Why Do We Mock Drafts?

Great piece that echoes my sentiments. I have a proposal for the powers that be. As some other sites do, we should have a daily or weekly “draft drawer” where all the mocks can go into that one post. What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of that?

I really enjoy the quality, well thought out, realisticly possible mocks…I just get lost in some’s thought process within the “out there” scenarios that are thrown against the perverbial wall…I could get behind swg’s idea of a “Mock Space” on the side bar?

Too many. And TOO EARLY.

I’ve been reading them and keeping an eye on some of the other sites out there since the end of the regular season. And as much as I love them, all you need is one trade like the Sanchez one last year and all that work is up in smoke making the whole prediciton thing completely useless. Although I suppose a lot of mocking is about looking at what ifs…..

I didn’t vote in the poll, because I’m torn.

As someone who does not write mock drafts, I appreciate the effort and passion that goes into creating them. They raise my awareness of who the possibles are.

On the other hand, my attention starts to wander a bit when I think I’m reading the 15th list with only a name or two variation. Then I start to skip over them.

On the other hand — am I allowed to have 3 hands? I love how much participation among our membership they generate. During the mock draft period, I see many names that I’m not used to seeing with any regularity. So, in that regards, I think they’re valuable.

I love reading the mocks myself, although, I’m reluctant to venture into drafting one myself. I like seeing who my fellow fans are thinking might help the Broncos improve in the coming years. What’d McGeorge say 57 and counting on this sight alone and then add in all the other sites out there and wow we’re talking a lot of mocks to see. Some make me think, some laugh and many I flat ignore as they don’t make sense once you really look at them. The problem with mocks is, we can pretty much figure what the needs are of the Broncos and maybe have a clue what direction the staff might be going. The other teams, well that’s where the reall speculation comes in….

I do like the idea of place to sort all of them on the sight, however.

But “in my opinion” the fan post section is for a posting some original thought. It’s for entertainment and letting people know how you think. If that is in the form of a mock draft then so be it.

But just using that as a forum to sprout an idea that’s popped in your head is a bit selfish. It takes attention away from better, more well thought out pieces of work.

And the other thing – this is just my opinion – but fan posts should be for original thought. If you see an article you want to highlight or comment on, then post it where it’s supposed to go – in fan shots.

I have to be honest, I’ve started flagging articles in fan posts if they are just copy-pastes some other journalists work. They should be in the fan shots. Then it’s up to the staff to decide if I’m right or wrong. It’s none of my business after that – I’ve stated my opinion.

But I love mocks. I learn a lot from them. I hope people continue them.

really liked the comparison to the draft to the whole season. Ridiculous optimism and being foolishly hopeful, then after the combine comes great analysis and lots of different opinions. Then the draft comes and then comes a great analysis of those that were chosen. Of course all of these mocks are rather pointless because we have no idea what will happen in free agency or at the combine but it’s all in good fun.

for unrealistic extra picks is what gets me. It’s easy to have a good looking mock when you’re picking 6 picks in the top 80 prospects.

I get the feeling that many mocks suffer from “team tunnel vision” where we’re really familiar with our needs, but our mock picks for other teams simply echo what everyone else says (MSM, mock draft gurus, etc) are needs for other teams. I’m not saying they’re completely off the mark, I’m just not sure we’re getting the real inside scoop. I think we alleviate this problem somewhat when we do our MHR mock before the draft and have folks ask other team sites what they’re expecting their team to do in the draft. However, I’m not sure the mocks I’ve seen thus far account for that, mainly because it’s really time consuming to understand all the needs for each team.

All that to say, I’m going to try and visit other team sites, local newspapers, etc to see if I can understand what other teams might do (not just what the talking heads assume they will do). I think we’ve got plenty of folks tracking our team and think for those who might be mock weary, looking to other teams might give us some insights into what may happen around the Broncos picks, which obviously impacts our picks. Just a thought…

and yesterday went on my way to check out other teams sites. Lo and behold, right on the first page I saw on SBNation that they are having a mock with represenatives from each team’s site. I looked aghain now and I can’t find it. Pretty sure it said E.J. and someone else was going to be our reps. Maybe if he reads this he will shed some light. I think they are doing that tomorrow night.

One reason that "Too many mocks’ is ahead in the poll is that they are often so bizarre that they seems like are likely more fun to write than to read (I will note that some members can’t get enough, regardless of content, and that’s fine too). I think that it’s fair to say that creating a dozen mock drafts before the underclassmen even declare, much less going through the Combine, puts the cart far ahead of the Bronco. Why not simply start with articles on players that you like and think might be good picks for someone? You could even look at which teams run which schemes and include that.

A little depth isn’t a bad thing either. How about talking about the specific area of the Broncos scheme that the player fits well? Character? Leadership and/or Citizenship awards? Personal info that tells you about them, such as Sammie Lee Hill pulling a man from a burning house and not wanting anyone to know because, “I’d want someone to do it for my Dad”?

Many/most of the players that are being brought up are interesting to get to know. I, like most folks, enjoy deepening my understanding of who is out there. However – without a Combine and free agency, most of this is just done for the heck of it. That’s not a problem by itself – members and staff should write whatever they want. But the sheer size of the onslaught is an issue. I do read the articles that are non-draft and prefer them in general, but they are often quickly pushed off by the tsunami of mocks.

It wouldn’t hurt, as McG pointed out, to have more articles on the aspects of football that don’t get covered during the season. While they don’t need to be the ones he listed (but certainly could be), I particularly have enjoyed the work by Steve and Brian in the past week, as examples. Members – hey, you can write these too. Find something that interests you, spend some time on research and write it. You’ll enjoy the process, the other members always appreciate them and you’ll get better over time, so if you don’t have a lot of writing skills at the moment – so what? Do it anyway. You’ll improve a lot, very quickly – one member who had issues writing asked me for help. We worked quite a bit for a while – one of his jobs, now, is a for-profit website that he writes articles for.

Mocks are fine. They have their place and I wouldn’t tell anyone who likes writing them to stop, but it is worth considering whether or not the one you are working on gives something new to the community or if it just covers re-runs. If it’s just a chance to show how ‘out there’ an idea can be – consider restraint. Keep in mind – if you’re writing for the site on any basis, you’re writing for the membership. Make sure that you’re giving something to them that you’re proud of.

As soon as the season ended for the Broncos, there was a lack of material to post about, outside of free agency and the draft. Not knowing much about the college talent pool available in the draft, I was like a dog looking in a butcher’s window as I read the mocks that were postd. Over time, that excitement has waned, as the mocks became repetitious, and the suggested trades grew to a ridiculous level.

At that point in time, I became fond of the listing and descriptions of players at various positions as listed by “sharpe”. With that concept, there is less speculation, and more information to imagine what the Dove Valley brain trust may choose to do on an individual level.

Many of us would like to see more non mock posts. There are several members that use statistics to form opinions to support such posts. Unfortunately, to get more in depth on such topics as the performance of Ron Fields, there is little available outside of stats with which to form any real opinion. There is nothing available along the lines of coaching film, where a position is isolated, nd the observer might be able to assess the performance and technique of a given player. I, personally, would pay for such a “tool”, as I would find it entertaining and quite interesting. Alas, without such a tool, most of what we can discern from broadcast coverage is simple speculation. Only the coaches have access to such things from which to draw real conclusions, at least as far as I know.