AFFL Team Pre-Draft Preview '15: Grabbers

Grabbers Owner Sassoon

For the next twelve days, the AFFL will give you a break down of each manager and preview their 2015 Fantasy season. We will take a look at what the team has done up to this point, their current keeper situation, and take an early look at how the difficulty of their schedule. Teams will be previewed in reverse draft order, starting with 12 and ending at 1. You can further see more about each manager and team by clicking on the teams tab and visiting each team page.

8. Grabbers United

History:

• 2012 AFFL Runner-up
• 2 playoff appearances last three years
• Second lowest lifetime win percentage 40-51 (43%)
• 4 losing seasons of less than six wins. One with only two wins
• Improved drafting has lead to recent success
• Two solid keepers in Luck and Gronk sets up 2015 well

Forgive the pun, but when you've hit bottom, there is no where to go but up. Grabbers United is a team that began its AFFL career with a tight grip on finishing in close to last place. Out of the first four seasons in the league, Grabbers would only claim a winning season once, and failed to make the playoffs in any of those years. It took some time for team United to figure out how to build a winning roster, and those tough years would soon provide the soil for which Grabbers would blossom out of.

In 2012, Grabbers got a taste of the AFFL sweet life, as they managed to squeak into the playoffs for the first time and ride the momentum all the way to the title game. While they didn't win-it-all, a successful season was much needed to bolster the teams confidence and redo his lowly image.

The success of the 2012 season would come back again last year, when the franchise found its way back into the playoffs thanks to the arm of Andrew Luck. With risky draft moves and free agent pick-ups, Grabbers didn't just have luck on his side, he managed his team exceptionally well. It was a welcomed site to others in the league who had written Grabbers off as a "weak" franchise.

Grabbers strength lies in his "ignorance is bliss" strategy of drafting. It can be argued that too much information about anything is not good. Grabbers isn't the most knowledgeable teams in the AFFL when it comes to  the draft, but that sometimes works in his favor. While everyone else is going by what experts predict, Grabbers isn't afraid to trust his gut on guys. Take for example last season. Without an RB in the first four rounds, many around the AFFL thought that Grabbers would fall apart. Taking Luck in the fourth gave Grabbers no shot at any worthy RBs. Add to that the fact that he drafted Mark Ingram, an Rb that was thought of as a bust and doesn't catch passes, and team United was building their team that was "anti-expert." Staying true to his risk averse ways, he then went out and spent half his FAAB budget on Justin Forsett early in the season when he hadn't proved much. Again he was mocked for going against the "experts." In the end, Grabbers had the last laugh, as he formed a strong team and managed his way from a lottery team to a playoff team. He deserves all the credit for his managerial skills. It was well done.

Looking forward into 2015, Grabbers has the chance to have a great season. The team will need to build on their success and make the playoffs for consecutive years before it can truly be considered a player in the league. However, things are definitely looking up for team United and a few more winning seasons will force everyone to forget where Grabbers started: at the bottom.

2015 Preview

Potential Keepers = Very Good

• Rob Gronkowski #8
• Dez Bryant #8
• Andrew Luck #20

Schedule = Good

• x2 = Magnum Sev.i and Awesomeness

Draft

Grabbers enters the draft with solid keeper options. It doesn't get much better than getting to keep the #1 QB last year at the 20th pick, so expect Luck to be kept. As for the first round pick, Grabbers has two ways he can go. If he opts to keep Dez because he is weary of keeping a TE that early, he would set himself up with a top 3 WR at pick 8. Not bad. If he elects to keep Gronk, he'll begin the draft with two players at the top of their respected positions. It's a win-win. We would think that Gronk would be the keeper of choice in the first round, then the be best avail RB/WR in round three. Grabbers could have the most difficult task of any manager, as they will be without a pick until after twenty-five selections have gone by.  He may not have the crazy value other teams have, but he has great players. Definitely something to build on.

Schedule

The two division opponents that Grabbers will play twice, Magnum and Awesomeness, aren't two of the strongest teams in the league, but they will provide a challenge. Awesomeness gets to keep AP and has Hopkins in the 5th round, a solid value. Magnum is a bit weaker with only Sanders as a 3rd round keeper. Looking at bye weeks, Grabbers will square off against Awesomeness during week 8, a week where neither team is effected. Magnum will come in week seven, and will be without Emmanual Sanders, giving Grabbers a leg-up in that game. Looking at when Grabbers is effected by byes, week 4 and week 10, neither of the teams they play those weeks (Vosgee and Hartan respectively) will be hurt with keepers sitting out. Those may be tough match-ups for Grabbers to win, depending on how he drafts.