It's that time of year again! With the NFL Draft rapidly approaching (we're now less than a month away), it's time to start the now annual Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft. Last year's POD Mock Draft was sort of thrown together at the last minute, but it was still a great experience that brought about a lot of interesting conversations. More than anything, it gave some of you guys a chance to put on your general manager hat and take control of a team.
Last year we made it through 33 picks, and my hope this year is to at least get through the first two rounds. Anything beyond that would be gravy, but if we can iron out a schedule and stick to it, anything's possible. I will have more on that and the other rules once all of the general managers are in place, as that is the first step in getting this thing going.
A year ago the method I used for determining the general managers was basically just first come, first serve. Since POD has grown so much since then, it wouldn't really be fair to just limit it to who comes along first. Keeping that in mind, I am just going to give everybody a day or so to express their interest in participating along with what teams they would want, and after that I will go through the comments and determine who is in. My criteria for who gets to participate will mainly revolve around how active you are on the site, as I'd like to get users who are regulars involved in this. Then again, by now we have a lot more than 32 regulars, so if you get left out it's nothing personal, there is simply a limited number of spots.
Before you do express interest in participating, please make sure you will have the time to dedicate to being involved in this. It's not like this is going to require a lot of time or anything, but you at least need to be able to spend some time researching your team to make sure your pick isn't completely off base. Also, you need to be able to submit a write up explaining your pick. It can be as long as you want, but at the very least it should be a paragraph. One other thing I want to mention is that if you know you are going to be away from a computer for an extended period of time (more than a couple days), then it's probably not a great idea to sign up for this simply because I want to keep to the schedule for the picks that will be posted. I will sign people up as back ups in case somebody disappears and misses their deadline, but the most important thing to make this more than two rounds is to get through the picks efficiently, so keep that in mind.
Anyways, to express your interest in participating in the 2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, please leave a comment on this post saying so. Also, please include a list of what three teams you would prefer to represent. That will allow me to hopefully give those interested in being a part of this a team they requested since providing three preferred teams will allow for more flexibility. I know some of you probably don't care which team you get one way or another, but to make the selection process easier, please just list three teams instead of saying it doesn't matter or something like that. That way I can go through the list and appoint users to teams much more quickly.
The last thing I will mention is to please follow the guidelines I just listed when making your comment expressing interest in being a part of this. If you can't take the time to read the entire post and follow the guidelines, then your chances of being selected will be greatly reduced. Also, please keep the discussion related solely to expressing interest and listing the teams you would prefer, as I don't want to have to sift through unrelated comments. Thanks and I look forward to getting this thing going!
(Note: The Lions will be represented by DrewsLions if he wants them, so please choose from the other 31 teams. Also, remember that Carolina does not have a first-round pick and Chicago does not have a first- or second-round pick. I will still assign someone to the Bears in case we get to the third round, but keep that in mind when listing your preferences.)