Every April, millions of football fans argue, debate, and obsess over which college prospect their team will select — and more than a few of them genuinely believe they could do a better job than the actual general managers. Here’s the thing: with the right framework, they just might be right.
Creating your own NFL mock draft isn’t just a fun exercise for die-hard fans — it’s a deep-dive into roster strategy, player evaluation, and competitive intelligence that can completely change how you watch the game. Whether you’re building your first mock draft or sharpening the one you’ve been tweaking since January, this guide will walk you through every step of the process.
Why Mock Drafts Matter More Than You Think
The NFL Draft is one of the most analyzed events in American sports. According to the NFL, the 2023 NFL Draft drew over 55 million total viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, and ABC — making it one of the most-watched sports broadcasts of the year outside of the Super Bowl itself. That’s not a casual audience. That’s a fanbase that is invested.
And the stakes are real. A single draft pick can transform a franchise. Patrick Mahomes was selected 10th overall in 2017 and has since led the Kansas City Chiefs to multiple Super Bowl championships. One pick. One decision. One dynasty.
So the question becomes: do you have what it takes to predict those franchise-altering moments before they happen?
Step 1: Study the Draft Order
Before you can mock anything, you need to know who’s picking where. The NFL Draft order is determined primarily by the previous season’s win-loss records, with the worst teams picking first. Trades can shuffle picks dramatically, so always use an up-to-date draft order from a reliable source like NFL.com or ESPN.
📌 Action Step: Bookmark the official NFL draft order page and check it weekly during the offseason. Trades happen fast, and a single blockbuster deal can blow up your entire board overnight.
Create a simple spreadsheet with team names, their pick numbers, and any notable needs at each position. This becomes your working document throughout the entire process.
Step 2: Identify Team Needs
This is where your football knowledge earns its stripes. Every team enters draft season with specific roster holes — positions where they desperately need talent. A team that just lost a starting quarterback in free agency is probably not drafting a kicker in Round 1.
Ask yourself: What are the three biggest weaknesses on each roster heading into the draft?
Study the depth charts. Look at which players are aging out, which contracts weren’t renewed, and which positions were exposed during the previous season. Sites like Pro Football Reference and Over The Cap are goldmines for this kind of research.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t just look at starters — dig into the backup positions too. Teams often draft players to develop behind a veteran, so a position with a weak backup can be just as much of a need as one with no starter at all.
Step 3: Build Your Big Board
Your Big Board is your master list of draft-eligible prospects, ranked purely by talent regardless of position. This is how NFL scouts and general managers think before they match players to teams.
Watch college game tape. Read scouting reports from trusted outlets like The Athletic, NFL Draft Scout, and Lance Zierlein’s profiles on NFL.com. Take notes on athletic traits, technique, football IQ, and injury history.
According to a 2022 study by Sports Info Solutions, teams that drafted players with high “athleticism scores” — a composite metric combining speed, agility, and explosiveness — in the top 10 picks had a 34% higher rate of Pro Bowl selections over the following five years compared to teams that ignored the metric entirely. Raw athleticism, combined with scheme fit, is a powerful predictor of success.
⚠️ Warning: Don’t let hype season distort your Big Board. Every draft cycle produces one or two prospects who generate enormous buzz but have serious red flags in their game film. Hype is not a scouting tool. Discipline your rankings with actual evidence.
Step 4: Match Players to Teams
Now comes the exciting part — the actual mocking. This is where you connect your Big Board talent to the team needs you identified earlier.
The golden rule: the best player available (BPA) vs. team need debate is real, and you have to decide how each franchise leans. Some front offices always take the best player on their board. Others strictly draft for need. Research each team’s historical drafting philosophy to make smarter predictions.
Consider the following variables when making each pick:
- Scheme fit — Does this player’s skill set match the offensive or defensive system the team runs?
- Contract situation — Is the team in win-now mode or rebuilding?
- Head coach and GM history — Do they favor certain position groups in early rounds?
- Trade rumors — Are credible reporters suggesting a team is looking to move up or down?
Step 5: Account for Trades
Here’s what separates casual mock drafters from serious analysts: trade projections. Real drafts are never clean. Picks get moved, teams jump up for quarterbacks, and sometimes a team trades out of the first round entirely to stockpile future assets.
Study the NFL Draft Trade Value Chart — a classic tool used by teams to evaluate whether a trade is fair. If one team is offering a 1st and a 3rd for another team’s 4th overall pick, the chart tells you if that’s a reasonable deal.
🧠 Did You Know? The original NFL Draft Trade Value Chart was popularized by Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson in the early 1990s. It assigned numerical values to every draft pick from 1 through the final pick of round seven. Despite being over 30 years old, variations of that chart are still used by front offices today.
Build in at least two or three projected trades into your mock draft. It makes your final product more realistic and, frankly, more exciting to read and share.
Step 6: Revisit and Revise — Constantly
A great mock draft is never finished until the commissioner steps to the podium. Free agency changes everything. A surprise retirement can create an urgent need. A major trade can turn a strength into a weakness overnight.
How often are you willing to update your mock draft to keep it accurate? The best analysts revise their projections multiple times per week during the pre-draft period, which runs from the end of the Super Bowl through late April.
Set a calendar reminder every week to run through your mock draft and ask: what changed, and what does that mean for my picks?
Step 7: Share It and Own It
Post your mock draft. Put it out there. Tag your rival fans. Stand behind your picks with confidence and intellectual honesty.
The greatest part of building your own mock draft is that it forces you to know things — really know them. You can’t just say “my team needs a linebacker.” You have to know which linebacker, why him over the other options, and what it means for the depth chart.
📌 Action Step: Publish your completed mock draft before the first round begins. Screenshot it. Revisit it after all seven rounds are complete and score yourself. Tracking your accuracy over multiple draft cycles is the fastest way to improve.
The NFL Draft is the one time every year when every franchise — no matter how many Super Bowls they’ve won or how badly they struggled the previous season — stands on equal ground with genuine hope. Your mock draft is your vision for how that hope plays out.
Build it with rigor, update it with discipline, and defend it with passion. Because in a league where one pick can change everything, the best fans aren’t just watching the draft — they’re living it.