One Test Hints This QB Class is Exceptional, Packers Coaches Skipping the Combine, and Other NFL Bullets
The NFL combine is next week, so this is probably a good time to remind everyone that physical measurables mean a lot, but not everything. Matt Barrows at the Athletic dropped a story about Brock Purdy’s elite score on the S2 Cognition Test on Friday night.
The story was a perfect reminder that brains are as important as brawn when building an elite football player, especially at quarterback. It also sheds some light on the fact that this year’s NFL Draft QB class may be exceptional in at least one grading area.
- The S2 Cognition Test isn’t an intelligence test like the 50-question Wonderlic exam but instead measures how quickly and accurately athletes process information. As Sando says, “it’s like the 40-yard dash for the brain.”
- Brock Purdy was drafted last in the 2021 NFL Draft. The fact that he registered below-average height, an adequate arm, and foot speed that left plenty to be desired contributed to his fall to Mr. Irrelevant last April. Fans have wondered for months how Purdy went from that to quarterbacking the 49ers to the NFC title game in less than a year. The answer may be (at least partly) in his S2 score.
- Purdy scored in the mid-90s, an elite score comparable to the likes of Drew Brees. That’s why Purdy could play quarterback at a high level this season, despite some physical limitations.
”The game will never be too fast for Brock, I’ll say that,” said Brandon Ally, a neuroscientist and cofounder of Nashville-based S2 Cognition. “I don’t think he’ll ever have trouble adjusting.”
- What’s more interesting is that Ally revealed a couple of crumbs of information about this year’s draft class. The NFL owns this information (when administered via the pre-draft process), so the scores are private. However, Ally said, “this year is by far and away the best we’ve ever had, score-wise, at the quarterback position.”
- Well. That’s awesome. Maybe not for the Bears. But for the league as a whole. There was only one individual player that Ally could drop any hint about in this year’s draft.
“I do have a feeling that a quarterback from Alabama that we have tested every year since he was in 10th grade may end up sharing his results publicly because he actually owns those results and the NFL does not,” Ally said.
- Ally couldn’t release the score but hinted to Barrows that the score was very impressive. Now, that could be good for the Bears. Something that raises Bryce Young’s draft stock and ensures that teams will fall in love with him is good news for Chicago. Multiple teams drooling over Young will bode well for the bidding war that Ryan Poles hopes to entertain in April.
- You can check out the full story here:
- The Packers are skipping the NFL Combine next week. Well, the coaches, anyway. According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, Matt LaFleur “felt his time was better spent working with the staff on scheme projects. Because everything from the combine is recorded, they can view it afterward.” However, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and the personnel department will staff the combine.
- Did you know that HALF of the NFL will have a new offensive coordinator next season? I knew there were plenty of teams, but I didn’t realize it was half the league. That’s wild.
- The new league year in the NFL is just a couple of weeks away! The NFL shared a detailed list of important dates between now and the end of June. So get those calendars out, football junkies!
- After one season as the QB coach in Kansas City, Matt Nagy is back in a coordinator role. Andy Reid and the Chiefs promoted Nagy to offensive coordinator on Friday. Nagy will replace Eric Bieniemy, who was hired as Washington’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator this week.
- We’ve all had a boss we didn’t mind seeing fired at one time or another. Allegedly, so did Russell Wilson. But Wilson tried to do something about it! In a story at The Athletic, an anonymous source in Seattle said that Wilson tried to have Pete Carroll fired before he was traded to Denver. Of course, Wilson refuted the claim on Twitter since the story ran, but that was expected.
- Good question, honestly …
- BASEBALL IS BACK!
