Gauging Football IQ

Robert Jones, a star linebacker from East Carolina University, went to a pay phone outside the 1992 NFL Scouting Combine—the pre-draft ritual where professional football teams take stock of the college talent—and called his mother. “Ma,” he said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” A top scout, Dave-Te’ Thomas, overheard the call.

“Robert,” he asked, “what the hell is going on?” “That question really threw me,” Jones replied. The New York Giants had asked him a tough one: If he were on a capsizing boat with his mother and daughter and could save only one, which would he choose? Besides dashing forty yards, bench-pressing 225 pounds, and weaving between cones, would-be professional football players must submit to full psychological workups before teams are willing to take the multimillion-dollar gamble of drafting them. Thomas, whose scouting reports are disseminated to twenty-seven of the thirty-two NFL teams, evaluates players by every means available: family ...