POD Community Mock Draft Rules

Now that the GMs are in place, it's time to go over the rules of the Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft.

• When you make your pick, e-mail it to me at syblogs@yahoo.com along with your write-up.  The write-up should be at least a paragraph explaining why you made the pick.  It can be as long as you want, but just try to make it at least a paragraph.  Also, please proofread the write-up to make sure it doesn't have any spelling/grammatical errors.  Obviously there will be some mistakes here and there (no one's perfect, including myself), but I don't want it to be written like a text message or something like that.  Even though it's not my work, I would like it to look professional since it is being published on my site.  So if I see a typo or something, I will fix it.
  
  Also, when you send me your pick, make sure to put "POD Mock Draft" as the subject.  That way I won't miss it.
  
• As for when your pick should be made, check out the schedule below to see when it is going to be published on the site.  This is important: Your pick should be sent to me the day before it is published.  If it is the first pick of the day, get it sent to me by 12 p.m. ET on the day before it will be published.  The second pick should be sent by 5 p.m. ET the day before.  And the third pick needs to be sent by 10 p.m. ET the day before.  This may be a tad confusing, but I am doing this to make sure this goes smoothly and efficiently so we can get a second round in.  That way if a problem arises, we can get it taken care of before the schedule for when the picks are posted is thrown out of whack.
  
  Just to make sure there is no confusion, here is an example of what people would do if their pick is going to be posted on Sunday (people on Saturday have a different schedule -- see the next bullet):
  
  Seahawks - deadline for pick: 12 p.m. ET on Saturday
  Browns - deadline for pick: 5 p.m. ET on Saturday
  Bengals - deadline for pick: 10 p.m. ET on Saturday
• For those of you that will have your pick posted on Saturday (tomorrow), your deadlines will be a tad different.  The Lions' pick won't be due until 3 p.m. today, the Rams' pick won't be due until 8 p.m. tonight, and the Chiefs' pick won't be due until 1 a.m. Saturday.  That way the GMs for those teams can have some time to do their research since this is pretty short notice.
  
• Make sure to look at the schedule (below) right now to make note of when your pick will be due (the day before the date listed on the schedule).  If there is a conflict or something like that, let me know as soon as possible so we can get it worked out right away.
• If you are a GM of the Lions, Broncos, or Eagles, don't forget that your team has two first-round picks.
• When a pick is e-mailed to me, I will e-mail the next GM to let him know he is on the clock.  I will include an updated list of picks in my e-mail so you know who is available.  My e-mail is going to be sent to whatever address is listed in your account.  If you want it to be sent to a different one for whatever reason, let me know right now by sending an e-mail to syblogs@yahoo.com.
  
• Due to time restrictions, there will be no trades.
• After your pick is posted, make sure to defend it in the comments section if there are any naysayers (don't forget: attack the opinion, not the person).  Each pick will get a separate post so it can be discussed.  There will also be an approval poll to get an exact idea of what readers of the site think of the pick.
• Please do not talk about picks that haven't been posted on the site until they are posted.  That way we can make sure the reveal of each pick is somewhat exciting.  Comments about picks that haven't already been posted will be deleted.
• Finally, perhaps the most important rule of all is to DO RESEARCH.  I can't stress this one enough.  Don't wait until the last minute to get an idea of what your team's needs are.  Check out the SB Nation blog for your team, go to draft websites, or whatever, just make sure to do research.  That way you can put together a list of a few players you have in mind and won't go past the deadline for when your pick is due.  Also, that way you can be prepared for when the team right before you takes the player you want.  Trust me, it will happen to some of you.
  

If we have time for a second round, here is who will represent the teams without a first-round pick:

• Chicago Bears - Gym Schwartz
• Dallas Cowboys - Curse of Bobby Layne 50 Years Strong
• Carolina Panthers - beef99

The following users are alternates:

• lions_sucker
• Quez81
• Boney

If a problem arises with a certain GM, one of the three users above will take over that team.  Alternates hopefully won't need to be used until at least the second-round, where there could be an issue or two.  If you want to be added to the list of alternates, let me know by leaving a comment.