Mock draft is a term used by

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

websites and magazines in reference to a

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

of a sports league

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

fantasy sports A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete ba ...

league's draft.

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

has run mock drafts on the front page of its website, allowing any visitor to vote towards a specific team's choice. Mock drafts are often found to be helpful to fans because they allow them to speculate on which members of the collegiate ranks will join the fan's favorite team. There are many Internet and television analysts that are considered experts in this field and can give the fans some understanding of where players are expected to go in drafts. Although mock drafts are created for nearly every sport that uses drafts, they are most commonplace for the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. Analysts Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay, and

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock Sr. (born August 14, 1958) is an American former professional football executive and player in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a safety with the New York Giants. After his playing career, he was a draft ...

have been considered "experts" on the NFL Draft. Apart from experts, fans also create mock draft with the help of simulators, majorly in NFL and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Using simulators, user behaves like a GM of their team as they can draft players as per actual draft order and the sim/machine chooses players for remaining teams based on an algo that considers factors like team needs, prospect rankings etc. Mock drafts, however, do not replicate the real methodology that teams' general managers used to choose players. Internet mock drafts typically rank many dozens of players per position, often with immense detail for each prospect, and some forecast drafts for several years into the future. NFL teams, by contrast, each year often view even likely first round picks as little more than faceless statistics during the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

in February, do not evaluate so many players (only about one dozen quarterbacks are selected in each draft, for example), and do not complete their detailed evaluations until just before the draft in late April. Draft analysts often claim that a player has "climbed" or "fallen" into another draft round due to various factors, but such statements presuppose—often inaccurately—that teams have already made detailed evaluations of the player and that a consensus exists across the entire league.

Fantasy sports mock drafts

Mock drafts are practice fantasy sports drafts. Before a league's draft takes place, mock drafts are a way to practice before someone's pride and/or money are on the line. Participating in a mock draft alerts fantasy players to real players that are going higher or lower than one expected. Savvy fantasy sports players also monitor the results of these drafts for trends and to see where players are being taken to get a feel for each player's value (as shown in the Average Draft Position (or ADP) from multiple mock drafts).

References

{{Reflist Drafts (sports) Fantasy sports