Idea for a Mock Draft contest

I have noticed in the past that any Mock Drafts that were held members of this site have always kind of fizzled out before their completion,which gave me this idea - What if we held a Mock Draft that had monetary incentive to pick well?

I figure that we could hold an ordinary Mock in which participants are assigned teams and after the real draft we score how we did. The scoring could go like this:

Correct Player at the right Spot = 5 points
Correct Player at a different Spot in the draft = 4 points
Correct Position at right Spot (but different player) = 3 points
Correct Position taken at different Spot (example - you have a team taking a certain RB in the 1st round but they do not, instead they address that position later with a different player) = 1 point

People can tally up their own points and we will double check the winner's scores. Everyone throws in $10 per team and we'll award prizes like:

1st place = $180
2nd place = $90
3rd place = $50

The person who studies his teams needs best will have a definite advantage to take home the dough! This will give us a Mock Draft that is well researched and also will guarantee a high level of participation (with money on the line people will be more apt to see it through).

I am not very computer literate so we would need someone to take control and put this idea into action. We would also need a honest moderator to pull team names out of a hat and to make calls on any scoring confusion (such as a player that played one position in college but projects to another in the NFL). Team selection would have to be random due to the fact that some teams don't have as many draft picks as others (I won't mention any names). We would also have to decide how far into the draft we would want to take this and also pound out some other rules/details.

I have never heard of a Mock Draft contest before so maybe it is something that could catch on. Or this maybe a really stupid idea.....that is why I want your feedback. It seems that diehard football fans are getting more and more creative in their attempts to occupy themselves during the offseason. So anyone who might be interested in something like this be sure to chime in and give your feedback.

it takes a lot of effort and last year we struggled to keep people in for a single pick even after condensing 90% of the research into a single page for them. also, doing single teams becomes such a crap shoot after the top ten picks that you end up with basically a glorified lottery, some teams don't have as many picks, etc.

the only way you could be fair is a full 1st round mock or some such, where opportunities are equal.

it takes a lot of effort and last year we struggled to keep people in for a single pick even after condensing 90% of the research into a single page for them.

What he said

If you really want to make this a GM contest than you would probably run it like a fantasy league, the contestant who's players he's chosen gets rated in a points system, the most points at the end of the season wins, including which team had the best draft which can be voted on after the draft [obviously]. This would force you into picking players which not only you believe are the best at a particular spot, but will they be thrown into the fire thier first year to produce points. In other words you probably wouldn't cash in on the skins unless we stretch this contest over the coarse of 3 years or so, so the smart thing to do is to trade off the skins picks in fantasy draft trades [just like the skins] and accumulate picks with teams who know how to draft, every player gets a team to work with and see who does the best job drafting for those teams. Defiently to complicated for me.:)

I have noticed in the past that any Mock Drafts that were held members of this site have always kind of fizzled out before their completion,which gave me this idea - What if we held a Mock Draft that had monetary incentive to pick well?

I figure that we could hold an ordinary Mock in which participants are assigned teams and after the real draft we score how we did. The scoring could go like this:

Correct Player at the right Spot = 5 points
Correct Player at a different Spot in the draft = 4 points
Correct Position at right Spot (but different player) = 3 points
Correct Position taken at different Spot (example - you have a team taking a certain RB in the 1st round but they do not, instead they address that position later with a different player) = 1 point

People can tally up their own points and we will double check the winner's scores. Everyone throws in $10 per team and we'll award prizes like:

1st place = $180
2nd place = $90
3rd place = $50

The person who studies his teams needs best will have a definite advantage to take home the dough! This will give us a Mock Draft that is well researched and also will guarantee a high level of participation (with money on the line people will be more apt to see it through).

I am not very computer literate so we would need someone to take control and put this idea into action. We would also need a honest moderator to pull team names out of a hat and to make calls on any scoring confusion (such as a player that played one position in college but projects to another in the NFL). Team selection would have to be random due to the fact that some teams don't have as many draft picks as others (I won't mention any names). We would also have to decide how far into the draft we would want to take this and also pound out some other rules/details.

I have never heard of a Mock Draft contest before so maybe it is something that could catch on. Or this maybe a really stupid idea.....that is why I want your feedback. It seems that diehard football fans are getting more and more creative in their attempts to occupy themselves during the offseason. So anyone who might be interested in something like this be sure to chime in and give your feedback.Absolutely a great idea, and the money might keep people interested. The key is to get only people who are:

1) serious about this
2) enjoy the draft process and know their stuff
3) would check the WP 2-3 times a day during this process

I really don't think 32 such people exist, but of course I'm in if you want to do this.

(And I call Oakland :tongue )

it takes a lot of effort and last year we struggled to keep people in for a single pick even after condensing 90% of the research into a single page for them. also, doing single teams becomes such a crap shoot after the top ten picks that you end up with basically a glorified lottery, some teams don't have as many picks, etc.

the only way you could be fair is a full 1st round mock or some such, where opportunities are equal.I'd be happy to do the research this year, but ONLY after we knew that we have 10-16 people who were very interested in this/willing to pay money.

I'd rather play then officiate this thing though.

One way to make sure we get enough people is to allow more than 1 team per person (still at $10 each). We would probably have a shot at getting 16 people.

I know what everybody means by not wanted to officiate something like this, it would be somewhat of a pain in the ass. I would do it but I'd be afraid of dropping the ball and letting people down (I'm pretty much a loser) but if anyone wants to grab this idea and run feel free. I thought that i would just throw it out there.

Another thing this contest would provide is a little more excitement watching the draft for the fans of a team whose first 2 picks are like 30 hours apart!

I'd like to do some sort of mock draft contest, but maybe just for the first round. Everyone seems to lose interest very quickly.

I honestly think that if the right members make the pics then another mock draft is a must. If we open it to everyone it will just end up crapping out like last year. Let's face it, there are maybe 10 members on the board that would be diligent enough to make the picks. I know it is fun for it to be open to everyone but I'd be more interested if it was super structured and guaranteed to be contented on a scheduled basis. If not then it'll just slowly peter out. I say get a small group of members who can be trusted to do the whole thing and plan the crap out of it.

I think that the contest should involve sidebets:

Number of times they cut to the Cowboys "war room".

Number of times they cut to player X's house in Pascagoula where 700 of his closest friends and relatives are having a barbeque.

The hour and minute when Berman actually starts sweating food.

Too bad Micheal Irvin didn't re-sign because he would be an easy target here. (I hope he gets the help he needs)

First media person to bash Dan Snyder.

Sports agent making the least effort to not seem like a malignant tumor.

First Warpath member to link to PFT's rumormill.

First Warpath member to mention Desmond Howard and/or Heath Schuler.

Number of times Norv Turner says "compete". God how I've missed that.

How long it takes Tom Jackson to state that he still believes the Broncos had the better team in SB 22.