Are you smarter than a NFL player?

By JEFFREY ZUPANIC

The Review

If the NFL Draft is a meat market, then the NFL Draft Combine is where the beef is weighed and measured.

Starting next week in Indianapolis, hundreds of future Sunday heroes will take part in a full physical, sit still for X-rays, participate in a face-to-face interview with countless NFL personnel members.

And of course, they'll take the Wonderlic.

The Wonderlic is an IQ test with just 50 questions -- it is a shorter version of the test normally given to kids preparing for job interviews. Players have just 12 minutes to take it and most don't finish. Nor should they finish the test given the amount of time.

The score is calculated by the number of correct answers given in the allotted time. A score of 21 is intended to indicate average attendance. In fact, the average NFL test-taker scores a little below average with a 19.

The questions start off easy such as: In the following set of words, which word is different from the others? 1) copper, 2) nickel, 3) aluminum, 4) wood, 5) bronze.

A tougher question: A rectangular bin, completely filled, holds 640 cubic feet of grain. If the bin is 8-feet wide and 10-feet long, how deep is it?

(The answers will be revealed at the end of this story)

A majority of the NFL teams consider the test results crucial. Others say they dismiss the results, expect for those players who score extremes, such as the case with former Cincinnati Bengals punter Pat McInally.

McInally is the only NFL player to ever score a perfect 50. There is also a rumor that at least one player scored a 1.

Charlie Wonderlic Jr., the president of Wonderlic Inc., says a "score of 10 is literacy, that's about all we can say about the test."

While at Northwestern as a psychology grad student, E.F. "Al" Wonderlic invented the test in the 1930s. It first become prominent in the NFL in the 1970s when a handful of teams started testing the intellectual prowess of potential draft choices.

The test became a popular combine tool because it placed a number on performance and it was an easy way to evaluate a player.

According to the Wonderlic Inc., Web site, nearly 2.5 million job applicants in all lines of work take the test yearly. By comparison to a standard IQ test, a score of 20 on the Wonderlic indicates an IQ of 100 -- which is average.

Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage is a firm believer in the test because he wants to maximize his monetary investment when he picks a player in the draft.

"When I take a player, I want that person to represent the entire organization on and off the field," said Savage. "Even though their studying days are left behind in college, I want to look at them as students even as professional athletes. When you have two players equal in ability and one is a little smarter than the other -- on and off the field -- the majority of GMs are going to take the more intelligent player."

In addition to the mental endurance, all 300 players at the combine will be given an extensive fitness examination. The Cybex Test deals with the joint movement of the prospects. Every player is hooked up to a special machine, which collects and computes information into figures that are analyzed by experts and coaches.

While the Cybex Test isn't the most important test, coaches will give serious looks to results that come back from previously injured players. Prospects who enter the combine injured will raise a few eyebrows from NFL personnel.

For Mount Union's Pierre Garcon, timing is everything. The 6-1, 209-pound wide receiver suffered several minor injuries during his three-years with the Purple Raiders.

In 2005, Garcon missed several games in the middle portion of the season because of a muscle strain in his leg. During the last two seasons, Garcon suffered a fracture in his right hand.

Garcon is slated to arrive in Indianapolis on the second day of the combine (Feb. 21) and will go through the registration, pre-exam X-rays, orientation and interviews with NFL scouts.

On Friday, he along with every other wide receiver and running back, will have their measurements, psychological testing and medical examinations conducted. They will also meet with the media in attendance and interviews.

The third day features a National Football League Player's Association meeting, more psychological testing and another round of interviews.

Sunday marks the most physical day of the combine for Garcon. He will take part in the workouts -- timing, stations and skill drills -- before departing Indianapolis to return to Georgia.

"It's a long process," said Garcon about the combine. "I just have to take it one day at a time and give it my best each day."

By the way, the answers to the sample questions are 4) wood, and 8-feet deep.

Are you smarter than an NFL player?