Social media is powerful. Not from an 'inspiration' standpoint, but from a data and statistics standpoint. Think about how many different websites you've posted your opinions on, and how many other people have done the same thing. Hell, I'm doing it right now!
After reading through a bunch of different NFL-related websites that I regularly visit, I realized that many of the people who were posting their opinions had to post the same opinion over and over again on different sites. I got sick of the talking heads predicting that the Jaguars will take Ryan Kerrigan with their first round pick, and other Jaguars fans posting their opinions of why that wasn't a good pick. Obviously most people aren't draft experts, but during the period of time between the super bowl and the end of April, we like to think that we are. I've noticed a huge increase in the number of 'mock draft' websites and posts. Unfortunately, nobody is a superfan of all 32 NFL teams, so mock drafts are generally pretty myopic. People know which players they want their team to draft, or how they think their team will draft, but it is difficult to get input from other 'experts' from other teams.
I'm planning on writing an app that will address some of the things that I find lacking in many of the mock drafts out there. Here are some of the features that I would like to include.
- create mock drafts using a database of all eligible draft prospects.
- Up to date draft order, including compensatory picks.
- Rank player prospects on your own 'big board'.
- Rank player prospects based on different defensive or offensive schemes. (4-3 vs 3-4 defense, etc)
- Allow users to add a quantifiable reason for the picks that they made. 3 rankings would be used with a scale of agree -> disagree:
- This pick fills a team need
- This pick reflects a player that I think this teams tm would pick.
- This pick is the best available player on the board
- Users could rank the picks on other users mock drafts
- The cumulative data would be used to provide insight into average player rankings, as well as how well this player fits the teams draft strategy.
- After the draft, the mocks could be compared to the actual draft results to determine who had the most accurate mock draft.
Think of it as a continuously updated fan ranking of your mock draft. Even if fan perception of a certain player is off, you could have a record of how accurate your mock draft was after the real draft.
I've realized that many of my apps involve running statistics on large datasets. I love the idea of using many peoples opinions to find a general consensus, and then being able to read everyone's reasons for their decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment