The fun of mock drafts

Every year there’s nearly always half a dozen trades in the first round.
This makes picking player order a nightmare one small move and your draft order will go out the window.
So the game is predicting who will trade up.
This is where the fun begins because we have the eagles and chip Kelly.
Do I believe he won’t trade up in the draft "no chance of coarse he will"
So my advice is what does a team need and there trends in terms of what they normally do. One thing I think is often used by teams that are balanced take the best player available.
So ultimately what I’m saying are some players will 100% go round one focus on these and work out which part of the draft will they likely go top or bottom and take risks it’s only a draft…

Quite right Sean, and it’s all part of the excitement!

I’m currently taking park in a mock draft for the gridiron gentlemen podcast. I won’t reveal any picks in case anyone here listens to the podcast - but there have been multiple trades in our mock draft… and yes, the Eagles were one of the teams to trade up!!
Looking forward to the real thing, and to seeing how close any of us manage to get to it with our guesses…

Cheers Jon!! And good luck

You’re absolutely right of course. The trades are inevitable, and that completely skews everything everyone does on Mock Drafts, but it’s still great fun doing them, and it’s the drama of the unpredictable trade that has you jumping out of your seat.

The real fun is if there are trades almost straight away, in the top 5. You can be all set that it will start off:
TB - Winston
TEN - Williams
JAC - Fowler
OAK - one of the WRs …

Then suddenly Mariota goes at 3, not because the Jags have bailed out on Bortles, but because someone else (Browns?) ideally want him to drop to them at 12, but have got themselves worried about the 'skins taking him, and moving on from RG3.

One of the BIG plusses of the rookies salaries being re-worked as part of the current CBA is that trading at the top of the 1st Round is suddenly viable again.

It does make the process of Mock Drafts almost impossible though. You just need to look at a player (eg Mariota) and think, “yeah, someone will take the gamble, and move up for him in the top 3” rather than waiting for a team who are likely to take him. Mock them according to talent, and appetite for that position within the NFL, rather than tying them to a specific team.