AFFL Team Pre-Draft Preview '15: Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai owner Sayyad

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.

10. Cobra Kai

History:

• 2013 AFFL Champion
• 2014 3rd place finish
• Has made playoffs 4 of 8 years
• Has won 9 games during regular season only once.
• Has routinely had great quality keepers over past two years.
• Analytics used to determine best draft strategy
• Shrewd trade dealer. Once had five separate multi-player trades in two day span

Cobra Kai has become a viable force in the AFFL rather quickly, coming out of nowhere to win the league title in 2013 and becoming the first non-Lalazarian team to do so since Hartan did it in 2007.  Prior to the 2013 season, Cobra had gone three season without making the playoffs, and had only one victory in the post-season in the years between '07-'09. His history isn't one that showcases much dominance over a long period of time  (54-51 lifetime record; 51% winning percentage; 5-4 playoffs). In fact, he has won at least nine games during the regular season only once, while all other AFFL Champs and Prime Time have done it multiple times: Bomba (5), Prime (3), Hartan (2), Awesome (2), Jaj (2). Critics may add all this up and say his AFFL title was merely a flash in the pan. Then again, Kai could just now be finding himself. Since the AFFL turned into a keeper league, Cobra has relied heavily on analytics to guide his team to the top, and its worked. He is often times one of the most tuned in managers in the league, and crunches the numbers as well as or better than anyone else. Entering the 2015 season, Kai has plenty of keeper of options and is viewed as one of the teams that shouldn't be taken lightly on anyone's schedule.

Cobra makes his money during the season, primarily with his in-season management. While he hasn't drafted terribly in years past by any means, his in-season roster moves and trades are what have typically defined the Cobra brand. Weekly starting line-ups hardly have big points wasted on the bench. Kai works the phones like nobodies business, frequently exploring trades to make his teams better every week. He's one of the shrewdest traders in the business, frequently exploring multi-team and multi-player deals. It was this kind of work that resulted in his championship in 2013. You can rest assured that as the trade deadline approaches, Cobra will use whatever leverage he has to improve his roster for one final playoff push.

With a title under his belt, and a third place finish last year, Cobra can further solidify his place at the head table with another strong finish in 2015. He has established himself as one of the top teams in the league, and if he can continue to show sustained success, he will quickly move into the realm of elite.

2015 Preview

Potential Keepers = Good

• Jordy Nelson Pick #22
• Lamar Miller Pick #52
• Jordan Matthews #71

Schedule = Medium

• x2 = Jaj Cousteau and Awesomeness

Draft

Jordy Nelson should be one of the keepers Cobra hangs onto prior to the draft, and we anticipate he will do just that. Pick number twenty-two is good value for one of the top WRs in the game. Depending on Kai's draft strategy, he could elect to keep either Lamar Miller or Jordan Matthews. Lamar Miller could be had in the fourth round, so it's possible that Kai will keep Matthews and draft Miller to retain both. The interesting part of the draft will be watching The last four teams, HBK, Cobra, Prime, Jaj battle it out for picks. All four have similar situations, with one RB and one WR as a keeper. Cobra may elect to do what everyone else isn't doing in the back four and that might not be a bad idea. At pick #10, we'd expect Cobra to select any position, including quarterback. A Rodgers to Jordy combo would be very tempting. If he chooses to go with a WR, Megatron should be there for the team to select.

Schedule

Bye weeks are crucial to any team, and by the looks of things. Cobra will face both Jaj and Awesomeness with all keepers available. Cousteau's team could be very strong with Brown and Charles, and despite the poor showing the last few years, Awesomeness has AP and Hopkins as keepers. Both teams won't be push-overs come the regular season. Looking at Cobra's keeper's byes, he will face Sev.i week five without Lamar Miller, Hartan week 7 without Jordy Nelson, and Bomba week 8 without Jordan Matthews. All those teams will have keepers intact, so Kai will be at a slight disadvantage in those games as it sits now. Of course, this is an extremely early look and more will be known after the draft. As it stands now, Cobra looks to have a fairly mixed bag when it comes to ease of schedule.