Jameis Winston Scores A 27 On The Wonderlic...1 Point Below Peyton Manning

Yahoo – Jameis Winston’s lofty draft status won’t be the only similarity he’ll share with future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. His Wonderlic test score rivals Manning’s, too.

Multiple league sources told Yahoo Sports that Winston scored a 27 out of 50 on the league’s general aptitude test that is administered at the annual NFL scouting combine prior to the draft. That’s a respectable score for quarterbacks, and just one point shy of the 28 Manning scored prior to the 1998 draft. It also stacks up favorably with several recent Super Bowl winners, including the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees (28), the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson (28), the Baltimore Ravens’ Joe Flacco (27) and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger (25).

While Wonderlic scores are becoming less relevant in draft equations, they still carry weight at some decision-making positions such as quarterback, an AFC personnel source told Yahoo Sports.

But it certainly doesn’t guarantee NFL success. For example, former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert scored a very impressive 42 on the test and has struggled mightily in the NFL.

“[The Wonderlic] is a smaller piece now than it used to be, but it’s generally helpful when it comes to some positions,” the source said. “It’s kind of a guardrail – a score doesn’t tell you the whole story about a player, but at times it can tell you if there’s something you might need to look at more closely. … For me, it becomes important if it’s wild, like, way off what I’m expecting.

“If it’s 15 points lower than the norm, then that requires some research.”

Winston’s score falling into line with other accomplished NFL starters shouldn’t be a surprise. He received academic All-ACC honors in 2013 and 2014 at Florida State and was also accepted into Stanford during his recruiting process. Winston ultimately chose Florida State over the Cardinal.

Could it be? Could we be witnessing the Jameis Winston Renaissance right before our very eyes? I mean a few months, weeks, days ago everyone thought Jameis was some dumbass jock who couldn’t keep himself out of trouble. A guy who mumbled through unintelligible interviews, walked out of grocery stores with crab legs, stood on tables and yelled sexually obscene phrases while being investigated for rape allegations. And while all those things are still true, now we got a little Jameis love fest going on. Gruden gushing all over him talking about spider Y bananas on ESPN last night (who doesn’t Gruden gush over, to be fair). NFL scouts praising him left and right, giving out quotes like this:

INDIANAPOLIS — Before the 40s and the jumping and the throwing, Jameis Winston went through interviews with a number of teams. The results were, well, allow me to let one team’s personnel man who was in the room with Winston explain.

“I think he’s probably the smartest player I’ve ever interviewed,” he told me.

Ever?

“Ever,” he responded. “Football IQ as good as I’ve ever seen.”

Saying and doing all the right things. And now a respectable score on the Wonderlic. Same as the golden boy Peyton Manning. 5 more than Tebow. 12 more than Marino. Yeah it’s just the Wonderlic, but it is basically an IQ test, and putting your name right there with Peyton is a real good thing for your stock. Who knows, maybe Jameis can be the face of a franchise after all.

Haters gonna hate, Jameis gonna stay strong den.