Bryce Young is competing to become the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft and his cognitive testing at the NFL Combine should convince the Panthers to take him.
The Panthers have to decide if they’re going to take Bryce Young or CJ Stroud with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, leaving one for the Texans to scoop up at No. 2. After seeing Bryce Young’s cognitive testing score from the NFL Combine, the reasons to take the Alabama quarterback feel more numerous.
All the quarterbacks who showed teams their stuff in Indianapolis this year took the S2 test, which is designed to measure how quickly they can process information.
According to Daniel Jeremiah, Young scored the highest this year.
Bryce Young’s S2 test results suggest he’ll find NFL success
Why is that so important? Some of the best quarterbacks in the game also aced this particular test before going on to prove their worth as elite playmakers.
“Josh Allen was off the charts on it. Mahomes tested off the charts on it. Last year in the entire quarterback class, Brock Purdy had the highest number,” Jeremiah said. “This year it’s Bryce Young.”
Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy are excellent quarterbacks to be compared to on a cognitive level.
Mahomes has multiple MVP awards and Super Bowl titles to his name while Allen is considered one of the best quarterbacks in football. Processing speed has been key to their success.
As for Purdy, very little was expected of him when he took over the starting job for the 49ers because of injury, but the seventh-round draft pick played far above his draft level with a 7-1 record as a starter (his lone loss coming only after he suffered and then played through an injury).
Purdy may be the best example of an S2 success story because his physical attributes are limited compared to Mahomes and Allen. His triumphs are intrinsinctly linked to his abilited to make quick sound decisions on a football field.
What is the S2 test at the NFL Combine?
Here’s how Jeremiah explained the S2 test:
“It’s a processing test that is now being given to, especially, quarterbacks. It’s been big in baseball. So it’ll be like six shapes pop up and one’s different, how different can you identify the one that’s different? How quick you can process information? If you think about for baseball, pitch recognition and all that stuff, it’s a very valuable tool. And it’s made its way over to football in the last five or six years.’
That’s the thing about quarterbacks. The guys with the biggest arms and the best mechanics aren’t always the best QBs. It’s the cerebral players who elevate to the top level more often than not.
Without knowing Stroud’s test results, we can’t say for sure this measurement should put Young over the top. For all we know, Stroud was one below Young. But it’s a very, very good sign for whichever team ends up with Young wearing their had on draft day.