The 2025 FI Invitational was every bit the gauntlet of brutality it was built up to be. With the field expanded from a single at large bid to four, has the sledding been any easier?

Far from it: With four of our most accomplished Fantasy Index and Blackout players in the mix this year instead of just one, the waiver wire is FAAB warfare and the margin for error is close to nil. Everyone's still alive, but with six weeks' worth of action in the can here's where the combatants stand.

On the Ropes

When the guy in last has the RB7 and two of the biggest ADP home runs in the draft at wide receiver, you know bad luck's been hard at work. Sure enough, despite leading the league in scoring over the last two weeks Bobby L. (2025 Blackout 2nd Place finish) only managed the one win over that span. Pouring resources into the running back position was the salient thing to do, but getting next to nothing out of your 2nd- and 4th-round picks is going to be tough for most teams to overcome. Jonathon Brooks (7.09) was another regret fountain that many were socking away in the middle rounds of drafts. Nostrildamus is only two games out of a playoff spot though, so if they can just stop getting points dumped on them in bulk every week they've got the firepower to turn things around. Tucker Kraft playing up to his handsome pay day also wouldn't hurt.

Nearly as star-crossed has been our own Viva Murillo, who certainly hasn't lacked for hits: He quite possibly has the eventual RB1 and TE1 rostered, and Drake Maye has shaken off the dismayingly slow start to revert to 2025 form. Obviously, it's been the disastrous bad fortune at wide receiver that has been his undoing: On top of the underperforming Brown-Egbuka tandem, expensive misses on Brian Thomas (7.01) and Michael Pittman (10.12) have had this team's arms pinned at its sides. But Murillo's 170-point Week 5 explosion is our highwater mark in scoring on the young season, so he's about as dangerous a draw as any 1-5 team you're likely to face.

In the Hunt

Back for another go at it and hoping to avenge last year's last place finish, at 2-4 the MisConcepcions are already two-thirds of the way to last year's win total. Running back a version of last year's zero RB strategy, Andrew placed a big bet on young Jeremiyah Love that has yet to love him back. But with a strong second half from the tantalizing rookie and more elite production from a strong 1-2 punch at receiver, this can certainly be the kind of team that you dread going against. Any of Love, Concepcion or Makai Lemon could emerge down the stretch to help fill out this lineup.

Going in reverse order like I am, the Omarion Hampton bomb was bound to go off fairly early on. Our reigning Blackout champion eats one of the top 15's two major ADP grenades, with the sting made deeper by it being his only running back in the top 50 picks. As if that weren't enough, Nate lost both Jaxson Dart (9.10) and Baker Mayfield (11.10) to injury already. Amazingly, his 18th round flier on Bryce Young was both prescient and quite necessary. Between the Young-McMillan 'stack', steady production from Tyler Warren and Amon-Ra St. Brown, if Nate can cobble together some respectability out of his running back hodgepodge he might just mess around and squeak into the playoffs.

If only one or two of the reaches on running backs had been swings on receivers instead! Our bronze medalist in last year's Fantasy Index Open, Steven cast his lot in on some above ADP buys (Josh Allen, Swift) that have panned out nicely. And Parker Washington and Mike Evans have given him discount WR1 production; this team should have a winning record.

Alas, it's the absence of quality flex options paired with dismal returns on premium investments at tight end and defense that have capped this team thus far. But Jonah Coleman, Chris Godwin and the Indy wideouts aren't bad bets in the intermediate-term — Godwin getting Mayfield back this week for what should be a higher scoring affair in Carolina can't hurt.

After coming within a single play of fending off Ian Allan to win the inaugural Fantasy Index Invitational last year, Pat Fitzmaurice is back with another crackerjack team full of ADP winners. Jaylen Warren and Kyle Monangai (injuries and all) have outperformed what they cost him, and Zay Flowers has completed the transition from strong No. 2 wideout to true WR1. But a chippy draft board forced Fitzmaurice onto a lot of risky picks, and several have broken bad: Jaylen Waddle was the hype boy du jour among fantasy Twitter experts in the weeks leading up to draft season, and it's certainly been an overly bumpy ride for both of his former Cardinals, Harrison and Kyler.

But having Bowers back online and Warren taking control of the Pittsburgh backfield (Andy R. and I appear to have been 'big wrong' about Rico Dowdle being the man there... whoopsie daisy) gives Fitz some real week-to-week knockout power. If he can weather the injuries at running back, this team can start cracking people.

It's been an early going defined by late round hits for my team. With Rice and Burden sputtering out of the gate, old guys have stepped up to cover the shortfall: Deebo Samuel was a high-end flex play prior to his latest minor ailment, and Stefon Diggs is now clear to eat just about all the targets his soon to be 33-year-old body can handle. Between Rice and Samuel's eventual returns and Burden beginning to heat up, cheaping out at wide receiver at least isn't killing me. But a couple of more injuries to any of my guys on the wrong side of 30 just might, so fingers crossed that Kittle, Diggs and Deebo get/stay well for as long as possible.

The Contenders

Pairing clairvoyance at quarterback and wide receiver with profound misfortune at running back and tight end, our own Andy Richardson has managed to withstand his whole running back group hitting their worst-case scenarios with a WR trio that has been the league's envy and top-flight numbers from a certified 'Andy's guy' in Lawrence. There are some concerningly large leaks in the hull right now, but Andy's got enough meat on the bone here to survive while he waits for his luck at RB and TE to turn. That is, so long as Lamb and Nabers stay healthy. Knock on wood Andy, knock on wood.

And things were going so well. Steaming into Week 3 with Justin Jefferson and Dalton Kincaid resurgent, Travis Kelce eternal and Brock Purdy storming out of the gates on fire, FI's resident baseball czar was primed to give the football guys a real run for their money.

Then Week 3 happened. Jefferson and Travis Etienne got hurt, Dalton Kincaid vanished, and the already struggling De'Von Achane called it a season early with a torn ACL. The Terry McLaurin injury makes it four of Zola's top five picks that are either gone for the season or have missed games already. Not much you can do in the face of such bum luck.

And yet, the team is 4-2 and the season must go on. Greedily nabbing Jameson Williams and DK Metcalf as receiver depth proved wise, and luckily both are shaking off slow starts when Todd needs 'em most. How far can Brock Purdy (who put Ian over the top in the championship last year) carry a team that will be starting Alvin Kamara and RJ Harvey every week for the immediate future? We're about to find out.

We found the running backs! Running back (heh) the signature RB-heavy build that carried him to both a scoring title and an actual one in year 1, Ian is up to his old tricks of routinely rolling out four running backs and tromping through the opposition through brute force. Ian's four-headed monster of lead backs from good-to-great offenses has been able to cover some fairly significant ADP losses at quarterback and wide receiver. But will that hold up in court this time around?

I say again: And things were going so well! Powered by the fantasy nuclear reactor that has become JSN, Ben's Invitational team looked like it might be one of destiny: Even winged by the Josh Jacobs legal imbroglio, the Bucky Irving Revival combined with white hot starts from DJ Moore and Davante Adams and the abrupt return from the trainer's room by Alec Pierce had this thing looking like the road to glory might just run through Ben's backyard.

It may be time to reroute. Absolutely decimated by injuries to his entire wide receiver corps, and now dealing with job security weirdness surrounding Cam Skattebo right as Jacobs' return appears imminent, this team is currently balancing on the head of a pin. Defiantly remaining the only team in the league not to roster a second quarterback behind the, let me check — yes, 38-year-old Matt Stafford is quite reminiscent of Lieutenant Dan screaming at the heavens from that shrimp boat.

Warts and all, Ben made it six straight industry types on this rundown, and five straight from FI's own hallowed halls. But now we turn our attention to the belle of the early season ball — and Public Enemy No. 1 in this year's FII.

The Frontrunner

In hindsight, maybe admitting both the Fantasy Index Open 1st place winner and the Blackout 3rd place finisher was a bad idea. That's what we have at the helm of the Buffalo Wings, and his handiwork is a thing of beauty. Armed with a bevy of picks that I loved the second they came in (and a couple I didn't; apologies, Garrett and Javonte!), Brent's team is easily the closest thing we have to a bulletproof roster: The RB2, TE1, TE7, and a whopping three wide receivers currently ranked in the top 12 overall. When your Joe Burrow-Patrick Mahomes quarterback room is a relative weakness, you're doing alright.

Impressive, very nice Brent. But I'll be back to avenge that Week 1 defeat my friend, so don't get too comfortable at the top!

—Luke Wilson