Grading the Mock Draft Simulators
I thought it would be fun to compare the different simulators. Feel free to chime in with your own grades.
https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/mock-draft-simulator - A
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Pros
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Can do FFA trades...trading system is excellent without having to constantly guess/restart
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Big board is ok...not the best
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Shows the players your team drafted
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Can show/hide drafted players (really nice)
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Has a good pause option
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Can do prior years drafts (but unfortunately no big board that matches actual picks)
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Cons
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Can't select multiple groups at once for BPA
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Trade offers include many next year picks...needs to be an option to filter these out
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Can't trade 7th rounders for next years 6ths
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Can't change speeds in mid-draft (slow is good for trading up and fast is good for big breaks between picks)
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https://www.pff.com/draft/nfl-mock-draft-simulator - B
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Pros
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Most popular simulator on the web
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Nice interface
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A good trade system that let's you know if the trade will likely be accept with a force option
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Nice stats
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Let's you see a chart of where other mockers have draftted a player, from what team, and what their trend is...super cool. Good way to know if your draft crush will drop in the real NFL draft or not.
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Cons
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Have to pay to use mid rounds, trade and use other key features
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Doesn't show your current teams picks (awful)
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No options to show picked players in filters
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Suspect big board
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Like most simulators, they don't subdivide key positions (box safeties vs free safeties...34 DEs vs 43 DEs, etc...)
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https://nfldraftfanatics.com/draft-configuration - C
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Pros
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I personally like their big board
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Cons
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Trade system is completely broken. You can only trade down BEFORE you pick. eg GB at 15...they don't let me offer #15 in my trade offers when #15 is up. This is nuts.
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Doesn't show your current picks
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Maybe it just my browser but the links/info tooltips for more info next to each player don't work
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https://www.profootballnetwork.com/mockdraft/ - D
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Pros
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Clean interface
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Can easily scroll through all past and future picks unlike some other simulators
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Cons
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Horrible trade system...you have to totally guess at a trade value...and if you guess wrong you have to completely restart the process which requires many clicks.
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Doesn't show your current picks in one condensed view without having to jump through hoops
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https://fanspeak.com/ontheclock-nfl-mock-draft-simulator/setup.php - F
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Cons
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No start button...maybe I'm missing something obvious or you have to register to use this...but on the setup screen, you can select your options, but there is no call to action to actually start the draft
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https://espnsportsanalytics.com/nfl-sim - B
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Pros
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Not bad for ESPN and no paywall
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Trade system doesn't reset on failed trades and there is a force option
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Fast speed isn't very fast
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Cons
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Minimalist interface but pretty functional
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Trade system doesn't show values/estimates so you either need a chart on hand or need to constantly lowball/reset until you get the right value
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Scroll system is a bit clunky...really need tabs to separate content
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https://thedraftnetwork.com/ > Mock Draft Machine - B
Pros
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Nice dark mode interface
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Attractive trade interface but sadly no force option..reset option after failed trades is a bit cumbersome
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Has a show drafted option (but is buggy and doesn't show the right players)
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Surprisingly good...but trade system sometimes almost never works despite likely/very likely expetations. Each successful trade is a miracle and only achieved after tedious repeated attempts
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Cons
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Requires registration
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Buggy beta...some links don't work
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View results link goes to 404 page
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Trade offers will say "likely" for acceptance, yet they almost always fail...you need "very likely" and even that frequently fails....so what is the point of "likely" then?
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Just way too many rejected trade offers...constantly having to reset the trade tables is really annoying
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Timer is super annoying if you're doing a solo mock (although you can pause it)
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Trade offers have too many next year picks...these sims really need a filter for just accepting this year trades
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Clicking "draft" when paused doesn't work...have to unpause before buttons work
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I'm not sure I agree with their big board (subjective thing)
I just tried your "A" mock draft. It had Bryce Young go 21 to the Chargers. I don't think I need to try that simulator again, LOL.
Same issue for me. Panthers went Wilson. Stroud made it to 10 before i closed it. Looks terrible
I've tried that one numerous times using the steelers, and nearly every time a guy who absolutely won't be there at 17 ends up available at 17, like Stroud, Will Anderson, Tyree Wilson, etc. Every time. It's trash
yeah OP conveniently left out the team AI is so bad it breaks the whole thing - feels like an ad
Another pro on PFF is for round 3 or above prospects, their first look pages are helpful at identifying where they succeed, where they can improve, what makes them good and what flaws they may not be able to overcome. It helps show casuals like me which players are better than others for certain scheme fits.
They also used to have for free checking the positioning snap logs for defenders and offensive linemen free as well as PFF grades for each player.
MDD to me is slightly better with being more aware big board wise of current feel and momentum, PFF is a little slow on their boards for that. If you are willing to use both and have PFF membership, I'd recommend doing so.
Fwiw, it seems that PFF and NFL.com have joined together to put a free PFF 3 round simulator on the NFL.com website. I have enjoyed using it the last two days:https://pff.nfl.com/?ref=54862229-7b69-420a-af9c-772da6690790
Edit: cc: u/predw
This is the exact same as the one on their site as it is, still doesn't allow for trades etc.
Thanks for correcting me. Everyone always kept saying they switched over to you having to have a subscription to use it that I never even checked the one on the pff site. They do appear to be exactly the same.
PFF was good before they put it behind a pay wall in a pure money grabbing move. I’m giving that an F purely due to the subscription required to use it.
Also Fanspeak was the original mock draft simulator. They’re the one TDN copied and started all of these sims. They always get a thumbs up from me
They’re a company not a non profit. Of course it’s a money grab.
Still pretty shitty to leave it free until several weeks before the draft
Yeah, I don't fault PFF for making that choice. Gotta do what they can to make money, who knows if they're even profitable or not.
But since I pay for Bruglers The Beast, I don't pay for any draft simulator websites.
so you’re saying you felt entitled to it?
Nope. Didn’t say that. Not sure where you read that.
For $40 I think pff provides a lot of value for a whole year. I know not everyone has extra cash, but if you do I feel like I get more than enough value out of it
I want to specifically grade some of the trade systems.
Pro Football Focus (PFF)
Pretty good. The ability to trade players is very basic but promising. I like that teams can express interest in picks, and will only accept trades for picks that interest them. But you can also force trades if you'd like.
However, the trade value calculator gives a lot of users a false sense of equivalency. They see that a trade has an 80% chance of occurring and think it's fair when it's likely wildly out of balance. I once traded the Bengals up to 5 top-20 picks without giving up any future picks or players, and the system doesn't give you any indication of it being unrealistic.
Pro Football Network (PFN)
The fact that it auto-generates deals makes it feel more organic. The deals they suggest are often decent, but can sometimes be very tilted in your favor, e.g. offering a R2 pick when a R3 pick would be fair. It also has a player trade ability, but it's also very basic. I ran into a situation where TEN just kept trying to throw Tannehill at me, as the Bengals. It also loses points for not having something like PFF's trade calculator, so you need to do the math yourself. This gets frustrating because the AI can also be inconsistent, accepting a completely fair trade one draft, and not accepting a much more generous version of the same trade the next draft, and you're left wondering whether you got the math wrong or if it's just randomness getting in the way.
NFL Mock Draft Database
The trade calculator is nice. It'd be nice if it were a little more specific, but I'll take it. It's another simulator that will generate trades from the AI, making it feel organic.
Unfortunately the trades are terrible. Well, not for you. You get amazing trades. I think you get like several times the value you should. It also goes absolutely crazy with just throwing picks at you. The algorithm really needs to be re-coded not just to balance the trades better, but to tighten the trades up. You'll regularly get trade offers, where you give 1 pick, and they give you 7 picks across 3 years in return.
Conclusion
Okay, I've really only tried these 3 lately. Maybe someone else can critique the others. PFF's is clearly the best for users who know how to use it correctly, and I also think they might not auto-generate deals specifically because the other simulators do it so poorly. One of those situations where, if the feature isn't done well, may as well not do it at all.
PFN is probably my favorite "casual" one. It gives you somewhat organic feeling trade deals, that are sometimes fair to both sides. Just, don't rely on it being fair without checking yourself. Sometimes I'm trying to do a "serious" mock and where they offer a R2 pick and I have to counter-offer a R3 instead just to make it even.
But all three have their pitfalls and I hope they keep working on them.
Yeah I just tried the mock draft database and it was just offering me completely absurd amount of draft capital for what I was offering
The thing I'll say with any trade system is it shouldn't be relied on blindly. I always reference the Rich Hill trade chart for any trade I'm making
Have you tried the new one just put out by ESPN?
I assumed it would have been paywalled behind espn plus, but besides being visually awful, the simulator doesn't seem too bad. I need to run it a few more times, but honestly after running it once it might already be ahead of pfn and pff
Edit: I've run it 5 or so times now, I think I can honestly say this is the best simulator out right now. Color me surprised, ESPN. I didn't expect that
ESPN hasn’t changed their graphics crew since the 90s the interface on that and the podcast graphics they have are laughably bad
Is it the ESPNanalytics one?
Yes
I didn't know it existed...I just now tried it out and it wasn't terrible. Just edited the main post and added a grade for it.
It feels a bit like a beta but overall I think there’s a lot of promise.
No mention of The Draft Network's ?
They spent so long fucking around with the new MDM that it kinda fell off it seems like. They did a lot to that website that I personally don’t like and I’ve paid for the premium with them for a few years now
I honestly wonder if they almost went bankrupt. Like for a month there was no new stories on the front page, the draft dudes didn't do any podcasts, and the mock draft machine was just perpetually under construction.
Not trying to insult them or anything. It's gotta be really hard to make money year round as a nfl draft website.
Yeah, I for sure was getting real irritated at them as a customer though. I’m by no means familiar with websites and how those draft machines work, but I don’t understand why they couldn’t just leave the old MDM up while they tested and cleaned up the new MDM. They already had my favorite mock draft simulator and it feels like their sites really taken a major loss to try and fix a problem that wasn’t there
Draft Dudes straight up left. Which sucks as their new pod on Locked On kinda sucks. Classic Locked On pod where it's like half ads.
Draft Network basically lost all the momentum they built in last years draft. I’ve seen no content from them this year shared.
Yeah it’s a real shame because they quickly became my favorite last year too
All of their talent got poached to go elsewhere. Ledyard left when his whole situation popped up, Trevor went to PFF, Solak went to The Ringer, Reid went to ESPN. That’s 4 out of the 5 guys who really were well known and had information you believed in. Kyle’s the only one left I think. Im sure any investment in it has subsided when talent left
I think Joe Marino also left
Doesn’t help that their new version is just flat out worse than last year’s
Their registration requirement was annoying...but I decided to try them and they weren't too bad. I edited the main post and added a grade for them too.
yeah, I hate that you have to be a premium member now to save your custom big board
Idk what you missed on fanspeak. I use theirs all the time. You can select from multiple different big boards and select if you want the computer to use the same big board or random other ones. Once you make all your choices you click start.
I just tried it on mobile (using the link from this post) and there was also no start button for me. Then I googled 'fanspeak mock simulator' and it worked. Same Url at the top as what's posted here, so idk.
That's weird. I see the issue clicking the link too. I think it cant move forward because that link takes you to the page after you select your team and it cant generate the draft without knowing that info. This is the link I use:
https://fanspeak.com/ontheclock-nfl-mock-draft-simulator/index.php
Now it works for me...weird...regardless they need to fix this.
Idk if there’s anything for them to fix, it seems like you just have the wrong link in your post
Theres nothing to fix, their site works fine. Your link skips over the process of picking a team so it cannot start. User error on your part.
I had talked to the guy who runs the NFL mock draft database a few months ago about the simulator. The trades they offered then were very bad ( I was simulating the Bears when they had the first pick). Most offers were for draft values around 25% of what it was worth. He found a bug in the code to offer more reasonable trades, but it introduced a new issue with future picks. It seriously undervalues those picks and I don't think that has been fixed. I still see trade offers in later rounds for future 1sts which would never happen.
If I could mix the extensive trades and scouting reports of PFF, the ease of UI of MDDB, and the pick analytics of the new one on ESPN, I think I would have the ideal mock draft client. As it is, I tend to use MDDB more often than not, especially since I'm usually drafting for all 32 teams, but I think I'm more inclined to use ESPN if I just want to do one team. PFF putting trades and mocks over a certain number of rounds really turned me off on them, and any site that makes me skim through every pick to see who I've mocked to a particular team is already fighting an uphill battle, that one's just basic
Thanks for the reviews and post. I only knew of 2 of these sims. Will try the others out now
Nflmockdrafts regularly has bruce and stroud fall to pick 15+, like come on.
ESPN also now has a sim and it's the jankiest piece of trash you'll ever see, as if their CEO demanded they too have a sim & to have it ready by the end of the day.
Lots of potential though. I love the Draft Day Predictor analysis, they just need to clean up the interface and make it more extensive
I think in terms of realism it's the best one out right now. Aesthetically it's awful, but in terms of the functions of the product, I think it's the best.
I've run that one many times and I think it's the best one out tbh. It's the most realistic in terms of needs, top prospects not constantly falling, and no constant huge reaches on players. Visually, it's atrocious though
The old draft network mock draft machine was my favorite and after waiting almost a year for the new one… disappointing is an understatement
Nfldraftlounge.com is also another one that is decent
doesn't count, literally just hosting the NFLMDD one
Kind of late to the party, but has anyone used NFL Draft Buzz?
It's a promising interface, but I can't get trades to work on it.
If I accept a trade it doesn't register and I can't get the "trade conole" to open in order to propose a trade.
Anyone had any success with that site?
It’s pretty visually stunning and trades work pretty well and you can base the trades off various trade charts. Downside is some of the trades offered to you are super unrealistic (they often add star players as part of the offer). There is also some major coding issue or however it deals with data because it will glitch periodically and you lose your entire draft. A lot of potential though.
When I posted this their trade system wasn't working at all. About a month after my post they got it running. Yeah, some of the trades are crazy, but they have different trade value settings and some are a bit more realistic than others. It's still my favorite simulator. Hope it catches on more.
It's funny, because I'm a Bear's fan (painfully), so I've been trading Fields to Atlanta before the draft as that was rumored. So Atlanta accepts the trade and then every time the Falcons still take a qb (usually Penix) at #9. lol
What does Atlanta give you for Fields? I’m a Vikings fan and I sometimes trade Darrisaw to trade up and get Jayden Daniels, lol.
A second and third which is probably more than the Bears will get if they trade him.
So how are you feeling about your team today?
profootballnetwork.com is still the best! Most organic, super clean interface on mobile. Best for casual users.