NFL Draft 2015 Rumors: Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota's Wonderlic Scores Leak Online
ByAlready seen as the most "NFL ready" quarterback in the 2015 draft class, Jameis Winston may have given the Tampa Bay Buccaneers another reason to take him first overall.
Citing unnamed sources, Charles Robinson reported for Yahoo Sports that Winston scored a 27 out of 50 on the Wonderlic Test. A basic intelligence test, a score of 27 is generally above what most teams want for their quarterback.
Scoring highly on the Wonderlic is not an indicator of success as a QB, but teams will be wary of a passer who scores too far below average. Winston's Wonderlic score is on par with the likes of Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger.
Robinson later confirmed on Twitter that Mariota had scored a 33, putting him just behind players like Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Colin Kaepernick.
"[The Wonderlic] is a smaller piece now than it used to be, but it's generally helpful when it comes to some positions," Robinson's source told him. "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."
In other words, neither Winston's nor Mariota's scores will affect what evaluators already thought of them. ESPN football analyst Ron Jaworski, a former NFL QB, recently told CSN's "Philly Sports Talk" that now is the time ownership, front offices and coaching staffs get involved in evaluating prospective draft picks.
The Wonderlic Test will not shore up Winston or Mariota's landing spot on draft night. Since both of them scored roughly in the same ballpark, neither player's stock is likely to change.