Great idea, falls a bit flat
The overall structure of the app is great. Clean, simple, not overwhelming.
However, there are three main sticking points I just can’t get past.
First, the CPU draft logic makes little sense and is way too random. Yes, most real NFL drafts turn out much differently than most expect, but having each draft turn out wildly different every time it can be frustrating to really plan things out and have a realistic grasp on who will be available when I’m drafting. Can Will Levis go first overall? Sure. But when it happens 1/10 times it feels way too algorithmic. I keep thinking to how mock drafts are done in fantasy football, where the top 5 or so go as expected and nobody really travels beyond 5 spots of their adp. Obviously fantasy football is way more predictive than the NFL Draft, but I think you can draw a lot from those apps.
Secondly, the trade logic might make even less sense. The valuation of draft picks is so far off it’s not even funny. I was trying to trade back from 9 (as the Bears) to the Jets at 13. I also wanted the Jets second rounder, 43 overall. After 10 minutes of back and forth I decided to just give the machine whatever it wanted and threw out a crazy trade just to get the deal done: 9, 64, and a 2024 3rd rounder for 13 and 43. And it was declined…..
Thirdly, please please please include CPU trade offers. The above becomes so much more frustrating when we have zero baseline and have to workshop our own deals. I do this for fun, and I end up spending an hour doing one mock draft and walk away with a headache. I usually can only do one mock draft on here a week as it is just too frustrating.
Bonus: please include draft picks for another year out. As we clearly saw with the Bears and Panthers trade, picks from two years out get traded. I came on here a few days before that trade to mock out something similar with the Panthers 2025 draft picks, only to realize they weren’t on here.
I really love the general structure of the app, but please fix these issues.
Response from developer
First off, this is great feedback, and I really appreciate it! Any time you have issues or questions about the simulator, you should write us at support@mockout.com and I'll be able to take care of you . But for now, let me address these concerns here! 1) the balancing act between a predictable or random draft is the most difficult part of creating a good sim engine. There's no way everybody can be happy — either people will say the simulator makes the same picks every time (boring) or the picks aren't realistic enough (random). It's kind of like setting the line on a prop bet — the key is to get an equal number of people on both sides of the line. But I think Levis going with the top pick 1 out of 10 times is not necessarily the mark of a bad sim engine. It might be a little less likely now after the combine, but with 4 top QBs available at that pick, all with their question marks, having him go 10% of the time feels close to right for me. The trade logic is actually a lot easier for me to dictate precisely, and while I always tinker with it, I think it is pretty solid right now. I believe the problem with other web simulators is that they all make it so easy to trade back and trade back like a video game, and THAT is not realistic. I wanted to make it so that moving up is relatively easy to figure out by looking at trade value charts (though I have variable ranges within there as well) but forcing ANOTHER team to trade up and give up a lot of value should be more difficult. In the real world you can't just force another team to move up and give you appropriate draft value if they don't want to, so I wanted to make it harder in the Simulator as well. But this leads me to your third point: I am actively working on a Sim-User trade feature. This feature will let you know which teams are interested in moving up, how much they are willing to offer, and give you a couple options when it comes to teams who will require less compensation to get a deal done. I wanted to get the Simulator out into the App Store quickly so I could get user feedback on what features are really desired and which ones aren't so much. Sim-user trades was a bonus feature I decided to leave out of my first version of the app, but there's been enough demand for it that I know to move it up on my Todo list. In the meantime, you should try the PFN Simulator (web) as they've got a fully functioning version of Sim-User trades. Draft picks another year out... interesting proposal, and one that hasn't been requested before. It would not be too difficult to integrate into the app, I don't think. Consider it on my Todo list, but not in time for this year's draft. Again, thanks for taking the time to write this really well thought out review, and to let me know what features and changes you'd like to see! Anything else you'd like to mention, you should write me at support@mockout.com and I can more easily have a back and forth with you there. In the meantime, happy draft season!
Best sim out there for nfl draft
Crashes
Response from developer
Hey, first off thanks for trying the app out! If you could write us at support@mockout.com we could get to the bottom of these app crashes and get it resolved for you right away. Sorry it's been such a frustration, but we'll take care of it and get you to the full potential of the simulator.
Great app, just missing one thing
Response from developer
Charlotte, glad to hear you are liking the app, and I have great news for you — adding sim-user trades is at the top of my list of features to add! And if you ever have any other comments or questions or requests for features, you can always write me at support@mockout.com and I'll respond right away. We recently had two users write in to request the app to allow user-user trades, and I was able to implement that feature and push it up to production within the week! (though, just to temper your expectations, sim-user trades will take me longer than that...) Thanks again for using the app, keep an eye out for sim-user trades, and reach out any time!
Won’t let me make trades
Response from developer
Joel, I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with trades. I checked in on the app, and the trade feature is working fine on my end, so I wonder if you are trying to make a trade between two teams that you own? If so, I have great news! That feature just got pushed into production today! If you are ever having trouble with the app, you can always write support@mockout.com, and we'll respond right away. In fact, the only reason user-user trades are being enabled is because multiple people wrote in to ask me for that exact feature, and I moved it to the top of our feature priority list. So if you have any issues, reach out! We're there to help. Check out the updated app (version 1.0.6) and happy mocking.
