For decades, the Wonderlic Test has been used by prospective employers as an updated version of the IQ test, tailored specifically to measure intelligence in an on-the-job context.
A score of 41-50 qualifies the scorer as the equivalent of a genius, while a 20 is the equivalent of an IQ of 100, and a 10 translates to an IQ of 70 — below which a person is considered feeble-minded or mentally retarded.
Based on those ranges, Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is likely to learn the playbook of the team that drafts him later rather than sooner, since his Wonderlic score was a 12 (plus Lamb is slow in other ways, as well — his 40-yard dash time at the combine was 4.51), while fellow wideout Jerry Jeudy compounded his disappointing 4.46 at the combine with a 9 on the test, raising questions as to how he even managed to stay matriculated at Alabama (Dri Archer, who blazed a 4.26 at the 2014 combine, got a 19 on the test — and reportedly did such a poor job of understanding the playbook that he lasted just one and a half years in the NFL before the Steelers, who drafted him in the third round in 2014, cut him on November 5, 2015; on February 3, 2016 he signed with the Jets, who released him on May 9; claimed off waivers by the Bills the next day, he never showed up to their facilities and was placed on their Reserve/Did Not Report list eight days later, after which Archer has never been seen again).
Last year, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman took a lot of heat for drafting J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, citing Whiteside's 29 on the Wonderlic Test, the highest among the "marquee" wide receivers, as to why he selected Whiteside over DK Metcalf and his 4.33 speed, but 17 on the test (Whiteside ran a 4.49 at his Pro Day, where recorded 40 times are typically about a 10th of a second faster than combine times — or does it only seem that way? Freddie Mitchell ran a 4.26 at his Pro Day — and if anyone actually believes that Mitchell had legitimate 4.26 speed, then I own a bridge that connects two boroughs of New York City that I would happy to sell to them at a reasonable price). Parris Campbell ran a 4.31 at the combine, Terry McLaurin a 4.35 — and like Metcalf, both were still on the board when the speed-starved Eagles selected Whiteside (neither Campbell's nor McLaurin's Wonderlic scores were ever "leaked," as appears to be the custom in this situation).
And any GM who likes his receivers both slow and dumb can do no "better" than Colorado wide receiver Laviska Shenault's Miller Lite-like combination of great taste (4.58 at the combine) and less filling (14 on the Wonderlic Test) — while USC's Michael Pittman, Jr. is this year's Whiteside, with the same 29 on the Wonderlic which is also at the head of this year's wide receiver class, and a 4.52 at the combine (Pittman and Whiteside are also near-clones so far as size is concerned — Pittman goes 6'4", 220 while Whiteside is 6'2", 225).
Will Jeudy's and Lamb's abysmal Wonderlic scores — or that of Clemson's Tee Higgins, who came in between them with a score of 11, and ran a 4.54 at his Pro Day after taking a powder at the combine — cause them to slip in the draft, maybe even to slip out of the first round entirely?
And will Roseman leave himself wide open to allegations of hypocrisy if he picks one of them in the first round?
Tune in for the answers on Thursday (and maybe Friday) — same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel.
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