Test receives average marks

When it comes to the Wonderlic test and the weight it carries in evaluating a perspective player, NFL coaches are a mixed bag.

Arizona’s Dennis Green claims to have never seen one, much less put any stock in its results.

Tampa Bay’s Jon Gruden had all of his coaches take it, but wouldn’t reveal his score only to say … it wasn’t good. Other coaches would call that a red flag.

Then there’s Miami head coach Nick Saban, who as an assistant with the Houston Oilers in the late 1980s pulled a truly dastardly deed. He helped a kid gain a competitive advantage, so to speak.

“I’m not going to give his name, but he had a low Wonderlic,” Saban said. “They sent me up there with the test to retest him.

“I really liked this guy. He played safety. I got the test out, and even though I didn’t take it, I studied it. Then I tutored the guy for about an hour before he took it, then I gave him twice as long to take it than he was supposed to.

“He doubled his score. We got him to where we could draft him. Now nobody knows about that, but I don’t think (Oilers owner) Bud Adams can fire me now, so I’m OK with it.”

Kansas City coach Herm Edwards, a former NFL cornerback, described the Wonderlic as something he was lucky enough to have avoided.

“They didn’t have it when I was playing,” he said. “I went to Cal Berkeley, so I probably wouldn’t have passed.”

First-year New York Jets coach Eric Mangini, a former assistant under Bill Belichick in New England, believes the test results can be deceiving.

“I’ve been around players that have had low Wonderlic scores that have been some of the smartest players I ever coached,” Mangini said. “And that’s always the difficulty of looking at that score and trying to define a player by that score. I can think of four to five guys who had what would be considered extremely low scores.

“If you get to know them, you’re thinking: How could he possibly grade out at this? He’s so much smarter than his score indicates. Then you have dumb smart guys. They’ve got great scores, but they can’t figure it out. They would do great if they had to write a paper before each game. But to go execute the information, they just can’t get it. As smart as they are and as good as they are in the classroom, they can’t put it into action.”

Buffalo coach Dick Jauron agreed.

“I’ve seen terrific players that had low scores,” he said. “I’ve seen players that can’t tie their cleats that have high scores. They can’t play.”

Miami Dolphins defensive end Kevin Carter conceded there could be some correlation between the test and how it translates to the field.

The 12-year veteran wasn’t willing to be judge and jury for a college prospect with a low score. Not everyone learns the same way, or comes from the same environment.

“It basically tests how you think, how you make adjustments and your adaptability to your surroundings,” Carter said.