SITE NEWS: 2016 Battle Red Blog NFL Mock Draft

As we have for the last several years, Battle Red Blog will host its own mock draft. A member or multiple members from the BRB community will act as general managers for each NFL team with a first round pick in the upcoming draft.

How do we determine which community member gets to represent a given team? Simple--you call dibs on said team before anyone else does in a separate post that will publish at 10 a.m. CDT tomorrow. That rule, and others, for the 2016 BRB Mock Draft are explained in the space below.

1. If you want to throw your hat into the ring to act as GM for a team in this mock draft, you should do so via the Comments in a post that will publish promptly at 10 a.m. CDT tomorrow morning. Any attempts to claim a team in the Comments to any other post (including this one) will not be honored. It'll be first come/first serve tomorrow, so if you want in on this, be ready to stake your claim as soon as the aforementioned post publishes at 10 a.m. CDT.

2. The Texans' pick at No. 22 will be made by the BRB masthead, so they are not eligible for anyone else to claim tomorrow.  Thus, you won't get the joy of having to answer why you made such a stupid pick for the good guys.  We will.

3. If more than one person says he or she wants to act as GM for a given squad, those people can form a front office that in turn puts their heads together about who to pick.

4. In addition to making the pick, the fake GM or the fake front office will be responsible for submitting a short write-up explaining why the pick was who it was. Something like this is what we're envisioning, though it doesn't necessarily have to be that detailed. We just want a good explanation for why you're doing what you're doing.

5. There will be a clock/deadline to keep things moving, so you'll need to get your pick in on time. If a team doesn't get its pick in on time, a poll will go up, and the BRB community will make the pick for that team.

6. At this point, we're thinking two picks will be published per weekday, at approximately 10 a.m. CDT and 4 p.m. CDT. The pick that will be published at 10 a.m. CDT will be due to one or two members of the BRB masthead (still working out who that'll be) via e-mail by 7 p.m. the previous night. The pick that will be published at 4 p.m. CDT will be due via e-mail by 12 p.m. CDT.

7. Trades are allowed, but they will not affect the timetable for submitting picks. In other words, if the Browns' pseudo-GM strikes a trade for the second overall pick, the team acquiring that second overall pick is still responsible for submitting that pick before Cleveland's original deadline to submit the pick expires.

8. While trades are permitted, be reasonable. The Browns are not going to part with the second pick in the draft to get Case Keenum back from the Rams. I know, I know...Keenum got a first-round tender from the Rams, and he's the greatest thing to happen to football since Walter Camp. But he's not going to fetch the second overall pick in the NFL Draft, and any trade that says he would is so fantastical as to ensure that the rest of the mock draft would be ruined. Moreover, this is essentially a one-round mock draft, so it's not like you'll get to display your brilliance by utilizing all those third and fourth round picks you acquired for your first-rounder.

9. I'd like to start the draft on Monday, March 28th, with the Titans' first pick being published at 10 a.m. CDT that morning. That means Tampa Bay Tennessee's pick would be due via e-mail no later than 7 p.m. CDT on Sunday, March 27th.

For the sake of completeness, here's the current order of the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft:

1. Tennessee Titans
2. Cleveland Browns
3. San Diego Chargers
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. San Francisco 49ers
8. Philadelphia Eagles
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
10. New York Giants
11. Chicago Bears
12. New Orleans Saints
13. Miami Dolphins
14. Oakland Raiders
15. Los Angeles Rams
16. Detroit Lions
17. Atlanta Falcons
18. Indianapolis Colts
19. Buffalo Bills
20. New York Jets
21. Washington Redskins
22. Houston Texans
23. Minnesota Vikings
24. Cincinnati Bengals
25. Pittsburgh Steelers
26. Seattle Seahawks
27. Green Bay Packers
28. Kansas City Chiefs
29. Arizona Cardinals
30. Carolina Panthers
31. Denver Broncos

Note that the Patriots do not have a first round pick this year; that was one of the penalties handed down by Roger Goodell for their conduct during the AFC Championship Game in January of 2015. Thus, please refrain from calling dibs on the Patriots for the 2016 BRB Mock Draft.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, so fire off any questions in the Comments below. Remember to stake your claim to a team in the post that goes up at 10 a.m. CDT tomorrow.