 |
| 9.57% | 4 | Jayden Daniels | QB | WAS | 93.90 | 11.74 |
| 13.82% | 4 | Joe Burrow | QB | CIN | 85.45 | 21.36 |
| 8.17% | 7 | DeVon Achane | RB | MIA | 107.30 | 17.88 |
| 9.53% | 5 | Ashton Jeanty | RB | LV | 233.40 | 15.56 |
| 14.25% | 6 | George Pickens | WR | DAL | 199.10 | 18.10 |
| 5.01% | 6 | Michael Wilson | WR | ARI | 193.80 | 12.92 |
| 6.06% | 5 | Tetairoa McMillan | WR | CAR | 160.30 | 11.45 |
| 12.44% | 6 | Hunter Henry | TE | NE | 168.20 | 10.51 |
| 10.24% | 6 | Juwan Johnson | TE | NO | 172.80 | 10.80 |
| 17.8% | 6 | Cameron Dicker | PK | LAC | 91.00 | 10.11 |
| 5.50% | 5 | Brandon McManus | PK | GB | 93.00 | 6.20 |
| 4.18% | 5 | Matt Gay | PK | WAS | 67.00 | 6.09 |
| 10.58% | 7 | Los Angeles Rams | ST | LAR | 105.00 | 6.56 |
| 7.40% | 4 | Los Angeles Chargers | ST | LAC | 76.00 | 5.43 |
| TOTAL | 169.86 | |||||
Before we go on to some season highlights, I also want to give some love to a couple of runners up. Nostriladamus, aka Robert Lantvit from Berwyn, IL kept the pressure on Nate and nearly completed the comeback with a Bears-esque 5th place finish in the final outing. Like I mentioned above, he’s been with the Index since the beginning. Speaking of, Ian Allan fought the good fight this season, battling his way into the top 15 and finishing 11th on the year. He built this sandbox, we just play here, some of us for nearly 40 years!
And now some fun facts about this season:
- The highest score of the year belongs to Shawn Crossman of Burlington, MA. His 255.55 points in Week 4 is extra impressive as every top reciever was blacked out that week!
- The top eligible score of the season came from Trevor Lawrence in Week 15. He scored 47.60 in a 5 touchdown game against the Jets while appearing on just 5-percent of Blackout Rosters.
- The most dominant defensive outing of the season was 26.00 points from the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. Not a single roster cashed in on their shellacking of the Bengals.
- The most selected player of the year was the Denver Broncos Defense. They appeared on over 22% of rosters despite just nine eligible weeks.
- Chase Brown was the highest scoring non-qb in this year's pool. He totaled 263.60 points and averaged 16.48 per eligible appearance.
- By average, the top scoring non-qb with at least 7 eligible games was Derrick Henry. He scored 21.14 in his eight eligible outings.
- Puka Nacua and Josh Allen were the only top players to not appear in the player pool once in 2025.
I called the “Wisdom of the Crowd” into question throughout the season as struggling players with name recognition maintained high selection rates and red-hot upstarts wasted away in the single digits. At year’s end though, it’s clear you are all wiser than I may have thought. Travis Kelce is the only bust that persisted too long and on balance you all selected a solid squad. Take a look:
| 2025 Season Wisdom Of The Crowd Score | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Maximum-points picks in bold) | ||||||
| Season % | Name | Position | Team | 25' Score | Eligible Wks | Per Game |
| 21.72% | QB | Dak Prescott | DAL | 284.65 | 13 | 21.90 |
| 16.91% | QB | Matthew Stafford | LAR | 339.55 | 13 | 26.12 |
| 13.51% | RB | Saquon Barkley | PHI | 135.10 | 9 | 15.01 |
| 13.25% | RB | Kyren Williams | LAR | 220.10 | 14 | 15.72 |
| 14.60% | WR | Nico Collins | HOU | 136.30 | 11 | 12.39 |
| 14.25% | WR | George Pickens | DAL | 199.10 | 11 | 18.10 |
| 13.85% | WR | Davante Adams | LAR | 120.20 | 9 | 13.36 |
| 13.71% | TE | Travis Kelce | KC | 98.50 | 10 | 9.85 |
| 12.44% | TE | Hunter Henry | NE | 168.20 | 16 | 10.51 |
| 17.80% | PK | Cameron Dicker | LAC | 91.00 | 9 | 10.11 |
| 14.45% | PK | Wil Lutz | DEN | 114.00 | 15 | 7.60 |
| 22.33% | ST | Denver Broncos | DEN | 58.00 | 9 | 6.44 |
| 13.09% | ST | New England Patriots | NE | 77.00 | 13 | 5.92 |
| TOTAL | 118.71 | |||||
It’s tough to determine the “Perfect Roster” for an entire season with such a wide spectrum of eligibility. Jonathan Taylor may have finished as the RB1 in PPR but he was only eligible for two weeks of the Blackout. To give some insight into the top roster options, I present the following two tables. The first shows the top average eligible scores for players available in at least 7 weeks, the second for players available at least 15 weeks. Viewed together, they will hopefully give a useful impression of which players made the biggest impact in this contest and how they did it. Here are the max points rosters for the 2025 Blackout Season:
| 2025 Perfect Score | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Min. 7 Eligible Appearances) | ||||||
| Season % | Position | Name | Team | 25' Score | Eligible Wks | Per Game |
| 16.91% | QB | Matthew Stafford | LAR | 339.55 | 13 | 26.12 |
| 3.61% | QB | Trevor Lawrence | JAC | 354.65 | 15 | 23.64 |
| 10.38% | RB | Derrick Henry | BAL | 169.10 | 8 | 21.14 |
| 12.92% | RB | Chase Brown | CIN | 263.60 | 16 | 16.48 |
| 14.25% | WR | George Pickens | DAL | 199.10 | 11 | 18.10 |
| 6.96% | WR | A.J. Brown | PHI | 152.00 | 9 | 16.89 |
| 5.59% | WR | Chris Olave | NO | 231.20 | 14 | 16.51 |
| 1.17% | TE | Colby Parkinson | LAR | 101.90 | 8 | 12.74 |
| 11.32% | TE | Kyle Pitts | ATL | 176.70 | 14 | 12.62 |
| 17.80% | PK | Cameron Dicker | LAC | 91.00 | 9 | 10.11 |
| 10.34% | PK | Ka'imi Fairbairn | HOU | 96.00 | 11 | 8.73 |
| 7.29% | ST | Pittsburgh Steelers | PIT | 87.00 | 12 | 7.25 |
| 4.66% | ST | Jacksonville Jaguars | JAC | 100.00 | 14 | 7.14 |
| TOTAL | 197.47 | |||||
| 2025 Perfect Score | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Min. 15 Eligible Appearances) | ||||||
| Season % | Position | Name | Team | 25' Score | Eligible Wks | Per Game |
| 3.61% | QB | Trevor Lawrence | JAC | 354.65 | 15 | 23.64 |
| 9.00% | QB | Caleb Williams | CHI | 339.15 | 15 | 22.61 |
| 12.92% | RB | Chase Brown | CIN | 263.60 | 16 | 16.48 |
| 9.53% | RB | Ashton Jeanty | LV | 233.40 | 15 | 15.56 |
| 7.34% | WR | Zay Flowers | BAL | 209.00 | 15 | 13.93 |
| 9.53% | WR | Jameson Williams | DET | 196.00 | 15 | 13.07 |
| 6.06% | WR | Tetairoa McMillan | CAR | 193.80 | 15 | 12.92 |
| 9.84% | TE | Harold Fannin | CLE | 168.90 | 15 | 11.26 |
| 10.24% | TE | Juwan Johnson | NO | 172.80 | 16 | 10.80 |
| 12.21% | PK | Cam Little | JAC | 120.00 | 15 | 8.00 |
| 6.79% | PK | Will Reichard | MIN | 130.00 | 17 | 7.65 |
| 5.38% | ST | Atlanta Falcons | ATL | 105.00 | 16 | 6.56 |
| 6.87% | ST | Chicago Bears | CHI | 108.00 | 17 | 6.35 |
| TOTAL | 168.83 | |||||
Thank you again to everyone who participated in the Fantasy Index Blackout in 2025! I hope you all enjoyed the challenge and I'll see you again in 2026!
--Ben Prator