Usually when you hear about a quarterback getting his NFL Combine Wonderlic scores leaked, it’s to prove he’s dumb and shouldn’t be rated so high. In this case, it’s just the opposite. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported that Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston scored a 27 on his test, with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota getting a 33. Both are high scores comparable to some of the current greatest quarterbacks in the NFL.
https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/588158184864534528
Winston’s 27 is two points better than Ben Roethlisberger’s, the same as Joe Flacco’s and one point behind Peyton Manning’s. All three quarterbacks have won Super Bowls.
Mariota’s 33 is the same as Tom Brady’s score. Aaron Rodgers had a 35 and Andrew Luck scored a 37. For the record, Eli Manning did better than all of them, including his brother, getting a 39.
The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test is used to test intelligence and problem solving. A score of 20 is considered average, with both Winston and Mariota scoring well above it. The average score for an NFL quarterback is 24.
The lowest recorded Wonderlic score for an NFL player belongs to Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne, who got a four. Yes. A four.
The highest score to date belonged to Cincinnati Bengals punter Pat Mcinally who scored a 50 in 1975 and went on to have a nine-year NFL career.
New Orleans Saints tight end Ben Watson and New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick have the highest scores of all active NFL players, each getting a 48 on the test with Fitzpatrick, a Harvard graduate, finishing the test in a record nine minutes.
Of course a high Wonderlic test score doesn’t always lead to NFL success. Blaine Gabbert scored a 42 and he’s barely hanging on as a back-up in San Francisco. Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy scored a 43 and is out of the NFL co-hosting on the SEC Network.
George Johnson returns to Tampa Bay after trade
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost defensive end Charles Johnson last season in free agency, but after a break out season with the Detroit Lions where he had 29 tackles, six sacks, a fumble recovery and a pass defense, the Bucs decided they wanted him back.
Tampa Bay sends a 2015 fifth-round pick to the Lions in exchange for Johnson and a seventh round pick.
Johnson was a restricted free agent with the Lions and Tampa Bay signed him to an offer sheet, offering him a three-year, $9 million deal.
And he gets his 3 yrs, $9M RT @NFLSTROUD: #Bucs have agreed to a trade with the Lions for RFA DE George Johnson. Swap picks
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 15, 2015
The Lions weren’t going to let Johnson go without compensation and this solves that problem for the Bucs, who definitely needed to upgrade their defensive end position and could still look to add a pass rusher in the second round of the draft.
Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor retires
Just a few days after his defensive backfield-mate Troy Polamalu called it a career, 12-year veteran corner Ike Taylor will follow his friend by riding off into the sunset. Taylor retires and an injury-filled 2014 season that saw him active in just five games.
Early in the offseason the Steelers made it clear that Taylor wasn’t in their plans for 2015 and he talked openly about possibly joining his former defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau with the Tennessee Titans. Unfortunately for Taylor, time waits for no man and the step he lost in 2013 when he didn’t pick off a pass for the first time since his rookie season, turned into multiple injuries.
“We came in together, we were going out together,” Taylor said of his and Polamalu’s retirements. “That is how we rock. We came in, we are leaving together. That is my loyalty to that man. I said once Troy does his, I will decide. That is what I owe Troy.”
Ike Taylor was doing sit-ups when he first met Troy Polamalu.
Oh, and he was naked.
WATCH: http://t.co/PCPF9w7d6i pic.twitter.com/R12QCqWvso
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) April 16, 2015
Taylor is the fourth defensive starter that won’t return in 2015 and the third to retire. Outside linebacker Jason Worilds shocked the NFL with his retirement shortly after free agency began. Defensive end Brett Keisel will probably join all three of them in the retirement home shortly.
