Mock Drafts

It's hard to imagine a time without mock drafts. I remember when they could be found only in the bigger, all sports, publications like Sports Illustrated, Sport and the Sporting News. I used to get all of them or at least flip through them at the newstand. Mel Kiper was the first person, that I know of, to concentrate solely on the NFL Draft. His annual books/guides became a draft bible. Before the Internet, before the thousands of draft magazines, Kiper had all the prospects in one place. In those days, I would only know the Pac-10 players and most of the players on the All-America teams. Maybe a handful of players from the best college teams. Those were bleak days.

Now, you can find out anything and everything about every draft eligible player. Now, everybody has a mock draft. Even the Flea Flicker. Most mockers have a new mock every day. Even the Flea Flicker. It's silly and addicting, all at the same time. Once you do one, you gotta do more. The silly thing about mocking is that they usually go wrong before you get past pick 10. I can't even imagine a mock being anywhere close to 100% correct. There's always surprises in the real draft. There's always trades. Neither of which can be predicted with any sort of accuracy. No one expected the Jacksonville Jaguars to select Cal defensive lineman Tyson Alualu with the tenth pick a couple years ago. No one could have guessed that the Atlanta Falcons would jump up nearly two dozen picks to draft Alabama receiver Julio Jones last year. It's difficult to predict that the Falcons would have the interest to give up what it would take to move up far enough to get Jones. It's near impossible to predict that it would happen. Still, mock drafts are all fun. They spice up draft interest during the near eternity between the end of the season and the draft. It's less than three months but it seems like forever. The mocks are simply around to get those with interest ready for the real thing.