NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[Al B. Sure!]

Speaking of 49's... well, 48's...

Alabama QB Greg McElroy scored a 48/50 on his Wonderlic, matching the highest score for a QB on record, that of Bills QB (and Harvard grad) Ryan Fitzpatrick.


Mike Florio is a ****** though (as usual) because this is what he had to say:

That said, scoring too high can be as much of a problem as scoring too low. Football coaches want to command the locker room. Being smarter than the individual players makes that easier. Having a guy in the locker room who may be smarter than every member of the coaching staff can be viewed as a problem — or at a minimum as a threat to the egos of the men who hope to be able when necessary to outsmart the players, especially when trying in some way to manipulate them.
So while McElroy, who was unable to work out due to injury, may be really smart, he perhaps would have been wise to tank a few of the answers.

Yeah, Mike Florio, in the NFL you never want to give your best

[-Jrabbit]

Based on that statement, I have to agree that Mike Florio is an idiot.

I would think the players want their QB to be the smartest guy on the field.

[flash9286]

Wonderlic scores seem to always inaccurate this time of the year. I remember they initially reported that Fitzpatrick scored a 50 out of 50, but he admitted that he left one of the questions blank. I still don't think anybody has verified Fitzpatrick's score. Greg McElroy's score seems to be in doubt too (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-on-wonderlic/).

Mike Florio is a ****** though (as usual) because this is what he had to say:

He is probably referring to Pat McInally

[Al B. Sure!]

The other two active players believed to have scored 48's are WR Kevin Curtis and TE Benjamin Watson, by the way.

[flash9286]

Watson got a 41, no? http://books.google.com/books?id=F1Q...derlic&f=false

[Al B. Sure!]

Goes to show you how much misinformation there is about these scores! I'm getting Watson scored a 48 from wikipedia but it's mis-cited.

It's interesting that whereas all other measurables are easily accessible, these Wonderlic scores are shrouded in secrecy.

I guess one guy being faster than another it's whatever but intelligence differences are a bit taboo?

[flash9286]

Since we are talking about the wonderlic, this picture is interesting. It is the average wonderlic score by position.

[SlowwHand]

OT's are the brainiacs? That surprises me.

[Ming]

Thanks flash... that is interesting, and quite surprising.

[Al B. Sure!]

20 by the way is equivalent to a 100 IQ.

And don't sleep on the offensive line, guys. Line protections are more complicated than you think. On a lot of teams, the center is the one who has to adjust the line at the line to counter the blitz.

[Al B. Sure!]

I'm a little surprised that the average TE is 22 and the average FB is 17. The positions are so related and often overlap. Maybe they just didn't sample enough people for that

[flash9286]

It is hard to tell, the numbers are from this wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderl...er_professions). The page also says that an average person scores 24, which means that IQ conversion formula looks wrong.

[Lord Avalon]

I'm not too surprised by the breakdown, though I thought centers might be highest on the OL. Anecdotal, but whenever I've seen the announcers talking about someone who's academic player of the week (or whatever), or if I'm reading and they mention top academic player, it's usually an OL.

I'm a little surprised that the average TE is 22 and the average FB is 17. The positions are so related and often overlap. Maybe they just didn't sample enough people for that

I don't think they're that related. A TE on the line has more to do than a FB in the backfield - run block (straight ahead and pulling), pass protect (dealing with line stunts, LB or even DB blitzes), and more pass routes to run (reading zones, is a LB or DB covering), and more catching the ball in traffic. And then he might also act as H back.

[Al B. Sure!]

I'm not too surprised by the breakdown, though I thought centers might be highest on the OL. Anecdotal, but whenever I've seen the announcers talking about someone who's academic player of the week (or whatever), or if I'm reading and they mention top academic player, it's usually an OL.

I don't think they're that related. A TE on the line has more to do than a FB in the backfield - run block (straight ahead and pulling), pass protect (dealing with line stunts, LB or even DB blitzes), and more pass routes to run (reading zones, is a LB or DB covering), and more catching the ball in traffic. And then he might also act as H back.

FB's run block, pass protect, run routes, AND carry the ball. Players often play both FB and TE. Is Mike Sellers a TE or FB? His profile on NFL.com lists him as a TE but he went to the Pro Bowl as a FB and pro-football-reference lists him as a TE-WR. Desmond Clark has played at TE over the years but he played in the backfield as a FB this year for the Bears. If you go to the Bears' official depth chart, they have TE Brandon Manumaleuna starting at FB. Manumaleuna is listed as a TE, not a FB, at NFL.com but chicagobears.com has him and Clark as FB's on the depth chart but TE's on the roster.

Both TE and FB are hybrid positions but they also overlap heavily as well. There isn't a clear distinction between these guys.

The differences are probably a lot smaller than the differences between let's say CB and safety, two other positions where players usually switch between.

[Lord Avalon]

So there are a few instances where players are doing double duty. That doesn't mean that all FBs are capable of that. When FBs block, they don't have anyone right on top of them like TEs do. And as far as carrying the ball, well, you can see where the low scores are.