Are You Smarter Than An NFL Football Player?

Johnny Manzel - Texas A&M

Blake Bortles - University of Central Florida

Many football players are perceived as not being the smartest people. Every year there are players going to jail and making silly mistakes. Perfect examples include last years controversy with Aaron Hernandez, Richie Incognito, and as of recently Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens. The media likes to focus on these stories because they come off more interesting to the public. What a lot of outsiders don't know is that NFL players are quite smart. Just like any other job they have to know their stuff. These players don't just go out and play football. A lot of time and studying goes into it. In football you have to study defenses, offenses, and so on. They are many different schemes and situations happening in a game. In most cases, the smartest players are the best players. Two perfect examples are Peyton Manning and Richard Sherman. Peyton Manning is known for being able to read defenses like the back of his hand. Richard Sherman most of the time knows what route the receiver is going to run before the play even begins. Every player that enters the NFL has to take a test in which they find out their IQ. This test is called the Wonderlic Test. They have to answer 50 questions in 12 minutes so it requires very fast thinking. It is a lot harder than you think. With the NFL Combine coming up, scouts will be able to see just how smart some of these players are. The two quarterbacks pictured above should be top ten picks! Blake Bortles has a great attitude but Johnny Manzel has ran into some problems last year admitting to underage drinking and then being benched for funny penalties like mocking other teams. It'll be exciting to see how they score on their test!

Are you smarter than an NFL football player? Take the test and comment with your score!

TAKE THE WONDERLIC TEST