In addition to throwing the football like a pansy, mucho-decorated Florida’s Tim Tebow found his intellectual chops under fire Thursday after the Palm Beach Post’s Ben Volin revealed the Christlike QB had scored a below average mark on the Wonderlic, a 12 minute, 50 question quizzed administered at the NFL Scouting Combine. Vince Young’s poor showing on the Wonderlic was widely exaggerated 4 years ago and may or may not have played a role in the Texans and Saints selecting Mario Williams and Reggie Bush ahead of the Houston product (well, that and his throwing the football like a pansy).
Tebow scored a 22 out of 50 on the Wonderlic test, an NFL source told the Post Wednesday. The score falls slightly below the average score for an NFL quarterback, which is 24. But the average for 30 quarterbacks slated to start in 2010 is even higher, at 28.5. And the average score among the past seven Super Bowl winners is a 30.1. The scores for Kansas City’s Matt Cassel and Carolina’s Matt Moore could not be found.
Tebow also recorded the lowest Wonderlic score among the four top quarterback prospects in the 2010 draft. Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford led the way with a 36, according to the source, while Texas’ Colt McCoy scored a 25 and Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen a 23.
While Tebow’s score of 22 would place him in a tie for 25th with Brett Favre and Chad Henne among starting NFL quarterbacks, the score likely won’t affect Tebow’s draft status nearly as much as his passing ability will.
The NFL is littered with mediocre quarterbacks who scored well (Ryan Fitzpatrick 48, Alex Smith 40, Matt Leinart 35) and star quarterbacks who scored poorly (Donovan McNabb 14, Dan Marino 15, Jim Kelly 15, Daunte Culpepper 18).