The NFL did away with its use of the Wonderlic test ahead of the 2022 scouting combine. That hasn’t stopped franchises from finding new methods by which to measure the cognitive abilities of prospects—especially quarterbacks—and the leaked scores of some of this year’s top signal-callers have started to make their way into the narratives surrounding those players.
The new test du jour comes from Nashville’s S2 Cognition, and has been in use by teams for upwards of seven years, according to longtime NFL writer Bob McGinn of Go Long.
Citing multiple sources, McGinn, who NFL fans and diehard draft followers likely know as the reporter responsible for publishing Wonderlic scores for years, reports that Alabama’s Bryce Young is tops in the quarterback class, scoring in the 98th percentile. Fresno State’s Jake Haener is at 96%, Kentucky’s Will Levis and BYU’s Jaren Hall are at 93%, and Houston’s Clayton Tune is at 84%. Anthony Richardson of Florida is just a hair below the “elite” range at 79%, while Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker is at 46%. C.J. Stroud, the Ohio State prospect who has been in the mix with Young for the No. 1 pick, meanwhile, is down at 18%, according to McGinn. An anonymous league executive told McGinn that he believes the score might take Stroud off some teams’ draft boards.
