In looking back at the college careers of successful NFL quarterbacks, a pattern emerged. They had all scored at least a 26 on the Wonderlic test, started 27 college games, and completed 60% of their passes. The formula makes some sense. You want a guy to be a quick thinker, experienced, and accurate. Guys like Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, Kyle Orton & Matt Ryan all met this standard.
QBs drafted in recent years who have met this standard include Same Bradford, Kevin Kolb & Matt Stafford. Even top QBs in the NFL that didn't meet the rule got very close. Ben Roethlisberger was one point short of 26 points on the Wonderlic, while Donovan McNabb was a few points short. Aaron Rodgers was just one start shy of 27 games.
Even more damming is the list of first round QBs who did not meet the standards of the rule. Jamarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, David Carr, Heath Shuler, Jimmy Clausen, Jay Cutler, Joey Harrington, Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Tim Tebow, Alex Smith, Jeff George, and Vince Young. That's a nearly 100% bust rate.
So how do the QBs in the 2011 class stack up? Hogs Haven did an analysis and it doesn't bode well for teams looking for QBs this year. Keep in mind that the Wonderlic test hasn't been administered yet, but most of these guys won't meet the standard anyway.
Jake Locker has a terrible completion percentage at just 53%.
Colin Kaepernick falls shy of the completion percentage at 58.2 and was hurt by really poor completion rates early in his career.
Ricky Stanzi came agonizingly close to the 60% completion percentage at 59.8.
Christian Ponder from FSU passed the test.
Cam Newton has the completion percentage, but has only played in 14 games. Well short of the 27 needed.
Greg McElroy from Alabama passed.
Andy Dalton from TCU passed.
Ryan Mallett had a 57.8 completion percentage and failed.
Blaine Gabbert from Missouri, who is getting a lot of buzz, passed.