The Baltimore Ravens held their pre-draft media luncheon and press conference yesterday and Baltimore Beatdown was in attendance to enjoy the free food as well as participating in the media questioning. The Ravens brain-trust included GM Ozzie Newsome, head coach John Harbaugh, Director of Player Personnel Eric DeCosta and Head of Scouting Joe Hortiz.
I got the chance to ask a question about the weight that the team places on the Wonderlic test, in the light of the recent leaked news that highly-ranked draft pick, LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne scored an embarrassing four on the 50 question test. Here's my question and DeCosta's response:
Beatdown: "With the release of one of the player's Wonderlic scores, what emphasis do teams place on that as opposed to a player's body of work?"
DeCosta: "First of all, the tests are supposed to be confidential and only a few people get those, which is unfortunate that a test would come out, we feel. We do look at the Wonderlic Test. I think, obviously, the body of work that you refer to, the tape, how the guy plays, is the most important thing. In regards to the Wonderlic Test, we treat that like a lot of other things - it's a flag. It could be a concern. It could mean that we have to do more work on a guy, i.e., bring a guy in, spend a day here with him in Baltimore, interview a guy at the Combine, have the coaches spend some time with him, have him watch some football tape, talk to some other people at the school to get some more information. We don't base our decisions on a Wonderlic, just like we don't base our decisions on a 40-yard dash, a vertical jump and, in most cases, on a guy being arrested. We take the whole body of work, we look at it, we compare each player and make out decisions."
(For the entire press conference transcript, go to BaltimoreRavens.com)