But see, that's where you'd fail as an evaluator too. It's not brains, it's instincts and capacity and drive. Bledsoe was a very smart guy. Couldn't run this offense to save his life. Ben Watson was extremely intelligent, just not instinctive. Had to think, and that often cost him and us. Guys like Welker and Branch and Brady don't have to think it through on the field. Ditto guys like Rodney and Tedy and Ty Law on defense. It just comes to them. They see it and process it in a nanosecond virtually without having to think. Hard to identify that guy based on what colleges ask of players and what college coaches grasp as significance.
It's not that guys who don't get it are stupid. Randy was one of the smartest football minds in the game. But that didn't really have a lot to do with his game which was predicated on freakish athletic ability or talent. Had be been willing or able to do the kinds of unselfish little things guys like Branch and Welker do on every snap whether they are the target or not, his career might have lasted longer. But elite athletes at that level seldom are willing to extend themselves beyond what got them this far...that was basically Drew's undoing, too.