“Lifetime bragging rights.”
According to Justin Huensch, that’s the best part of being crowned Yahoo’s Champion of Champions.
Open to winners of season-long leagues, 267,000 entrants competed in Week 1 of Yahoo’s inaugural Daily Fantasy Football playoffs contest. The top 20,000 finishers advanced to Week 2, setting their lineups for the Divisional Round. From there, the field was trimmed down to just 2,000 contestants, who battled it out this past Sunday.
A youth pastor living in suburban St. Louis, Huensch had only played daily fantasy a handful of times, but believes that his twelve years of season-long experience helped him set a winning lineup. Having paid close attention throughout the regular season, Huensch felt confident in his ability to hit on the studs - and sleepers - that would push him through each round of the competition.
This desire to stay engaged served Huensch quite well. Barely squeaking into his league’s playoffs with a 6-7 record, the 32-year-old fantasy fanatic tirelessly worked the waiver wire in the final weeks of the season. After losing QB Andrew Luck, RB Carlos Hyde, and RB Arian Foster to injury, Huensch capitalized on the additions of TE Jordan Reed and RB David Johnson, and additionally benefited from WR Martavis Bryant’s late-season surge.
Despite pulling off an incredible upset and winning his league’s super bowl by just 2.6 points, Huensch is still wrapping his brain around being “the best fantasy football player in the world.” In fact, upon discovering that he was in first place during the second half of the NFC title match, the Midwestern native took a screen shot of the standings so he could remember the moment. Never, however, did he imagine he could “win the whole thing.”
When asked what he planned to do with the ,000 grand prize, the father of two explained that he and his wife – who are expecting their third child this March - were planning to pay off their new minivan and some student loan debt. The couple is especially looking forward to the trip to San Francisco – part of the winner’s package - since they’ll be staying in a kid-free hotel room for the weekend.

As for the other nine members of Huensch’s fantasy league, well… they’re hoping their victorious buddy includes them when taking advantage of the $20,000 SeatGeek credit he’s won. Whether it’s a trip to the NBA Finals or seats behind the Cardinals’ dugout this summer, there are plenty of free sporting events in their collective futures.
When asked about his beloved Rams’ move to Los Angeles, Huensch quickly quipped, “I’m a free agent of fandom and right now my team is my fantasy team.” As well it should be.
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