FPL mock draft: practise before it counts
A mock draft is a rehearsal for the real draft in FPL Draft: the same snake order, the same timer, the same moment where the three players you wanted go in a row and your pick is up. There are three places to run one. The official game has its own, a handful of independent simulators exist, and DraftIcon PL, our own weekly draft game, has a practice draft against a coach bot that needs no account and starts in one tap. It is a different kind of draft, and this page is clear about that.
What a mock draft actually teaches you
Not who to pick. Rankings do that, and yours will be different from mine anyway. What a mock teaches is the shape of a draft: how far away your next pick is, how quickly a position empties, and what the timer does to your judgement. Those are things you cannot read about, only feel, and feeling them once in a rehearsal is worth more than an evening of cheat sheets.
The snake is the main thing. In an eight-team league the manager with the first pick chooses first and then waits fifteen picks for the second. The manager at the end chooses eighth and ninth back to back, then waits fifteen. Neither is better, but they are drafted completely differently, and most first-timers only find that out with their real squad on the line.
The FPL Draft Mock Draft
FPL Draft has a mock draft built in. From your account you can create a Mock Draft and use it to practise the draft process as many times as you like; the one restriction in the official help pages is that once a mock draft has been created, it cannot be deleted. It runs with the real player list and the real snake order, which makes it the most faithful rehearsal available, because it is literally the same room.
Use it for the mechanics: build a watchlist beforehand and see whether it holds up when the pick comes round, let the timer run out once on purpose to watch the auto-pick take your highest watchlist player, and try both ends of the order. The official rules for all of that are on FPL Draft explained.
Draft simulators and where to find them
A search for an FPL mock draft turns up independent simulators built for exactly this: a practice snake draft against computer opponents with 2026/27 rankings, free to run. They are useful when you want to rehearse ten times in an evening without creating ten mock leagues, and when you want a fixed set of rankings to draft against so you can see where you deviate from the consensus. The community around FPL Draft, including the dedicated subreddit, is where the current ones get recommended, and they change from season to season, so we would rather point you there than list a tool that has moved.
The honest limit of every simulator is the same: the computer opponents draft from a list, and your friends do not. Real leagues have the manager who takes a goalkeeper in round three and the one who only drafts his own club, and no simulator prepares you for either.
Five things worth practising
| Practise | Why |
|---|---|
| Both ends of the snake | Picking first and picking last are different games. Run one mock from each. |
| A watchlist you trust | It is your pick when you freeze, and your autopilot if you drop off. Build it before the mock, not during. |
| Position runs | Watch how fast the top forwards go, then decide in advance whether you chase or wait. |
| The timer | Ninety seconds feels long until it is your turn. Decide the pick before the clock starts. |
| Rounds nine to fifteen | The bench and the second goalkeeper are where mocks are boring and real drafts are won. |
A draft you can run this minute
Full disclosure, this is our own game. DraftIcon PL has a practice draft against a coach bot that needs no account, no league and no waiting: you tap, a pack of Premier League player cards opens, you pick, the bot picks, and fourteen picks later you have an eleven and a bench. It takes about fifteen minutes and you can run it as often as you like.
It is not a snake-draft simulator, and we would rather say so than have you find out. There is no shared pool and no unique ownership: every player drafts from their own packs, so the bot cannot take your striker. What it shares with an FPL Draft night is the part that matters most in a rehearsal: a clock on every pick, slots you have to fill, a projection and a fixture on each card, and the feeling of committing to a player with the timer running.
And unlike a mock, it is also a real game. The same draft, played for a live gameweek, ranks you against friends, your country and the world, then expires on Monday so you can draft again. That is what a weekly redraft is.
Tap the pack, pick, next.
Real footage from the app: a pack of cards opens, one is picked, and the turn moves on. Fourteen picks, about fifteen minutes.
What to take into the real draft
One list, one plan for each end of the snake, and a rule for the timer. That is all a mock can give you and it is enough. The rest is the room: the friend who reaches for a goalkeeper early, the trade offer that arrives before the draft has even finished, and the league that has to survive until May.
If your group has not formed yet, or has and is already flaky, FPL with friends covers both the official leagues and the weekly alternative.
- Official mock: the real room, unlimited runs
- Simulators: fixed rankings, fast repetition
- DraftIcon PL: no account, no snake, a real gameweek afterwards
Quick answers
Does FPL Draft have a mock draft?
Yes. You can create a Mock Draft in the official game and use it to practise the draft process as many times as you like. The official help pages note one restriction: once a mock draft has been created, it cannot be deleted.
Is an FPL mock draft free?
Yes. The official mock draft is part of the free FPL Draft game, the independent simulators are free to run, and the DraftIcon PL practice draft is free and needs no account.
Do I need a league to run a mock draft?
Not in the official game: a Mock Draft is created from your own account. The independent simulators and the DraftIcon PL practice draft need no league either.
What should I practise in a mock draft?
The shape rather than the picks: both ends of the snake order, a watchlist you can lean on, how fast positions empty, the timer, and the late rounds where the bench is drafted. Rankings tell you who; the mock tells you when.
Is the DraftIcon PL practice draft the same as an FPL mock draft?
No. It is a draft from packs of cards against a coach bot, with no shared pool and no unique ownership, so it does not rehearse the snake. It does rehearse picking under a clock with slots to fill, it needs no account, and the same draft can then be played for a real gameweek.
How long does a mock draft take?
An official mock with eight teams and fifteen rounds is 120 picks, so at 90 seconds per pick it can run past an hour if everybody uses the clock. The DraftIcon PL practice draft is fourteen picks and takes about fifteen minutes.
Is it better to auto-draft?
Only as a safety net. In FPL Draft, if your timer runs out the game picks the highest available player on your watchlist in a position you still need, then keeps picking for you until you mark yourself online again. A good watchlist makes that survivable; it does not make it a strategy.
Does picking first or last matter in a snake draft?
It changes how you draft rather than how well. First pick gets the best player and then waits the longest; last pick gets two picks together at every turn. Running a mock from each end is the quickest way to feel the difference.
Can I practise drafting every week rather than once?
That is what DraftIcon PL is: a fresh draft every gameweek, from packs, with the practice version open at all times. It is our own game, and it lacks the unique ownership of FPL Draft, which is the trade.
Ready to draft?
Free, in the browser, and the practice draft against the coach needs no account.