The NFL’s Smartest Teams and Players

New research from Gambling.com reveals the smartest teams in the NFL based on average Wonderlic scores.

The Minnesota Vikings came out on top as the smartest team ahead of the 2022 season, with the Arizona Cardinals coming in last place.

The research also revealed the smartest players in the league, with Blaine Gabbert from the Bucs taking the crown.

The NFL is one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world, with its players demonstrating a level of speed and power that is rarely seen across other sports. However, there’s no point in having all that brawn if you don’t have the brains to put it to good use – even if you’re twice as fast as your opponent, if they can outsmart you on the field, they’ll more than likely take home the win.

With this in mind, have you ever wondered which are currently the smartest teams in the NFL?

After analyzing all available Wonderlic scores of active players in the NFL, new research from Gambling.com has revealed the smartest teams based on average scores of players on the 2022 roster, along with the top 10 smartest players in the NFL based on their own individual scores.

Ranking The Smartest Teams in the NFL

The following table ranks every team in the NFL in order of average Wonderlic scores:

Rank	Team	Average Wonderlic Score
1	Minnesota Vikings	28.73
2	Houston Texans	28.11
3	Pittsburgh Steelers	27.44
4	Chicago Bears	26.75
5	Washington Commanders	26.50
6	Los Angeles Chargers	26.08
7	Indianapolis Colts	25.75
8	Detroit Lions	25.60
9	Cincinnati Bengals	25.58
10	Las Vegas Raiders	25.00
11	Atlanta Falcons	24.83
12	San Francisco 49ers	24.62
13	Green Bay Packers	24.50
14	New York Jets	24.44
15	Carolina Panthers	24.40
16	New Orleans Saints	24.33
17	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	24.25
18	Baltimore Ravens	24.20
18=	New England Patriots	24.20
18=	Philadelphia Eagles	24.20
21	Buffalo Bills	24.13
22	Los Angeles Rams	24.00
23	Jacksonville Jaguars	23.78
24	Cleveland Browns	23.65
25	Kansas City Chiefs	23.62
26	Tennessee Titans	23.33
27	Dallas Cowboys	22.83
28	Miami Dolphins	22.40
29	Denver Broncos	21.50
30	New York Giants	21.38
31	Seattle Seahawks	20.60
32	Arizona Cardinals	20.50

The Minnesota Vikings come out on top as the smartest team in the NFL, with an average Wonderlic score of 28.73. In the second place, with a score of 28.11, are the Houston Texans, who are closely followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in third place with a score of 27.44.

The Arizona Cardinals came dead last with an average score of 20.5, just below that of the Seattle Seahawks, who have an average score of 20.6.

Ranking the Current Smartest Players in the NFL

The following table ranks the top 10 currently active players in the NFL based on their individual Wonderlic Scores:

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Wonderlic Score
1=	Blaine Gabbert	Quarterback	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	42
1=	Gardner Minshew	Quarterback	Philadelphia Eagles	42
1=	Nick Allegretti	Guard	Kansas City Chiefs	42
4=	Carson Wentz	Quarterback	Washington Commanders	40
4=	Sean Mannion	Quarterback	Minnesota Vikings	40
6	Chase Allen	Tight End	Chicago Bears	39
6=	Jonah Williams	Offensive Tackle	Cincinnati Bengals	39
6=	Justin Herbert	Quarterback	Los Angeles Chargers	39
6=	Anthony Nelson	Linebacker	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	39
10	Dawson Knox	Tight End	Buffalo Bills	38

When it comes to individual players, there’s a three-way tie at the top of the leader board, with Blaine Gabbert of the Bucs, Gardner Minshew of the Eagles, and Nick Allegretti of the Chiefs all claiming the top spot as the Smartest Players in the NFL with a Wonderlic score of 42.

Methodology

To determine the NFL’s smartest teams for 2022, we scanned the web to retrieve the Wonderlic scores of currently active players (those who appear on an NFL roster ahead of the 2022 season).

All Wonderlic scores were added together and divided by the number of values in the data set to calculate an average team score. The higher the average score, the smarter the team. Importantly, not all Wonderlic scores are made public, so average team scores are an estimation based on available data.