Good Thing the NFL Pays for Brawn Not Brains

It isn't a secret. When it comes to playing football it is not necessary to be a Rhodes Scholar. In fact, that can actually hurt you since teams will think since you have a brain that understands things other than pass patterns and snap counts that you are not dedicated to the game.

Just ask Myron Rolle about that; poor guy can barely get a job playing football (he might have no choice, but to go be smart or something.)

We all know that standardized test are not the best thing in the world to test the brain power of a person, but until someone develops a better method the whole world is going to keep doing it.

Case in point is the NFL and the Wonderlic test, a 50 question test that supposedly tells NFL executives and coaches what kind of thinker a player is. The average score for players is 21; for everyone else it's 24. Prior to LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne taking the test the all-time low was a 6 set by former Texas Longhorn Vince Young.

Clairborne scored a four. Yes, folks—a four.

This is not going to look good for Clairborne, no matter how his agent tries to spin it.

He does not take the cake for being the dummy of the day though. That honor goes out to a very special quarterback, Baltimore Ravens signal caller Joe Flacco.

For some odd reason the fifth year quarterback and former first round draft pick (2008; 18th pick) decided to proclaim that he is the best quarterback in the NFL. Oh, just see for yourself what he said:

"I assume everybody thinks they're a top-five quarterback. I mean, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'm top-five, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'd be very successful at my job if I didn't feel that way. I mean, c'mon? That's not really too tough of a question. But that doesn't mean that things are gonna work out that way. It just means that that's the way it is, that's the way I feel it is, and that's the way I feel it should be."

What is this guy thinking? Is he trying to make history repeat itself since Eli Manning made a similar claim prior to last season? The stats didn't really backup Eli last year, but Flacco's are way off.

Looking at the stats an argument can be made for him being a good QB, but that is it. He has yet to pass for over 4,000 yards, and that's with a marquee receiver like Anquan Boldin to throw to for the last two seasons. His team has been one of the best since he has been in the NFL, but anyone that knows football knows that the defense runs the show in Baltimore.

Confidence is a great thing to have; every pro should be confident in his abilities. For the most part, that's the message that I think Flacco was trying to convey (but did a poor job of). I'd be willing to bet that he'll be getting an earful for his poorly thought out comments all summer during OTAs.

For the record, of his four seasons, Flacco's best was in 2010 when he had a QB rating of 93.9, good enough for seventh best in the league. Otherwise, he has been a middle of the road QB the other three seasons and a long way from even peeking into the top-five.

His bragging and bravado should not surprise us though. No one in his right mind would grow a mustache like he has on purpose!

Article by Travis Pulver