Alright, so today I decided to get my feet wet with a mock fantasy football draft. I’ve been hearing about these things for ages, and with the season coming up, I figured, why not give it a shot? I mean, how hard could it be, right?
First things first, I needed to find a platform. There are a bunch of these online draft simulator things, but I just grabbed the first one that popped up on a Google search. I wasn’t about to spend hours comparing features or anything. I just wanted to jump in.
Getting Started
Once I got the simulator loaded up, I had to choose my league settings. Standard scoring? PPR? How many teams? Honestly, I just went with the default options for most of it. I did make sure it was a 12-team league, though, just because that felt like a good, round number. Snake draft, obviously. Who does auction drafts anyway?
The Draft Itself
Then came the fun part – the actual drafting! I was assigned a random draft position, which ended up being 5th. Not bad, not great. I had a general idea of who the top players were, thanks to some quick skimming of articles, so I wasn’t going in completely blind.
The first few rounds were a blur. I went with a running back in the first round, because, you know, gotta get those reliable points. Then I snagged a wide receiver in the second. After that, I just tried to balance my team. I made sure I had a decent quarterback, a couple more running backs and receivers, and a tight end I’d at least heard of.
Here’s a peek at how my first few picks went:
- Round 1: Some running back.
- Round 2: A solid Wide reciever.
- Round 3: A quarterback people seem to like.
- Round 4,5…: More running backs and receivers.
The Later Rounds… Oof
The later rounds were where things got tricky. I started recognizing fewer and fewer names. I ended up just picking guys who had decent projections or played for teams I liked. There might have been a bit of “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” involved, I’m not gonna lie. I made sure to grab a kicker and a defense eventually, though I waited until the very end for those, like everyone says you should.
The Result
After what felt like forever, the draft was finally over. My team? Well, let’s just say it’s a work in progress. I definitely have some strong players, but there are also a few question marks. Did I reach for some guys? Probably. Did I make some panic picks? Almost certainly.
But hey, that’s the whole point of a mock draft, right? To make mistakes and learn from them. I definitely have a better feel for the process now, and I’m actually kind of excited to do another one. Maybe next time I’ll even do some real research beforehand.