Alright, so today I decided to dive into the world of NFL mock drafts. I’ve always been a huge football fan, and the draft is like Christmas morning for me. I wanted to see if I could build my own mock draft simulator, just for fun, you know?
Getting Started
First things first, I needed a place to start. I knew I wasn’t going to code this whole thing from scratch – ain’t nobody got time for that! So I started googling around for existing tools or platforms that could help me.
I found a few different websites and apps that do mock drafts, some free, some paid. I played around with a couple of them to get a feel for how they worked, what features they had, and what I liked and didn’t like.
The Process
Most of these simulators have pretty much the same core steps:
- Set up the draft order: Sometimes it’s the actual current NFL draft order, other times you can customize it.
- Choose your team: You pick the team you want to control, and the simulator handles the rest.
- Make your picks: When it’s your turn, you see a list of available players, usually with some basic info like position, college, and maybe some stats or ratings. You pick who you want.
- The AI takes over: For all the other teams, the simulator has some kind of built-in logic (the “AI”) to make picks for them. It probably considers team needs, player rankings, and maybe some randomness too.
- Rinse and repeat: You go through all the rounds, making your picks, and watching what the AI does.
- Review the results: At the end, you can see your whole draft class, and sometimes the simulator gives you a grade or some analysis.
My Experience
Honestly, it was pretty addictive! I spent way more time than I planned just running through different scenarios. “What if I traded up for this quarterback?” “What if I focused on defense first?” It’s like a game within a game. Some of simulators provided great details of each player.
The AI in some of these simulators is surprisingly good. It’s not perfect, obviously, but it often made picks that made sense, and sometimes even surprised *’s cool to see how different simulators have different “personalities” in how they draft.
At last, I picked a team, simulated several drafts, and it gave me an “A” grade at the end. Pretty cool, right?
It’s a fun way to kill some time and get my football fix. I definitely recommend trying it out if you’re a fan of the NFL and the draft!