DRAFT SEASON GUIDE
// Final mocks · Round 1 · who to trust (and what we measure)
MockGrader is built for draft season: we take each analyst’s published final Round 1 mock, line it up against the actual first round, and score it with a fixed rubric you can read end-to-end. Use this page as a map—then dive into the numbers when you’re choosing who to follow.
Before the draft: pick your sources
- Ignore the noise; watch the final. Early mocks are useful for storylines; our index only uses each writer’s last published mock before the draft (see methodology for the exact window and edge cases).
- See who held up last time. Open the 2025 rankings for trust scores, letter grades, and expandable verdicts per analyst.
- Compare the whole field. The compare sheet puts hit types and trust side by side so you can spot who trades accuracy for bold swings.
- Cross-check names on the writers page. Writers lists everyone we track; with one published season you still get a sortable table with deep links into each year’s rankings.
Draft night: what MockGrader is not
We do not score live mock updates or “who called the pick first” on TV. Scores land after the real Round 1 order is fixed and we can match it to each analyst’s final published board.
For following Thursday / Friday night itself, treat MockGrader as a track-record lens: the rankings and compare views tell you who has historically matched the board when it counted—not who will guess pick 19 in the moment.
After Round 1: receipts
- Pick-by-pick shows slot-by-slot mock vs actual for every tracked mock.
- Recap collects editorial notes on surprises and rubric choices when published for that year.
- When a new draft is fully transcribed, it appears on the archive and gets its own year hub (same rankings, compare, picks, and recap pattern).