NFL Quarterback wonderlic scores

Stumbled upon this link in my eternal quest for Steelers-related articles. The Wonderlic Score is a quick IQ test that's administered around draft time, and this site lists the scores of quarterbacks drafted in 2004 along with some of the established quarterbacks in the league. ->

http://www.unc.edu/~mirabile/Wonderlic.htm


What the scores mean roughly translates to this:

50= highest possible score, superior intelligence

21= average intelligence

14= equivalent to unskilled worker

Below 14= moron

Here are some averages:

Offensive tackles: 26
Centers: 25
Quarterbacks: 24
Guards: 23
Tight Ends: 22
Safeties: 19
Middle linebackers: 19
Cornerbacks: 18
Wide receivers: 17
Fullbacks: 17
Halfbacks: 16

The average scores in other professions look like this:

Chemist: 31
Programmer: 29
Newswriter: 26
Sales: 24
Bank teller: 22
Clerical Worker: 21
Security Guard: 17
Warehouse: 15

Some notables in the list:

me
Year
College
Wonderlic
Actual Draft Order

Manning, Eli
2004
Mississippi
39
1 (1st overall)

Krenzel, Craig
2004
Ohio State
38
7 (148th overall)

Losman, J.P.
2004
Tulane
31, 14
4 (22nd overall)

Rivers, Philip
2004
NC State
30
2 (4th overall)

Roethlisberger, Ben
2004
Miami-OH
25
3 (11th overall)

Henson, Drew
2003
Michigan
42

Boller, Kyle
2003
California
27

Leftwich, Byron
2003
Marshall
25

Dorsey, Ken
2003
Miami
25

Harrington, Joey
2002
Oregon
32

Randle El, Antwaan* *
2002
Indiana
17

Brees, Drew
2001
Purdue
28

Michael Vick
2001
Virginia Tech
20

Brady, Tom
2000
Michigan*
33

Pennington, Chad
2000
Marshall
25

Culpepper, Daunte
1999
Central Fla.
18, 21, 15

Hasselbeck, Matt
1998
Boston College
29

1993
Washington
22

Grbac, Elvis
1993
Michigan
16

Blake, Jeff
1992
East Carolina
17

Favre, Brett
1991
Southern Miss.
22

And Steelers fans will get a kick out of these:

O'Donnell, Neil
1990
Maryland
13

Stewart, Kordell
1995
Colorado
12


Nice to have a QB of average-slightly above average intelligence :)

S L

Martin, Tee 2000 Tennessee 11

Jeff George - 10!

Hahaha I knew it. :lol

I love how Losman's score went up by 17 the second time he took it.

Did Peyton Manning not take this test, or was it just not recorded on this page? I've always wondered what he got on the test.

I don't know about you guys, but I didn't expect offensive tackles to be the most intelligent players in football. :dunno:

Edit: Now that I think about it though, offensive lineman need to depend on intelligence to react quickly to different situations such as blitzes, etc.

I don't know about you guys, but I didn't expect offensive tackles to be the most intelligent players in football. :dunno:

Edit: Now that I think about it though, offensive lineman need to depend on intelligence to react quickly to different situations such as blitzes, etc.
Yeah it's been well documented for years that linemen were considered the smartest of the bunch, it is one of those if you didn't know that you'd probably find it hard to concieve due to unintentional sterotyping.

Jeff George - 10!

Hahaha I knew it. :lol
yeah, that's hilarious!

nice to see Henson with such a high score...hopefully it will translate on the field.
Henson, Drew
2003
Michigan
42

Hensen 42, Brady 33...you can tell the smart ones by what college they went to. ;)

Pennington 25? I beg to differ.

Chris Gamble, the CB for the Carolina Panthers scored a 9 this year on it.

Pennington 25? I beg to differ.
Why do you beg to differ? It's the score he got. It's not like there's some conspiracy to blackball Pennington.

Chris Gamble, the CB for the Carolina Panthers scored a 9 this year on it.
From THE Ohio State University. Gotta wonder if he was taking some of those Clarett OSU classes to help his score out. I'm sure the 4 credits he got for Jim Tressel's varsity football class proved invaluable.

Hm, Matt Birk plays a position that requires intelligence and went to Harvard.....50, anyone? ;)

Why do you beg to differ? It's the score he got. It's not like there's some conspiracy to blackball Pennington.

Now with Akili Smith I would beg to differ. Going from a 15 to a 37?

Who cares? If IQ and the ability to play football went hand in hand, the Ivy League would be the goldmine of NFL success. But it isn't, and Miami and Ohio State churn out star after star.

Now with Akili Smith I would beg to differ. Going from a 15 to a 37?

On one of the wonderlic pages I've seen its been discussed that Smith most likely cheated to get his test scores up so that his draft position would go up.

I love how Losman's score went up by 17 the second time he took it.

From PFT


We know that teams are required to rally 'round their draft picks, especially when they mortgage a piece of the future to jump up and get a guy they want. But we're hearing that the Buffalo Bills have taken the turd-polishing thing to a new level with the explanation they're offering regarding the initial Wonderlic score generated by rookie quarterback J.P. Losman, for whom the team sacrificed its 2005 first-round pick in order to acquire him in the 2004 draft.



Losman is one of the guys whose Wonderlic saw a dramatic rise from one season to the next, prompting speculation in some circles that he had access to the test before he took it the second time. Word is that the Bills privately are saying that Losman's initial score (which was somewhere in the teens) resulted from the fact that (egads!) he really had to pee.



Supposedly, Losman left the testing room so that he could relieve himself, and he didn't get back in time to generate a respectable score.

Losman went to Tulane, maybe he had a hangover the first time.

On one of the wonderlic pages I've seen its been discussed that Smith most likely cheated to get his test scores up so that his draft position would go up.
I read something about Smith. Supposedly his agent really schooled him the 2nd time around.

(yeah, right)

Who cares? If IQ and the ability to play football went hand in hand, the Ivy League would be the goldmine of NFL success. But it isn't, and Miami and Ohio State churn out star after star.


There isn't a direct correlation between intelligence and academics. There are some very intelligent people who just don't do well in the rigid academic system. Also, there are people who fly through the educational system, that get out into the real world and have no survival skills.
It could also depend on how much work the person puts into their academics vs athletics.

There isn't a direct correlation between intelligence and academics. There are some very intelligent people who just don't do well in the rigid academic system. Also, there are people who fly through the educational system, that get out into the real world and have no survival skills.
It could also depend on how much work the person puts into their academics vs athletics.
I'm not saying that the highly educated are the most intellectual. You're reaching too far. What I was saying is that if IQ made the QB, then you would see them being churned out of high intellegence Ivy League schools, and not schools like Miami or Ohio State, which are notorious for their fluff classes for football players. A written test can't measure one's football ability.

I read something about Smith. Supposedly his agent really schooled him the 2nd time around.

(yeah, right)

Replaced schooled with wrote the test for him and I'd tend to agree ;)