Green and Peterson talented, perhaps stupid
Georgia WR A.J. Green and LSU CB Patrick Peterson should be thrilled that they aren’t quarterbacks. If a quarterback scored what they scored on the Wonderlic test (a la Vince Young), it would hurt their draft stock quite a bit. Luckily for Young, there was an owner who was also a Houston native, who was dying to add him at the No. 3 spot.
But, I digress. It’s come out that Green, who many think is the top WR in the draft, scored a 10 on the Wonderlic test. That is pretty damn low, and won’t do much for those that want him to step right in and pick up a complex passing offense. And he better hope that football works out for him, because even overnight lettuce washers at Denny’s need an 11.
“He will get it,” one evaluator told ProFootballWeekly.com. “You’re going to have to take it slow with him and let him start at one position and let him learn on the run. He’s not going to be able to handle learning all three positions. If you ask him to be an X, Y and Z, you’re setting him up for failure.”
“A.J. won’t reach his full potential,” another evaluator said. “It’s hard for dumb receivers. I don’t know that Julio Jones (who scored a 15, ranking in the bottom 12 among wideouts) will be much better.”
A third evaluator said, “You can’t cover that guy. He’s so difficult to defend. Will it take him some time? It could. That’s on the coaches. It’s their job not to give him too much. If you overload him, you could have some problems initially, but he’s a great kid. He’ll work at it. And he’ll get it.”
But, it gets worse for the player that just about everyone agrees is the top player in the draft. Lucky for Peterson, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to play cornerback. ProFootballWeekly.com also spoke to a few NFL execs to get their thoughts on Peterson and his low score.
“Peterson plays like a low-test guy,” one NFL decision maker told PFW, “but (if) he’s in ‘cat’ (man-to-man) coverage in the NFL, it’s not as big of an issue as it will be for offensive guys.”
“He’s a press corner,” another evaluator told PFW. “His strong suit is that he can run and press. He won’t play for the Patriots, where he’s disguising coverage after coverage, but I still think he can be a No. 1 shutdown corner.”
A scout with deep knowledge of the Peterson said, “The more I’m around him, the more I love him even more. I love the kid, and I love the talent. But I don’t like the way he plays with his back to the ball. He has an instinct issue, and I think it’s tied to his mental (ability). He can only handle so much. He’s not a quick processor. It’s a scary year to be drafting in the top 10 because they all have some issue.”
They basically just said that Peterson and Green are stupid. Blatantly. We’ve never played in the NFL, but that must be pretty tough to read about yourself.
