While the Wonderlic was original designed as a screening exam for employers hiring new staff members, it’s widely known for its use in the NFL draft. Though not all reports can actually be verified, the NFL Wonderlic test scores released every season stir up a frenzy among football fans.
So, why does the NFL insist on administering a standardized exam to new athletes, and, perhaps more importantly, does the exam actually provide us with any useful information? We have all your answers right here. We’ll explain what Wonderlic is, why it’s used, and how accurately it can predict success on the field.
As alluded to above, the Wonderlic was meant to function as a simplified I.Q. test for companies looking to hire new employees. According to many modern psychologists, a high level of intelligence is one of the best signs of future success. While personality, work ethic, and ambition all play an important role in shaping someone’s professional trajectory, cognitive ability is underrated important.
Clever employees, more often than not, pick up new concepts and ideas more quickly than their peers, and they’re more likely to take on leadership roles. While NFL players don’t work in an office, they use many of the same skills on a regular basis.
On the field, football players need to make good judgment calls, react to changing circumstances, solve complex problems and think clearly while under pressure. Football requires an immense amount of concentration, spatial reasoning, and resourcefulness, all skills tested on the Wonderlic.
When a quarterback is in the middle of a play and his opponents are closing in on him, he needs to quickly evaluate the situation and decide how best to proceed. When there’s a change of plans–the weather is bad, a player gets injured, his rivals react unexpectedly–a quarterback needs to be able to adapt and make use of what resources he has at hand.
Wonderlic scores won’t necessarily affect an athlete’s chances during the draft, but they can supply a team with the information they wouldn’t have known from a resume or list of statistics.
As alluded to above, the Wonderlic was meant to function as a simplified I.Q. test for companies looking to hire new employees. According to many modern psychologists, a high level of intelligence is one of the best signs of future success. While personality, work ethic, and ambition all play an important role in shaping someone’s professional trajectory, cognitive ability is underrated important.
Clever employees, more often than not, pick up new concepts and ideas more quickly than their peers, and they’re more likely to take on leadership roles. While NFL players don’t work in an office, they use many of the same skills on a regular basis.
On the field, football players need to make good judgment calls, react to changing circumstances, solve complex problems and think clearly while under pressure. Football requires an immense amount of concentration, spatial reasoning, and resourcefulness, all skills tested on the Wonderlic.
When a quarterback is in the middle of a play and his opponents are closing in on him, he needs to quickly evaluate the situation and decide how best to proceed. When there’s a change of plans–the weather is bad, a player gets injured, his rivals react unexpectedly–a quarterback needs to be able to adapt and make use of what resources he has at hand.
Wonderlic scores won’t necessarily affect an athlete’s chances during the draft, but they can supply a team with the information they wouldn’t have known from a resume or list of statistics.
Yes and no.
The Wonderlic, like any other test, is not perfect. There is a debate among psychologists as to whether or not the exam can accurately measure I.Q. However, the mixed results show us fairly clearly that, while it may help in certain cases, it cannot predict success with any degree of consistency.
Plus, test results are not always accurate anyway. Many people are simply bad test takers. Whether they struggle from anxiety or fail to apply themselves, some very bright, capable individuals receive low scores and then go on to perform brilliant feats.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, a Harvard graduate, received an impressive 48 on the Wonderlic Personnel Test before going on to lead what you could generously call a middling career. A 48 on the Wonderlic is extremely rare and far higher than most engineers and doctor’s score, but his high score simply did not translate into success on the field.
Fitzpatrick wasn’t picked until the seventh round of the draft, and since then, the journeyman quarterback has traveled from state to state serving on seven different teams. While he’s had plenty of good moments and even good games, Fitzpatrick is extremely inconsistent. He throws a lot of interceptions and often makes poor decisions throwing when or where he shouldn’t. Sometimes, it seems like he just throws the ball randomly and hopes for the best. He’s been the luckiest backup quarterback ever. He plays more than he otherwise would because his starters always manage to get themselves injured.
On the other hand, Morris Claiborne, who received a lowly score of 4, went on to have an outstanding career. On Wonderlic, someone who receives a score lower than 10 is considered illiterate.
Even though Claiborne couldn’t even answer 10% of the questions correctly, he was one of the first ten players selected in the 2012 draft, after which he went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys for five great seasons. During his rookie season alone, Claiborne deflected 8 passes and completed 55 tackles, 43 of which were solo.
Below, you’ll find the average Wonderlic scores listed according to the position. As you can see, the average score for NFL players overall is about a 20, so despite their reputations, football players, on the whole, aren’t any more or less intelligent than the general population.
You should also notice how there is a wide range in scores. There is a whopping 10-point difference in score between the average halfback and offensive tackle. The data shows that the more offensive the position, the higher the score. While it must take a lot of skill to play defense, the numbers show that offensive plays need considerably more focus and creativity.
More interesting still, offensive tackles, and centers generally score higher than quarterbacks even though it seems as if the quarterback does a lot of the decision-making. As it turns out, centers and offensive tackles are crucial to a team’s success.
The center knows the playbook just as well as the quarterback. After all, he needs to tell each of his linemen which player to target. It’s him that puts his teammates in a position to score and sets the quarterback up for success. Oh, and he also needs to know how to move quickly enough to defend himself from a 350-pound rushing defender.
Offensive tackles consistently receive the highest Wonderlic scores. Once seen as faceless shields, offensive tackles have become some of the most highly sought-after players in the NFL. Responsible for covering anyone the guard does not when the tight end goes out for a pass, offensive tackles need to have a sharp eye and a quick mind.
As Michael Lewis explains in his book The Blind Side, the salary of these players skyrocketed in the ’90s when coaches began to realize how crucial these players were to the team’s overall success.
| SCORE | NAME | COLLEGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Pat McInally | Harvard University | Punter |
| 49 | Mike Mamula | Boston College | Linebacker |
| 48 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | Harvard University | Quarterback |
| 48 | Quarterback | Alabama | Quarterback |
| 48 | Benjamin Watson | Georgia | Tight End |
| 48 | Kevin Curtis | Utah State | Wide Receiver |
| 46 | Matt Birk | Harvard University | Offensive Lineman |
| 43 | Jason Maas | Oregon | Quarterback |
| 43 | Eric Decker | Minnesota | Wide Receiver |
| 42 | Blaine Gabbert | Missouri | Quarterback |
| 42 | Drew Henson | Michigan | Quarterback |
| SCORE | NAME | COLLEGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Darren Davis | Iowa State | Running Back |
| 4 | Morris Claiborne | LSU | Cornerback |
| 5 | Ed Prather | Mississippi State | Defensive Back |
| 6 | Oscar Davenport | North Carolina | Quarterback |
| 6 | Frank Gore | Miami | Running Back |
| 6 | Vince Young | Texas | Quarterback |
| 7 | Kelvin Benjamin | Florida State | Wide Receiver |
| 7 | Tavon Austin | West Virginia | Running Back |
| 7 | Terrelle Pryor | Ohio State University | Quarterback |
| 8 | Bobby Wagner | Utah State | Linebacker |
| 8 | Vince Evans | USC | Quarterback |
| 8 | Chris Leak | Florida | Quarterback |
| SCORE | NAME | COLLEGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Aaron Rodgers | University of California, Berkeley | Quarterback |
| 25 | Baker Mayfield | University of Oklahoma | Quarterback |
| 21 | Cam Newton | University of Florida, Blinn College, Auburn University | Quarterback |
| 20 | Deshaun Watson | Clemson University | Quarterback |
| 27 | Jameis Winston | Florida State University | Quarterback |
| 28 | Peyton Manning | University of Tennessee | Quarterback |
| 48 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | Harvard University | Quarterback |
| 33 | Tom Brady | University of Michigan | Quarterback |
Discover what our students said about this course.
