Originally Posted by
Patler
Agreed. Based on absolutely nothing of substance, I ave a good feeling about him. First and foremost, he has come across as interested in making the switch to center. So many players have talked about their discomfort switching from their college positions, he has always said that he enjoys the switch to center, almost as if he enjoys it more than being at tackle or guard.
Many have described him as very intelligent (even apart from the generality of having gone to an Ivy-league school). His comments about the "burden" of the mental aspect of center and making the line calls have come across as a challenge he enjoys. In one article he mentioned that you really don't have to know any more than you should know at the other positions, because everyone should know what is going on anyway. Its just that the center has to verbalize it to make sure everyone is on the same page. He was a QB in high school, so he might enjoy having somewhat more control.
I know the Wonderlic is not the be-all, end-all of football smarts, but good centers tend to do well on it. Many questioned if EDS could handle the calls (15 Wonderlic). Early in his career it was questioned often, and in 2012 MM had said that they needed to get comfortable with EDS handling the calls before they were willing to play him much at center, and at that point he had already been in the league a few years. No one mentioned much about those types of concerns with Flanagan (35 Wonderlic) or Wells (30 Wonderlic). Saturday (27 Wonderlic) was known for always being on the same page with Manning, and players commented on it in GB. Tretter scored 33 on the Wonderlic.