Overall Draft Process
The patbox draft is a slow, live draft. This means that when it is your turn to pick, you will receive an email alert. The entire draft usually takes 2-3 weeks.
DISCLAIMER: In year's past, I have sometimes had to move the draft along by going in and drafting a player for a team that has not made a pick in a reasonable amount of time. Don't let that happen to you! Use Auto-Draft (more info below).
Draft Queue Page
While the draft is in progress, you will see a link called "Draft Queue" in the "My Fantasy Football Leagues" section of the homepage. From this page, you can monitor all draft progress. You will see who is "on the clock" which means that it is their turn to draft. The Draft Status table will show the draft order and where we are in the process. The draft starts at the top of the list and continues to the bottom (1 through 10) then for even-number rounds goes bottom to top (10 to 1). Thus, the player with the 1st pick is also the 20th pick, and the player with the 10th pick is also the 11th pick.
On the draft queue page, you will also see your personal draft queue. This can be loaded with available players that have not already been drafted by another team in the league. Once your draft queue has at least one player in it, you can put yourself in "Automatic Draft Mode" (see below for details).
Adding a Player to your Draft Queue
To add a player to your draft queue, simply navigate to the "Available Players" section and search for a player either by position or by last name. Once the search results have loaded, check the box next to the desired player(s) name(s) and then click the "Add Player(s) to Draft Queue" button. You will then be taken to your Draft Queue page where a status message should tell you that the player(s) was/were added successfully. From here, you may re-sort your queue by using the up/down links.
Throughout the draft, as players are drafted by other teams, they will be removed from your draft queue automatically.
Note: you may also do this from the "Player Rankings" page as well. This page shows all players, regardless of whether or not they have been drafted.
Automatic Draft Mode
On your Draft Queue page, you may choose to place yourself on Automatic Draft Mode (assuming you have at least one player in your queue). As long as there are players in your queue, automatic draft mode will auto-draft for you when it is your turn. You may turn Auto-Draft on or off at any time by using the "Enable Auto-Draft" and "Disable Auto-Draft" buttons (only visible when players are in the queue).
Note: once your queue becomes empty, you will be automatically put back into manual draft mode.
Making a Pick (when it is your turn and not in Automatic Draft mode)
METHOD 1: To draft a player, simply navigate to the "Available Players" section and search for a player either by position or by last name. Once the search results have loaded, click the "DRAFT" link next to the player's name. You will then be taken to your team page where you will need to select the player's position and do a final submit before making your draft selection official.
METHOD 2: If your draft queue has players loaded, you may simply navigate to your Draft Queue page and click the "DRAFT" link next to the player's name. You will then be taken to your team page where you will need to select the player's position and do a final submit before making your draft selection official.
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