Okay, so I decided to mess around with a mock draft simulator today, specifically the PFN one I’d seen mentioned. Needed to get my head straight about potential draft picks, you know?
Getting Started
First thing, I fired up my browser and navigated over to their simulator tool. Didn’t need an account or anything, which was nice. Just jumped right in. The screen loaded up, pretty clean layout, nothing too fancy.
I had to set things up first. Found the options easily enough. Selected my team – gotta rep my squad, right? Then picked how many rounds I wanted to simulate, went for the full seven. Looked at the other settings, like draft speed. Put it on medium, didn’t want it flying by too fast, but didn’t want to wait all day either. Also checked the team needs, seemed reasonably updated.
Running The Draft
Hit the ‘start draft’ button, and boom, we were on the clock. Well, the first team was. Watched the first few picks go off the board. The interface showed the picks updating live, along with a list of best players available according to their rankings.
When it got to my pick, the clock started ticking down for me. Scanned the board, looked at who was left. Their ‘best available’ list was right there, but I also scrolled down to see other potential guys. Made my selection, clicked the button. Felt pretty smooth.
Then I just watched the rest of the round unfold. The AI teams made their picks. Some seemed logical, fitting needs. Others felt a bit…random? But hey, that happens in the real draft too, I guess. No simulator’s perfect.
- Round 1: Made my pick.
- Round 2: Watched the AI picks, then made mine.
- Round 3-7: Continued the process. Click, evaluate, pick. Sometimes I agreed with the projected picks, sometimes I went completely off-script based on who I liked.
I didn’t bother trying to make trades this time around, just wanted a clean run-through to see player availability round by round. The whole thing probably took about 15-20 minutes for the full 7 rounds.
My Thoughts After Using It
What I liked: It was fast and easy to use. No complex hoops to jump through. Straight into the drafting. The interface was clear enough to understand who was picked and who was still available. Seeing the team needs listed was handy too.
What could be better: The AI logic is always the tricky part with these things. Some picks felt like reaches, others felt like steals falling too far. But honestly, it’s decent enough for just getting a general idea and playing around with scenarios. It’s a free tool, so can’t complain too much.
Overall, it was a decent experience. I ran it a couple more times just to see how different things shook out. It’s a good way to kill some time and get your brain working on draft strategy. Helped me visualize how the board might fall and identify players I need to watch more tape on. Yeah, I’ll probably use it again before the actual draft kicks off.
