Draftniks, Rejoice! The day is almost upon us.

Draft Day.

Not since the days of Spartacus has the poking and prodding of highly muscled young males been anticipated with such gusto. They run, jump, throw, catch, lift and get measured in ways that would make an Italian tailor blush.

But the number most often debated on talk radio and blogs everywhere is the one residing between the ears.

The Wonderlic Score.

We all know what it is, but the real question is: What does it mean? Is it an accurate indicator of intelligence and the ability to learn and retain information, or is it an arbitrary and incongruous test of football ability?

It does tell us something, but let me say right now, I have no clue what it is.

Arguments can be made on both sides. Jim Kelly and Dan Marino both reportedly scored 15 on the test. This would suggest their mental capacity ends with the ability to dress themselves. Alas both became prolific Hall-of-Famers and quality individuals.

Nor do High scores indicate success. This may explain why Ryan Fitzpatrick gets lonely at the Ivy League NFL reunions.

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Well, now author/blogger Ben Fry has come out with a kickass blog post which totally backs that point of view. From Ben Fry’s blog:

Wonderlic himself says that basically, the scores decrease as you move further away from the ball, which is interesting but unsurprising. It’s sort of obvious that a quarterback needs to be on the smarter side, but I was curious to see what this actually looked like.

Offense is shown in blue, defense in red. You can see the quarterback with a 24, the center (over 6 feet and around 300 lbs.) averaging higher at 25, and the outside linemen even a little higher. Presumably this is because the outside linemen need to mentally quick (as well as tough) to read the defense and respond to it. Those are the wide receivers (idiot loud mouths) with the 17s on the outside.

More evidence for the Wonderlic:

I’ll also happily point out that the linemen for the Patriots all score above average for their position:

Fascinating stuff and pretty unrefutable evidence in favor of the old Wonderlic.

A person of average intelligence is supposed to score a 20. NFL teams like to see quarterbacks, offensive linemen, middle linebackers and safeties score higher than that because those positions can be mentally demanding.

At quarterback , none of the top prospects laid a Wonderlic egg. Boston College’s Matt Ryan, he of the off-the-charts intangibles, scored an impressive 32. And his score was matched by Louisville’s Brian Brohm, the second-highest-rated quarterback after Ryan on most boards.

Joe Flacco of Delaware scored a 27 and Chad Henne of Michigan scored a 22. Both are considered second-round prospects.

Most of the top offensive linemen also tested well. Michigan’s Jake Long scored a 26. Pittsburgh’s Jeff Otah scored a 28. Southern California’s Sam Baker scored a 27. Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams scored a 32. Boston College’s Godser Cherilus scored a 25.

My “The Blueprint 2″ strategy demands that the Chiefs take a quarterback and a tackle in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft. It appears that if the Chiefs subscribe to this theory they should be in great shape. Don’t underestimate the Wonderlic either; last year’s Super Bowl QBs, Eli Manning and Tom Brady, scored a 39 and a 33 on the test, respectively.

(hat tip: Pro Football Talk)