Wonderlic and penalties?

[patchick]

I just read a column on the Huddle Report that argued for the importance of Wonderlic scores as, among other things, an indicator of future penalties:

"A player who consistently jumps off-sides, who consistently is flagged more than other players is demonstrating poor decision-making. And that says that the player, in all probability, didn't measure up in the Wonderlic."

"In all probability"? That's a huge assumption that would be easy to argue against. For instance, defensive linemen typically score lower on the Wonderlic than offensive linemen...shouldn't there be far more offsides called vs. false starts?

It's really an empirical question...at least it would be, if I could find the stats. Does anybody know where to find a chart of players' penalty rates?

 

[Richter]

"In all probability"? That's a huge assumption that would be easy to argue against. For instance, defensive linemen typically score lower on the Wonderlic than offensive linemen...shouldn't there be far more offsides called vs. false starts?

I think they mean that they don't measure up to the positional average, not the average across all positions.

 

[patchick]

I think they mean that they don't measure up to the positional average, not the average across all positions.

Understood...fwiw, I just did a quick web search and came up with 10 players who are remarked upon as leading their teams (or the league) in penalties, and checked their Wonderlics. They came out about average for their positions, some above and some below. (The only guy who was WAY below average for his position was, no surprise, Kenyatta Walker!)