dev diary #47 SimNFL Draft Class and Process

[Rocketcan]

Hello Coaches!

 

Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA!

 

Last time, we went over the new stamina system, getting the NCAA FBS schedule together and the secret new feature of NewSim (which may or may not be Homefield Advantage...)! This time, we are going to be talk about the very first SimNFL draft class and the upcoming draft process! Let me first warn you all that this is still very much a WIP, so things may still change, but for now, this is how things are going.

 

2022 SimNFL Rookie Draft Class

 

Here it is! The very first rookie draft class in SimNFL history! Take a peak: 2022 SimNFL Rookie Draft Class

 

Some things to note about the draft class:

• There are about 1,500 draft eligible players!
  
• The individual attributes for the players are determined like before (relative to other players at their position), but specifically these ratings are just against the current draft class, not the NCAA or NFL as a whole.
  
• The overall attributes are based on the following scale:
  
  • A: 60+
    
  • B: 54-59
    
  • C: 48-53
    
  • D: 42-47
    
  • F: <= 41
    

  [*]There are 11 non-FBS players in this draft class, 10 FCS players and 1 NCAA Division II player.

  [*]The players are sorted by playerID (and by extension, stars), but the current sorting has nothing to do with one player being "better" than another.

Importantly, this data is not the "final" set of data that NFL teams will have before the draft (date TBD). There will be several events and processes that will shed more light on a player's skills and give more in-depth information. Those events include:

• Pro Days
  
• NFL Combine
  
• Focused Scouting
  

What are the point of these events? What does this matter? Well first, any player that attends a Pro Day, the NFL combine, or is specifically scouted by an NFL team (although only the team that asks about a player will know) will have more information about their skills revealed. This extra data includes:

• An added +/- to the player's overall if they fit into that category. Players that have been scouted will follow the following overall scale:
  
  • A+: 64+
    
  • A: 62-63
    
  • A-: 60-61
    
  • B+: 58-59
    
  • B: 56-57
    
  • B-: 54-55
    
  • C+: 52-53
    
  • C: 50-51
    
  • C-: 48-49
    
  • D+: 46-47
    
  • D: 44-45
    
  • D-: 42-43
    
  • F: <= 41
    

  [*]40 yard dash times, bench reps, 3-cone drill times, etc.

  [*]Position-specific drill results on a rating scale (specifics on this scale are not available just yet).

Now, let's get into the actual draft process!

 

Pro Days

 

For now, Pro Days will be run by the admins, but in the future, we would like CFB coaches to take some control over which players they think deserve a look on a pro-day. Not all draft-eligible players from school will be selected, but those that are will have their extra information revealed publicly. We will do this on a weekly basis going through 2-3 conferences per week alphabetically. The Pro Days will follow this schedule:

1. February 11th: AAC and ACC
   
2. February 18th: Big XII and Big Ten
   
3. February 25th: C-USA, Indy, and MAC
   
4. March 4th: MWC, and PAC-12
   
5. March 11th: SEC and Sun Belt
   

Remember, the numbers from these events are being done at their schools, and their schools want them to look good. This means that sometimes (but not always), a school might "put their fingers on the scales" so-to-speak when it comes to testing numbers. The one thing that will always be 100% correct, however, is the overall grade that is given.

 

NFL Combine

 

After the final Pro Days have been posted, the NFL Combine invitees will be announced. After that point, each NFL team will have the opportunity to invite 2 additional players that have not been invited. Players invited to the combine might have already had a Pro Day, but some might not, especially the team invites. Any players who attend the combine and have not already had a Pro Day will have the same information revealed about them that the Pro Day players did. If a player already had a Pro Day, their combine numbers might be different than their Pro Day numbers, but their overall +/- will NOT change, as this has a tight window for the number underneath.

 

Also, it is possible for some players to not accept their invite! This can be due to several factors, including medical, religious, education, attitude, etc, so don't assume that your favorite prospect will decide to go!

 

For now, the NFL Combine is tentatively scheduled for Friday, March 18th.

 

Focused Scouting

 

Focused Scouting is a system that will allow each NFL team to scout an additional 10 players that were not invited to the combine or participated in Pro Days. These players will be invited to the team's facility and run through a workout from the team's coaches. Then, the results of that workout (exactly the same as the Pro Day and Combine information) will be made available to the team that requested it.

 

Here is where Focused Scouting gets interesting, however. Teams will submit their list of players they want scouted in secret. That is, they will submit their list directly to the NFL commissioners. Only the NFL team that invites a player to be Focus Scouted will get their information. Also, to be clear, any team can invite any player that wasn't at the NFL combine and didn't get a Pro Day and a player can be invited by multiple teams. However, because the team has to invite players to their facilities, the players invited will become public AFTER all teams have invited players.

 

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I hope that you guys enjoy this part of the SimNFL experience. This is one of the parts of football I am VERY interested in and I think can be a HUGE event moving into future seasons. I look forward to seeing draft books, PFF grades, and media figures "leaking" information about how the draft process is going for NFL teams. I hope you guys have as much fun with this part of this sim as I know I will.

 

That's all there is for this Dev Diary. Please ask questions below, and I will get to them as soon as I can.

 

Until next time,

 

Rocketcan

[npklemm]

Sharing this in Good Will:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AWLR1DaU1k_qcQNuY8_A4iyVskB-uLpbfK3FwrGKpLs/edit?usp=sharing

 

You'll need to add to your own Drive to start editing.

 

I added a Couple Comparison Tabs that allows you to compare relevant skills for each position. You can change these in Tab "vldata"

 

Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

[npklemm]

• The overall attributes are based on the following scale:
  
  • A: 60+
    
  • B: 54-59
    
  • C: 48-53
    
  • D: 42-47
    
  • F: <= 41
    

 

A has a wide range, could that be any number from 60-99?

[Rocketcan]

Yes, but as you can see from the list, there are only a few A's. So unlikely to be much higher than 60