NFL Draft questions - Rules, Clarifications etc.......discuss

Hey

As my recent post on the Hubdub Blog suggests, I'm looking forward to seeing how the NFL draft works on Hubdub, it being a sporting event that owes a lot of its popularity to predictions.

But I'm also aware that there is the potential for issues to arise. So, as questions on the Draft are now beginning to appear, I thought it would be helpful to start a discussion on acceptable NFL draft questions and how to settle them.

I'll start....

Acceptable Questions

Range Questions: NFL Draft - Where will Matt Ryan be Drafted?
- Ranges should be exhaustive. I'll allow for obvious exceptions, but try to have the outcome corresponding to the lowest draft position/range included the words "or lower": e.g 2nd round or lower
- If undrafted is not listed as an outcome, then question will be settled as the "as lower" outcome

What will they do questions: NFL Draft - What will the Falcons do with the 3rd overall pick
- I think it is preferential if these questions refer to specific picks and have an outcome that allows for the team to trade it away (either up, down or for a player). Having a question refer to their first round pick may cause difficulties if the team ends up with more than 1 first round pick (see the 49ers last year)
- The Kevin Williams precedent. Although Kevin Williams was drafted 9th overall in 2003 by the Vikes, he was actually drafted with the 7th overall pick as the Vikes didn;t submit their pick on time.

Team, player questions: NFL Draft - Will Miami draft Chris Long
- A Yes/No question.....pretty straightforward: Yes if Miami draft Chris Long anywhere from pick 1 to 255

Who will questiosn: NFL Draft - Who will draft Darren McFadden
- always include an Other option
- Subject to the Eli Manning/John Elway precedent. Eli was drafted by the Chargers, Elway by the
Colts (the real colts, not the Indianapolis re-threads!)

Trading Up/Down: NFL Draft - Will Team trade up in a round
- should refer to the round in question
- trading up in the first round defined as trading one pick in the first round + other picks/players to get a higher pick in the same round.
- Question - How should situations like the Browns last year be dealt with? Is that considered trading up?

Positions
- as listed on nfl.com
- Offensive: QB, HB, FB, OL, TE, WR
- Defensive: DL, LB, CB, S
- Special Teams: K, P, KR
- Should we break down DL and OL further? - Personally, I don't think so
- There could be difficulties on Full Backs, Kick Returners, and the deliniation between a 4-3 end and a 3-4 LB...I'd just go with the NFL.com listings.

Also some other points
- Spygate: there are only 31 picks in the first round this year.
- Please prefix all draft questions with NFL-Draft

If you have any thoughts on the above or any further suggestions on how to deal with draft questions(I must have overlooked something), please discuss.

Regards

Donal
(Hubdub Sports Editor)