Young Patriots the cleverest? Not so fast!

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, July 17, 2008  |  Comments( 5 )

New England Patriots
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Not without a certain trace of pride are Boston media outlets and Patriots fans reporting that a group of seven New England draft picks combined to win the team portion of the "Ultimate Rookie Challenge" trivia contest. Held last week during the NFL Rookie Symposium in Carlsbad, Calif., the Challenge required knowledge of NFL benefits packages, recall of the symposium’s educational seminars, and a head for football trivia.

First off, kudos to the Patriot team – LBs Shawn Crable, Jerod Mayo and Bo Ruud, CBs Matthew Slater, Terrence Wheatley and Jonathan Wilhite, and especially QB Kevin O'Connell, who finished fourth in the individual scoring, which indicates excellent aptitude to back Tom Brady up for five years. Or something. – for their good work. It’s refreshing in the NFL’s dead time of year to commend an active player for something other than completing a rehab program. Or a retirement.

Now is the result of this exercise at all meaningful? Is the "Ultimate Rookie Challenge" as good a measure of playing-field intelligence as, say, the Wonderlic? Do the Patriots’ fans have a legitimate point of pride here in ostensibly confirming the team’s rep as the league's smartest? Should Pats loyalists just quit the braggadocio in general? (That last one’s rhetorical, incidentally.)

It is unfortunately difficult to find results from this year and past results are almost impossible to dig up even when applying the ultra-precise research strategy known as Googling; this condition shouldn’t last for too much longer, however, as the RealFootball365.com crystal ball tells us that reportage of this contest will be covered on ESPN.

In any event, in the hopes of exploiting yet another statistical performance for some glimpse into the 2008 regular season so far away, here’s what we can learn from past "Ultimate" stars.

Buffalo Bills" target="_new">In 2004, the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers" target="_new">Green Bay Packers were the top two finishers. Not much is known about that legendary Bills squad, except that wide receiver Jonathan Smith, a former Patriot, played in the game. The seventh-rounder played for the Bills for two years on special teams before getting released, followed by three seasons in which he was signed and waived by the Patriots three times. (They must’ve liked his performance in the trivia game.)

The runner-up Packers of 2004 boasted Scott Wells, a seventh-rounder, and punter B.J. Sander. While Wells is a steady starting center on the impressive Packers, big-brained Sander couldn’t perform in serious cold, something of a disadvantage in Green Bay.

In 2006, Oakland Raiders took team honors while boasting individual top score as well" target="_new">the Oakland Raiders took team honors while boasting individual top score as well with O-lineman Chris Morris the top dog. Seventh-rounder Morris is still around in the silver and black, used mostly as a long snapper.

(Signs of the times: In 2004, the prizes were DVD players. In 2006, it was a one-year lease on a Hummer. This year, 32-inch flat screen TVs were awarded.)

And um, that’s pretty much it, really. If anyone out there can contribute with links to past results in this thrilling contest, please let RealFootball365.com know.

In the meantime, perhaps the Patriots should be concerned in the short term. After all, many of these trivia champs panned out in the pro game. And because New England had no seventh-round pick at all in 2008, well, none of these guys are guaranteed to make the team at all.

Again, when does the season start?

Quizzical throughout the year at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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