Why is "Wonderlic-shaming" a Thing?
Leonard Fournette & Dalvin Cook got 11’s on their Wonderlic, per @BobMcGinn. Here’s an occupational comparison chart pic.twitter.com/38jf3AX7RE
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 20, 2017
wonderlic shaming is wrong, man. stop it. https://t.co/d0xCc6DfNz — El Flaco (@bomani_jones) April 20, 2017
@darrenrovell @BobMcGinn Here ya go. When you see the questions, I’m also curious if you think it’s (at all) applicable to football players. https://t.co/kucmQCoLwQ
— Bryan Kalbrosky (@BryanKalbrosky) April 21, 2017
@darrenrovell @BobMcGinn You’re a trash human being. — Niners Nation (@NinersNation) April 20, 2017
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Here’s something I’ve never understood. What is it about the Wonderlic that freaks people out so much? It’s a cognitive test that tries to measure learning ability and problem solving. Make of it what you wish. Read into the results what you will. But when it’s used in the context of NFL players, America is utterly terrified of it beyond the capacity for rational thought. I simply don’t get it.
You can measure everything about a prospect, from his 40-time to the size of his hands to more invasive medical tests than are done on your average alien abductee. But say a guy scored low on an aptitude test and everybody loses their minds. Why? Why can you say a guy is dropping down draft boards because he’s slow, or small, or had a too few reps on the bench press, but if you say he scored low on his Wonder;lic and it’s a hate crime? To the point where the NFL started keeping the scores secret and now we only see them if they’re leaked to Darren Rovell?
And as soon as you do mention someone’s score, the immediate reflex response is to say “Hey, just because someone’s not a good test taker doesn’t mean he’s not smart!” or “The Wonderlic has nothing to do with how good a football player you are!” Right. But it’s mission critical to make guys do the broad jump and 20-yard shuttle run.
Look, I recognize the Wonderlic isn’t predictive. Neither are college board exams, but no one treats those like state secrets. A written test won’t make Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook gain more yards. And teams are all over the map when it comes to how much importance they give it. After punter Pat McNally had a perfect test, the Bengals drafted him in the fifth round, but George Young told him he would’ve gone earlier if he’d had a lower score. After Vince Young didn’t get much right beyond correctly spelling “VINCE YOUNG,” and fell all the way to the third overall pick. People love to point out that a chicken pecking at the paper would’ve done better than Dan Marino did or that Donovan McNabb had the lowest score among QBs in his draft class and had a better career than all of them. Ben Watson had like a 48-out-of-50, but being smart didn’t make his drop all those Tom Brady passes. I get it.
What I’ve never gotten is why we’re so afraid to acknowledge that just like some players are fast and some are slow, some are strong and some are weak, it’s also true that some are smart and some are dumb. It’s science. And once we admit that, we can stop the Wonderlic-shaming-shaming.