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Wonderlic Scores Are Out. Everyone beat Vince Young’s score.

By ArtieFufkin

Vince Young with his Wonderlic Tutor (Photo: Deadspin)

Pro Football Weekly has gotten a hold of the Wonderlic scores for this year’s NFL draft prospects.  For the unfamiliar, “The is a 12-minute, 50-question test commonly given to NFL prospects as a measure of intelligence, designed to test learning and problem-solving skills.”  Wikipedia has an interesting breakdown of average scores by position and other careers.

So basically, it’s an intelligence test for football players. And let’s face it, football ain’t exactly brain surgery. There have been heaps of players over the years who can’t form sentences and have the common sense of a doorknob, but are great football players. 

So, it seems teams are caring less and less about these Wonderlic scores:

“We look at three gauges of intelligence,” one team executive said. “One, (a player’s) score; two, whether his coaches say he needs reps (to learn); and three, whether intelligence issues show up on tape — how often does (a player) need to be lined up, how often does he appear confused. If he is football-smart or his coaches say he learns well, the Wonderlic score is disregarded. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to play football.”

True to form, many great players through the years have had better football intelligence than book smarts, as Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino reportedly scored a 16 on the Wonderlic, Terry Bradshaw 15 and potential Hall of Famer Donovan McNabb 14.

Still, you have to believe that if it comes down to two players who are equal in every other way, you’d prefer to have the guy with a better head on his shoulders. Especially at QB, OL, LB or S. Vince Young famously scored a 6 on the Wonderlic, and we’ve seen how well that’s turned out.

WR Percy Harvin - at least he scored higher than his number

A few standouts from the 2009 draft class (scores are on a scale of 50):

• Matt Stafford, QB Georgia – 35
• Mark Sanchez, QB USC – 28
• Knowshawn Moreno, RB Georgia – 13
• Chris “Beanie” Wells, RB Ohio St – 22
• Michael Crabtree, WR Texas Tech – 15
• Percy Harvin, WR Florida – 12
• Jeremy Maclin, WR Missouri – 25
• Jason Smith, OT Baylor – 23
• BJ Raji, DT Boston College – 19
• Aaron Curry, LB Wake Forest – 26
• Rey Maualuga, LB USC – 15

Oh, and in case you’re interested, you can take a sample Wonderlic Test, to see how you’d compare.