Today there has been a flurry of speculation and analysis of Morris Claiborne after it was reported that he scored a 4 on his Wonderlic test. I am not sure if this information was leaked by a team wanting to hurt Claiborne’s draft position or by someone who wanted to score points with a reporter. Whichever it was, I feel it was very cowardly and underhanded to do. I wanted to share what I know of this report and discuss what the facts are about Claiborne.

I would first like to say that I do not know what his exact score is from the Combine, but this should come as no surprise to any team that has scouted and interviewed Claiborne. Morris Claiborne does not have a learning disability or a low intelligence. He has a condition that affects his reading. This has been something that has been known since he came out of high school. He is actually a very bright and intelligent person who has no problem learning, he just cannot use a conventional route in doing so. He has someone read it to him, listens to books and research papers on audio. He has no problem learning using these different methods and he fully understands his problem reading letters and takes every step he can to not let it hold him back.

I have said that his score, if it is correct, comes as no surprise. He has been given a Wonderlic test by almost all scouts he has met with before the combine. Most teams, do not even use the Wonderlic test as an intelligence test but as a reading test to see if a prospect has a reading problem. The team I work for has a proprietary test for cognitive ability along with one for testing non cognitive ability. We also use a number of other tests to understand a prospects ability to comprehend and retain information. Claiborne has had no problem learning and retaining knowledge and has an above average non cognitive ability.

Morris Claiborne will have no problem playing at the NFL level. The team that drafts him will help him in learning the playbook and Morris will probably hire a trainer/coach to help convert his playbook to a audio/visual format that he can study on his own. Morris is a very intelligent person who has high character and all of the intangibles that a team wants and to have to go through this is a shame. Some team is going to get a great corner, I just hope it is not the team that had a hand in leaking this information.