MEET MR. SMARTY-PANTS

AT THE NFL combine Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's 4.07 seconds in the 20-yard short shuttle run was second best among QBs, but his most eye-opening statistic was nine minutes. That's how long he took to complete the 50-question intelligence exam most prospects fail to finish in the allotted 12 minutes. His swift time on the Wonderlic Personnel Test resulted in a score of 38, double the mean.

"Wonderlic measures the ability to sort through information quickly," says an NFL source. The 6'3", 232-pound Fitzpatrick, a likely late-round pick, had a 3.2 GPA as an economics major and led Harvard to a 10--0 record with his 2,434 total yards. He played in January's East-West Shrine Game. "My nickname there was Harvard," he says. "I was expected to know everything." But Fitzpatrick's agent, Kyle Rote Jr., says there can be a drawback to being Mr. Smarty: "One [NFL] quarterback coach told me jokingly, 'I can't have a player who knows the playbook better than I do.'" --Ben Reiter

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MICHAEL SEAMANS/BOSTON HERALD (FITZPATRICK HEAD SHOT)

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JIM ROGASH/WIREIMAGE.COM (FITZPATRICK IN ACTION)