Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud made warnings about his pre-NFL Draft cognition test results look foolish this season, and now the agency representing him is taking things a step further.
Athletes First is reportedly instructing its 2024 prospects to skip all intelligence testing in the wake of Stroud’s leaked low results. Although the agency does not represent any top quarterbacks in the upcoming draft class, this decision may very well influence other companies looking to comply with their clients.
“After much internal discussion, Athletes First’s agents instruct our draft prospects to respectfully participate in any cognitive or psychological testing during the pre-draft process (e.g. AIQ, S2, etc.),” the company wrote in an email. Have given.” NFL clubs acquired by The Athletic. “We understand that many of your teams use these tests or protocols as part of your prospect evaluation process, however, our recent experience with these tests has been less than positive. In particular, the fact that some results and performance were leaked publicly last year shows that there is virtually no privacy in these tests. It is not right to make a player’s intelligence, abilities or mental processing the subject of public discussion and ridicule – no other job interview receives the same scrutiny.
According to the message cited by The Athletic, the agency’s prospects will still undergo “standard pre-draft physicals and any football-based interviews or film reviews.”
This came after Stroud reportedly scored 18 out of 100 on the S2 test, leading to damaging speculation about his mental fitness for the game. NFL teams have used the S2 for most quarterbacks since 2016.
“I am not an examinee. I play football,” Stroud said in the face of all the criticism. “At the end of the day, I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, so I’m not going to sit here and explain how I process football. The people who are selecting know what I do. I can, so that’s all that matters to me.”
The Texans selected Stroud with the No. 2 pick out of Ohio State — a smart choice, as Stroud led the team to the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 season. He did so while posting an unforgettable campaign that earned him the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. But in moments, he looked like the league’s MVP, completing 63.9% of his passes for 4,108 yards, 167 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns in 15 games with five interceptions.
Meanwhile, first overall pick Bryce Young struggled at quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. He reportedly scored 98 marks in the test. The Indianapolis Colts selected quarterback Anthony Richardson fourth overall, and he reportedly scored 79. There’s no use drawing too many conclusions about the season those signal-callers have had, as injuries and surrounding personnel created vastly different circumstances for each of them.
Ultimately, whoever leaked the exam result comes out in the worst position in this situation. Even though the inventors eventually told wall street journal Stroud’s results may have been invalid, the observations were too little, too late.
