Cleveland Browns: Did Wonderlic score cause Greedy Williams slide?

The Cleveland Browns were surprisingly able to land LSU cornerback Greedy Williams in the second round of the NFL Draft, was a poor Wonderlic score the reason he lasted so long?

Without a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft due to their trade for Odell Beckham, Jr., there were questions about whether or not the Cleveland Browns could land a starting caliber player. Then on Friday night of the draft, an unexpected name continued to fall close to where Cleveland was picking.

LSCU cornerback Greedy Williams, who had a first-round grade according to many draft experts, fell out of the first and was continuing to slide into the middle portion of Round 2. That’s when the Browns gave up one of their three fifth-round picks to jump three spots and land the talented cover corner.

Fans were elated as Williams wasn’t even on most of our radar since he was supposed to be long gone by then. With him on the roster, Cleveland now boasts two young corners with a lot of upside in Williams and 2018 fourth-overall pick Denzel Ward.

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Of course, Williams needs to get on the field and prove he’s a starter first before we get too excited — and it’s not like he’s a perfect player. In fact, one of the reasons he fell was due to his struggles with tackling.

However, that may not be the only reason as Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com says a poor Wonderlic score may have also contributed to his slide.

"“So why did Williams slip to the second round? Because he doesn’t tackle well. I also heard a few teams were a bit concerned because Williams scored a 10 on the wonderlic test. It was one of the lowest grades of drafted players.” — Pluto, Cleveland.com"

The Wonderlic, for those who are unaware, is simply a test given at the Scouting Combine that tests cognitive ability and problem-solving. It’s used not only by the NFL but many Fortune 500 companies as well. The results aren’t supposed to be common knowledge, but they are often leaked and it does affect how some teams view prospects.

While there were concerns for some clubs about the test score for Greedy, Cleveland didn’t seem bothered by it. According to Pluto, they shrugged it off to some people not testing well and he names players such as A.J. Green, Darrelle Revis, and Chris Johnson as examples of good players who all had the same score as Williams.

There’s also the example of Morris Claiborne, another LSU cornerback, scoring a four. He says he shrugged the test off, but the No. 6 overall pick in 2012 ended up struggling for most of his career in Dallas and is currently looking for a new home after spending the past two seasons with the New York Jets.

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It has yet to be seen what kind of a player Williams will be, but the fact remains that his talent level far exceeds where he was drafted — no matter what his Wonderlic score was.

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