With the NFL Draft comes plenty of evaluation, which includes physical testing as well as mental testing. However, one agency is now reportedly directing its clients who will be prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft to skip out on the latter.
Per The Athletic, Athletes First has told its clients to not participate in any cognitive testing during the pre-draft process. The agency reportedly emailed NFL teams in January to notify them about this decision.
"After much internal discussion, the agents at Athletes First have directed our draft prospects to respectfully pass on participating in any cognitive or psychological testing during the pre-draft process (e.g. AIQ, S2, etc.)," the email to NFL teams read, via 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 exams has been less than positive," the email continued. "Specifically, the fact that certain results and performance were leaked publicly last year demonstrates that there truly is no confidentiality with these tests. It is not right for a player's intelligence, aptitude or mental processing to be subject to public discussion and ridicule -- no other job interview carries the same scrutiny.
"While our clients are happy to participate in the standard pre-draft physical activities and any football-based interviews or film review, we will not subject them to the wide variety of psychological tests."
Athletes First is the agency of Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, who reportedly scored incredibly low on the S2 Cognitive test last year. The reported score led some pundits to be wary of the Ohio State product, but it didn't stop Stroud from being selected No. 2 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, or having a historic season while winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Athletic reports that the S2 company is currently under contract with half of the NFL's 32 clubs. These test scores are not taken as gospel and are not the determining factor when it comes to who will be successful in the NFL and who will fail. It's clear NFL executives view S2 scores differently.
Brandon Ally, co-founder of the S2 Cognition test, even attempted to push back on the negative noise surrounding Stroud last year, saying some of the scores that were leaked were not accurate.
"The day that those leaks happened, my phone was blowing up from general managers and our attorney," Ally said on "The Pat McAfee Show," via Sports Illustrated. "We can't speak on specifics. What I will say is the list of scores that I have seen, two of those scores are not accurate. They're not accurate at all.
"Some of the reason could be for narrative purposes. The other reason is that they don't have context, so somebody could have gotten a list of very early scores. One of the particular athletes on that list I know had a difficult time making his way to the all-star game, things were delayed. He was in high demand. He was hungry, tired, it was 11 p.m., didn't want to do it. He was frustrated. We administered the test because we're asked to.
"We knew at that point in time, 'Hey, we're going to get you again. We'll get you at your Pro Day, your 30 visit.' We did that and his score is significantly higher than what it was being reported in the media. I'm not saying that it was C.J. Stroud. But for context purposes, the scores that were leaked, there are a couple of them that are inaccurate and there needs to be context behind that."
The S2 test has nine different segments, which are graded separately. The segments include a quarterback's ability to track multiple objects, make complex decisions and filter through if/then scenarios with different defensive scenarios -- with an ability to improvise. The test takes 45 minutes and is run through a gaming laptop, ultimately measuring a players' ability to quickly dissect information that appears on the screen in front of them.
