Alright, so the wait is over. Thursday is the NFL Draft. So, it’s time to look up who the experts think your team is going to take and wear out the water cooler talking to co-workers.
This week, I want to talk about how to actually consume the Draft to make it even more exciting and meaningful. I’ll cover Mock Drafts today, Players Beyond Round 1 tomorrow and Pool Options on Wednesday.
MOCK DRAFTS
So, what is a Mock Draft. Well, simply put, a Mock Draft is when someone guesses who each team will pick of a given round. Typically, the Mock Drafts only cover the 1st round, which makes sense given the difficulty of predicting. However, some of the big names and serious draft people will predict all 7 rounds. A buddy of mine sent me a great article over the weekend about the history of Mock Drafts. It’s a must read.
What’s really interesting in the article and the point of this post, is that the real experts only do the Mock Drafts because that is what the public wants. Mocks get people talking. Plus, as I have benefitted from, the amount of information available today than the early days of Mocks is insane. I do not have to attend a combine or pro day or watch tape, and I can piece together a mock draft off the backs of people that really know what they are talking about. The Draft is now almost a cottage industry of itself separate from the NFL. I liken the NFL Draft coverage to the explosion of Fantasy Football, which we will start covering in July. The internet has really allowed all fans to access information that was only available by beat writers or extreme Draft experts like Joel Buchsbaum outlined in the article.
Last week I took a shot at my own Mock Draft over 3 days – here are my picks.
NFL Draft – 1st Round Picks – Picks 11-20 – Who Do You Want?
Personally, I have taken some top names drafts: Mel Kiper and Todd McShay of ESPN, Daniel Jeremiah Charlie Casserly and Bucky Brooks of NFL.com, Walter Football, and Chris Trapasso of CBS. I started tracking their mocks as early as December. Then, I put together the updates after the Senior Bowl, Combine and in April after NFL Free Agency. Doing this allowed me to come up with some consensus thinking among the experts. I also picked these experts because they update their mocks regularly. Here are their current mocks:
Daniel Jeremiah/Charlie Casserly/Bucky Brooks – http://www.nfl.com/draft/2017/mock-drafts
Walter Football – http://www.walterfootball.com/draft2018.php
Chris Trapasso – https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/mock-draft/
COMBINE RESULTS
In addition to the 1st Round Mocks themselves, then I like to go to the NFL Prospects page from the Combine for the measured items and general scouting report of each key prospect.
https://www.nfl.com/draft/tracker/prospect
PODCASTS AND OTHER MEDIA
Luckily, at my job, I have the ability to multi-task. I can listen to podcasts or Sirius XM during my work day to hear a ton of information. Here are a few I’ve been listening to for the last 3 months.
Locked On NFL Podcast – https://www.lockedonnfldraft.com/
Move the Sticks Podcast – http://www.nfl.com/podcasts?series=movethesticks-podcast
Sirius XM NFL Channel – https://www.siriusxm.com/nfl
Of course, not everyone can spend their days listening to Sirius XM or podcasts, but with only a couple days to go, why not jump in. Make your own Mock Draft. Talk to your friends about who your team should pick. I’ll show you a Pool idea on Wednesday which may make it more fun. Either way, it’s time to go all in.
How do you keep track of your team or the Draft? Leave a comment below.
Wegs