Tests of Character: With Millions of Contract Dollars on the Line, Extensive Psychological Screening Has Become an Important Part of NFL Scouting

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Are you a very ticklish person? Does everything taste the same to you? Would you like the work of a dress designer?

If you're a NFL prospect, be careful how you answer - these are just a few of the true/false queries that make up the New York Giants' 400-plus question psychological exam, one of many such tests given by various teams to potential selections in April's draft.

Commonplace in corporate America, extensive mental and emotional screening has become an important part of NFL scouting, a process that increasingly owes as much to Freud as Lombardi.

During the league's annual scouting combine, which began yesterday in Indianapolis, players are given a 12-minute, 50-question general intelligence exam that has more in common with the SAT than PATs. Moreover, many of the best players are then shuttled among different teams' hotel suites to take dozens of additional personality and behavior tests.

With millions of contract dollars on the line, the rationale for screening is simple: Select a player with the right mix of on-field aggression and off-field character - and not the next Dimitrius Underwood, the Minnesota Vikings' 1999 first-round draft pick who disappeared after his first day of training camp, later latched on with the Miami Dolphins and ultimately attempted suicide last September.

"When you draft a player, the careers of coaches and front-office people are on the line," said Robert Troutwine, a Kansas City-based industrial psychologist who in the last two decades has worked with 18 NFL teams, including the Washington Redskins. "So it makes sense to know more about what's in the head and the heart of a player. Nobody tries to make a bad decision, but bad decisions come from having the wrong information."

SEARCHING FOR CHARACTER

Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf? In 1998, that was the choice facing the Indianapolis Colts, who had the top pick in the draft and were desperate for a quarterback.

As the two best prospects, Tennessee's Manning and Washington State's Leaf were so close in size, arm strength and passing statistics that the Colts had Troutwine evaluate each player's mental makeup and social style.

"We were looking at the possibility of a three-win season," Troutwine said. "And we had concerns about our offensive line protecting these guys. So we wanted to know how they would react to adversity.

"I said that Leaf would be very …