NFL Mock Drafts
I promised I would write a story about how mock drafts are ridiculous in a previous story and here it is. Mock drafts are fun for everyone to read. These allow fans to get a glimpse of who their favorite team may select in the coming draft. Mock drafts also give the prospects and their agents an idea of who might select them as well as at what pick. The problem with these types of predictions though, is all are incorrect.
I realize that statement can be interpreted in many ways. Some might say “They got the top 10 picks right.” for example. That would be impressive for sure, but almost any NFL expert can do that. Although that would have been especially difficult in last year’s draft. Pretty much every prediction had the San Francisco 49ers selecting Mac Jones with the third overall pick. Little did they know, the 49ers were not planning on taking him at all. Instead, they elected to take Trey Lance with that pick. San Francisco knew the prediction was wrong, but did not say anything because they did not want to give every team their draft plan. If predicting the first 10 selections in the draft is what you are trying to do, then mention that in your title. What I am saying is no person has ever correctly predicted the entire 1st round correctly.
That is not surprising though. There are so many factors that go into making a perfect mock draft. You would need to do extensive research on prospects, NFL teams’ rosters as well as needs, scheme fits. and franchises’ selection history. Even with all that being taken into consideration, authors like to take a stab at doing just that.
2022 Mock Drafts
Mock drafts always seem to be published earlier and earlier every year. The NFL’s annual scouting combine is currently underway and many of the largest sports media outlets have already written their own versions. These sources include some big ones such as ESPN, NFL Network, and Pro Football Focus just to name a few. The fact that any of the writers from these outlets can say for a fact this is their prediction for the NFL draft in late April prior to the conclusion of the combine and free agency is absolutely ludicrous. These authors do a bit of research on the NFL teams and the prospects then feel qualified to create a perfect mock draft.
If I were to ever create one of these, I would only do one. It would be written within 24 hours of the draft. I would do extensive research on all the teams in terms of their coaching staff, the schools they like to draft from, and possible trade scenarios. I would also look at the prospects themselves to evaluate the best fit for them. Because of all of this work I would have to do, I would never create one. It makes no sense to me to put all that time and effort into something that will have an extremely small chance at being perfect.
What I would be interested in though is doing this type of research for one team. That way I can spend my time researching what that franchise would be likely to do and compare that to what I think their big board looks like. Even then the chance of being wrong is still there, I would not be taking time away from writing other stories that I find more interesting and relevant at that time.
Closing Thoughts
This article was published on the Belly Up Sports website and specifically its NFL page. Belly Up Sports also has a Twitter page where you can interact with the network. I also have written for this outlet before so see my most recent story If you would like. If you would like to talk to me directly, feel free to chat with me on my Twitter as well. Try to keep it clean and proper. If you are incapable of doing so, ignore that completely and battle it out with me. Just a few warnings for those who dare challenge me. I am highly competitive and hate to admit when I am wrong. So be prepared for a war of words.
