Paging Brain Doctor
June 24th, 2004
As seen in USA TODAY
During the draft, several teams may call on Jon Niednagel. He’s spent more than half of his 56 years developing a coherent theory of how humans are wired – Niednagel claims to have identified 16 distinct “brain types,” as opposed to personality types – and why some are better suited to be point guards, quarterbacks, pitchers or CEOs than others.
Niednagel’s stock as an evaluator rose dramatically after he gave the Orlando Magic a can’t-miss review on Tracy McGrady before the 1997 draft. It climbed even higher after he warned the San Diego Chargers not to waste their No. 1 pick in the 1998 NFL draft (and the second overall) on quarterback Ryan Leaf, who turned out to be a bust.