Wonderlic Score Odds at 2020 NFL Combine – Which QB Scores the Highest?

• The Wonderlic test measures learning and problem-solving intelligence, much like IQ tests 
• Two-time Academic All-American Justin Herbert is favored to lead all QBs in this year’s Wonderlic testing
• Can any of this year’s prospects match Pat McInally’s perfect score on the Wonderlic?

NFL prospects are being put through their paces at the 2020 NFL Combine, taking place this week in Indianapolis. In addition to physical tests and all-important interviews with scouts and management from NFL teams, many prospects will be taking an intelligence test known as the Wonderlic, which is basically an IQ test with a different name.

Justin Herbert has emerged as the favorite to have the highest Wonderlic score among quarterbacks taking the test, sporting short +150 odds in the NFL Combine props.

Quarterback with Highest Wonderlic Score Odds

Odds taken on February 26, 2020.

The Wonderlic test is comprised of 50 questions that must be answered within a 12-minute time limit. In use across a variety of industries including the US military, the Wonderlic has been part of the NFL scouting process since the 1960s as a means of measuring decision-making ability.

QB1 has it all.

Academic success.
Football performance.
Exemplary leadership.

Congrats to Justin Herbert for winning the 2019 William V. Campbell Trophy. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/mE3SD7BMhL

— GoDucks (@GoDucks) December 11, 2019

Herbert’s presence atop the odds comes as no surprise. The 21-year-old, who just wrapped up a four-year collegiate career with the Oregon Ducks, sports impressive academic credentials. In addition to being named a First-Team Academic All-American in 2017, Herbert was an Academic All-American First-Team member in 2018. The science major also claimed the William V. Campbell Trophy, also known as the Academic Heisman, this past season.

Jake Fromm graduated from high school with a perfect 4.0 GPA in advanced placement courses. The 21-year-old continued to hit the books as a finance major during his three years at Georgia, earning First-Team Academic All-District honors in 2019.

However, Herbert is not the only brainiac pivot among this year’s top prospects. Jake Fromm graduated from high school with a perfect 4.0 GPA in advanced placement courses. The 21-year-old continued to hit the books as a finance major during his three years at Georgia, earning First-Team Academic All-District honors in 2019. The former Bulldog closely trails Herbert as a +250 second favorite.

Joe Burrow finishes his Heisman year as an LSU graduate 👏

(via @LSUfootball)pic.twitter.com/1HCxJoNYSE

— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) December 20, 2019

Herbert and Fromm are joined on the Wonderlic odds by two passers whose academic achievements enabled them to extend their respective collegiate football careers.

Graduating with a degree in communications from Alabama in 2018 allowed Jalen Hurts play immediately upon his transfer to Oklahoma, where he pursued a master’s degree in Human Relations while taking over under center for the Sooners this past season. This year’s Heisman Trophy-winner, Joe Burrow, was also eligible to play immediately at LSU in 2019 after earning a degree from Ohio State in just three years.

That has not been overlooked by the oddsmakers, who have listed Hurts at +400 and tagged Burrow as a +500 bet.

Of course, academic achievement is not necessarily an indicator of how well an individual will perform on the Wonderlic, but the long academic roads taken by both Hurts and Burrow make them decent options to lead this year’s class of quarterbacks.

Pick: Joe Burrow (+500)

Joe Burrow Wonderlic Score

With Burrow offering some value in the odds to lead all quarterbacks in this year’s Wonderlic testing, opportunity also exists to cash in on wagering on his Wonderlic score over/under, which is set at a conservative 28.5.

The average score of the Wonderlic Test is 20. Clay Matthews scored a 26, Ryan Fitzpatrick a 48, and Frank Gore a 6… #funfact

— Everhett Johnson (@Everhett52) September 19, 2013

With 21 players scoring 29 or more on last year’s test, Burrow is an attractive bet to blow away the OVER at -130 odds.

Pick: OVER (-130)

2020 Wonderlic Highest Score/Lowest Score Odds

Of the 76 players who took the test in 2019, twenty tallied a score of 30 or higher, with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ryan Finley leading the way with a score of 43, joining Jacksonville Jaguars pivot Gardner Minshew as the first players to achieve a score of 40 or higher since Carson Wentz scored a 40 in 2016.

Leaked QB Wonderlic scores of 2019 NFL Draft Prospects (per @JordanHeckFF)
Ryan Finley: 43
Gardner Minshew: 42
Jones: 37
Easton Stick: 32
Clayton Thorson: 32
McSorley: 31
Grier: 30
Brett Rypien: 28
Stidham: 27
Lock: 26
Tyree Jackson: 25
Haskins: 25
Sean McGuire: 22
Murray: 20

— Phil A. O’Fisch (@WellingtonGiant) April 22, 2019

However, with the impressive academic credentials that many of this year’s prospects sport, the total on high score this time around is set at 41.5. Still, the OVER is the play at -120.

At the other end of the spectrum, eight players scored lower than 15 a year ago, with Chicago Bears wide receiver Riley Ridley and Green Bay Packers linebacker pulling up the rear, each scoring just nine points on the Wonderlic.

That marked the fourth straight year that at least one player has tallied a single-digit score, adding value to the -120 odds that this year’s low score will be UNDER 10.5.

Picks: OVER 41.5 (-120); UNDER 10.5 (-120)

Odds Pat McInally’s 50-Point Wonderlic Score Is Matched

Over the past five decades, only one NFL prospect has racked up a perfect 50 on the Wonderlic, with former Bengals wide receiver Pat McInally accomplishing the feat in 1975.

Harvard alum Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 owns the highest Wonderlic test score for a QB.

Pat McInally ’75, a @cfbhall inductee, is the only NFL player with a perfect score.

Talk about performing on and off the field! #NFLCombine #CrimInTheNFL #tbt pic.twitter.com/b2xYJGl6Fp

— Harvard Football (@HarvardFootball) February 28, 2019

The odds of anyone joining McInally in the exclusive Wonderlic 50 club sit at a lengthy +800. But with many of the 20 senior and graduate student-athletes who claimed Academic All-American honors in 2019 now attending this year’s NFL Combine, I’ll take a flier on “Yes” at +800.

Yes: +800