Drafttek Staff Bios

Warren Hauck
Principal
Webmaster
Buccaneers Analyst/Writer
Warren developed a draft simulation as part of a class project some 20 years ago, and built this website around it. He functions as the webmaster for Drafttek, but pinch-writes here and there, covering the Buccaneers as of late. His primary field is Industrial Engineering, and has worked for several Fortune-500 companies. In his spare time, Warren tinkers with Drafttek and participates in 5/10K races in northern California.

Austin Smith
Senior Writer
Broncos Analyst
Browns Analyst
Scouting Reports
Austin hails from Garland, Texas (outside of Dallas), and played all sports growing up. Football was his passion, Austin played through college at the University of North Texas. After leaving UNT, he pursued a degree in both coaching and sports journalism, sticking with the latter.The NFL Draft quickly became his favorite sporting event at a young age because it combined his knowledge of both college and professional football, as well as his ability to identify a match between a player and team. Austin loved every minute he'd devoted to being an analyst and a scout, and DraftTek gave him his first real opportunity in that field. In addition to DraftTek, he's a full-time sports writer in Northwest Oklahoma. Covering younger kids has taught Austin to value the path to an achievement as opposed to just the end result. Being involved with the draft is his ultimate career goal. Whether as a scout, coach or analyst, he is constantly working to get better in each field to make that dream a reality.

Cole Muzio
Senior Writer
Raiders Analyst
Cole is a lifelong sports junkie who played basketball through high school and football in college, earning accolades along the way in both. Upon graduation, he launched a career in politics and PR- running political campaigns across the country and advising large corporations. That hasn't kept him from continuing sports work, however, as he launched a national sports page, has written for numerous outlets, and been interviewed on recruiting, college football and the NFL Draft. He now lives outside of Atlanta running an issue advocacy group and political committee while riding the roller coaster that is Auburn Tigers and Oakland Raiders fandom.

Patrick Mayfield
Senior Writer
Steelers Analyst
Patrick has been the Steelers Analyst since 2010. He grew up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and graduated from Penn State. He now lives in the metro Boston area and works as an engineer in the semiconductor industry. As an ex-pat yinzer, following the Steelers with a devoted passion became a way to retain his identity deep in enemy territory. Patrick finds the draft endlessly engrossing for its potential to sink a team or elevate them to greatness. Analyzing teams’ tactics and follies and they navigate this enigmatic and impactful event has led him to a much deeper understanding of the league and the game.

James Siebers
Senior Writer
Packers Analyst
Scouting Reports
James Siebers is a life-long Packers fan and sports enthusiast. James attended Virginia Tech and served as the Director of Video Operations with the school's baseball program. James has served in various capacities with the Sacramento River Cats, Salem Avalanche, and Creighton University Athletic Department. He began his career as a Baseball Operations Intern/Scout with Perfect Game, USA. James ultimately settled on a career with the National Park Service where he currently serves as an Administrative Assistant at Zion National Park. James has been writing for DraftTek since 2016 and has served as the Cardinals Analyst and Packers Analyst.

Greg Hawes
Senior Writer
Falcons Analyst
Greg Hawes was born in Atlanta the same year as the Falcons, growing up during the Steve Bartkowski and Gritz Blitz Era. An All-American Rugby player at Dartmouth, he once played beer pong with Jay Fiedler and lost. He has coached wrestling with the prestigious Blair Academy national championship teams and is currently the head wrestling coach at the Taft School.

Kennedy Paynter
Senior Writer
Commanders Analyst, Bills Analyst
Kennedy Paynter has been a writer from Drafttek for almost 15 years, starting with the then-Redskins. He now writes for the Washington Commanders and his Rochester-born wife's team, the Buffalo Bills. Kennedy is a behavior interventionist in a middle school in Maryland, working with students with emotional disabilities. He also coaches high school lacrosse and has two black labs, Jordy and Pippen.

David Payne
Senior Writer
Dolphins Analyst
Born in Colchester, England, and now living in Manchester where he works in Security. He is a long-suffering Dolphins' fan since discovering the NFL in 1984 which is, ironically, the last time Miami made the Superbowl. Very proud to be the Dolphins' analyst since 2019. He considers himself a proper football nerd, and spends most of his spare time watching college highlights, and scouting prospects. David would like to take this opportunity to thank all Americans for giving him the sport that he loves.

Cyrus Borg
Logo Guy
DRAFTSIM Analyst
Cy join the team in 2019 as Drafttek's new logo. Cy is half-human and half-machine and, as such, is analogous to the DRAFTSIM model that is used to produce weekly Consensus Mock Drafts. The DRAFTSIM was originally produced some 15 years ago to auto-generate a 7-round mock draft. However, the team found it difficult to incorporate all the variables that go into selecting a draft roster. Currently, team analysts have the option of supplying a draft board for their team. In a typical mock draft, perhaps 25% of picks are pulled from the draft board (mostly RD1 and RD2), and 75% are auto-generated based on the team's positional needs.
About the DRAFTSIM model
Drafttek uses a computer model to generate a 7-round mock draft. Each team has a GM/Analyst who determines what the draft priorities are for their team. These priorities, more or less 1 (highest need) to 9 (lowest need) are inputs for the DRAFTSIM model, as is the Big Board of ranked players.
The DRAFTSIM will look for a player at the top-priority position, but will only reach so deep into the Big Board before switching to the next highest priority position. The DRAFTSIM logic weighs need versus the value of the player to make selections.
Reach/Value
If a team is selecting at 20 and the model selects a player who is ranked #10 on the Big Board, it's a VALUE pick of +10. If the DRAFTSIM selects the #30 ranked player for the same team, then the pick is a REACH of -10. The DRAFTSIM determines at what point a Priority 2 (P2) or P3 ranked player is a better deal than reaching far for a player at the #1 need.
Analyst Logic/Override
Each team analyst has the option to bypass the logic of the DRAFTSIM and enter in a list of players of his choice. If all the players on the list are already selected, then the DRAFTSIM logic will kick in to select a player.
Most of the players selected in RD1 of our weekly mock drafts are selected by the analysts. The analysts get less and less involved as the rounds progress. By RD7, only about 10% of the selections are made by analyst grabs and 90% by the DRAFTSIM logic.

Radio/Media
Why Drafttek for Your Radio Program or Newsprint Interview Drafttek.com employs 26 college and pro football analysts. Our personnel have "day jobs" with a disparate range of expertise, with several currently employed in mainstream media: sports talk radio, newspaper reporting, and online media.
- Pre-Draft trades and rumors - we've heard them all (and invented our own!). Using our computer model, we'll tell you how that rumor will likely affect the rest of the draft.
- Risers/Plungers - In the months prior to the draft, we're busy running dozens of draft models daily. We've got a real good idea what positions/players will be in high demand, and which guys will go a round or two late.