Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this whole 2024 NFL Draft thing, and let me tell you, it’s a rabbit hole. I wanted to see if I could build my own little draft simulator, just for fun, you know?
Getting Started
First, I needed to figure out where to even begin. I mean, I’m no coding wizard. I started by just poking around online, seeing what other people had done. I found a few examples, some more complicated than others. It was a little overwhelming at first, I’m not gonna lie.
The Data Struggle
The biggest headache? The data. I needed, like, everything. Player stats, team needs, draft order… you name it. I spent a good chunk of time just gathering all this stuff and trying to organize it in a way that made sense. Spreadsheets became my best friend. Seriously, it was a mess of numbers and names.
- Player Stats: I Scrapped player stats from multiple websites.
- Team Needs:For team’s needs,I mainly used my football knowledge.
- Draft Order: Draft order, I found it easy to organize.
Building the Thing
Once I had the data somewhat under control, I started to think about how to actually build the simulator. I decided to keep it super simple at first. No fancy interface, just a basic text-based thing. I used, well, some basic coding stuff to make it work. It was a lot of trial and error, let me tell you.
My first few attempts were…rough. It would spit out some random names, but it didn’t really feel like a draft. It was more like a random name generator. So, I went back to the drawing board a few times, tweaking the logic, trying to make it a little smarter.
Making it (Slightly) Smarter
I added some basic rules, like, if a team needs a quarterback, it’s more likely to pick one. Obvious stuff, right? But even those small changes made a big difference. It started to feel a little more realistic, a little more like an actual draft.
Still a Work in Progress
Honestly, it’s still pretty basic. It’s not going to win any awards, but it’s mine. And it’s kind of fun to play around with. I can run it a few times and see different scenarios play out. It’s like my own little football sandbox.
I might keep tinkering with it, adding more features, making it more sophisticated. Or I might just leave it as is. It’s a fun little project, and I learned a lot along the way. That’s the main thing, right?