Darnell Wright had an uphill climb to become the Chicago Bears’ selection as the number ten overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Wright, a highly rated athlete out of high school, progressed through four years at Tennessee before becoming a college star. He was put through the “ringer” by Bears offensive line coach Chris Morgan this offseason before the team took a chance to draft him. But there was a point in his college career when it didn’t look like Wright would be a first-round pick.
Darnell Wright was a five-star recruit
Wright was a five-star recruit out of high school for the 2019 class. He was ranked as the second overall offensive tackle coming in the country out of high school. By reading his recruiting ranking, one might think that Wright didn’t have to face much adversity to become the tenth overall pick. After all, Wright was the second offensive tackle taken in this year’s draft.
But two other offensive tackles the Bears would have considered at tackle this year, Paris Johnson Jr., taken with the sixth overall pick, and Broderick Jones, the number 14 overall pick, were the top two tackles in the 2020 class, respectively.
It would take Wright an extra year to develop into a first-round prospect out of college. According to Daniel Greenberg, Tennessee offensive analyst Mitch Militello said Wright needed to gain confidence in his game before he started to look like the no-quit player General manager Ryan Poles and Morgan wanted on the Bears.
“[Wright} always had high-end talent and became a dude when he started to realize just how good he could be. Best football is ahead of him. Unbelievable kid. Love him to death.”
Tennessee football offensive analyst Mitch Militello tells me that the newest Chicago Bears OL Darnell Wright "always had high-end talent and became a dude when he started to realize just how good he could be. Best football is ahead of him. Unbelievable kid. Love him to death."
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) April 28, 2023
Wright struggled in his freshman season for Tennessee. He earned a 38.8 overall grade by Pro Football Focus for his play that season. Wright gave up two sacks to Alabama in his first try against Tennessee’s rival. Wright’s grades from PFF would steadily rise over his years with Tennessee. But he never earned an excellent seasonal grade until the 2022 season.
Wright earned a 53.5 overall grade for 2020 and 60.5 for the 2021 season. He surrendered five sacks his sophomore season in 309 pass blocks. Wright would bring that number down to three total sacks for the 2021 campaign, where he was asked to pass block 432 times. One of his Achilles heels in 2021 was penalties. Wright was called for ten of them in year three.
Wright polished his resume in year four. PFF credits him for giving up zero sacks in 2022. Wright committed three penalties and earned an overall grade of 70.5 for his play last season. His tape against Alabama in Tennessee’s win last October was ever impressive. He continuously shut down Will Anderson Jr., a much-wanted pass rusher in the 2023 class who the Houston Texas traded up to take with the third overall pick Thursday. Wright earned a 69.0 overall grade for his play against Alabama.
The Chicago Bears have things to teach Wright
Wright is not a perfect prospect heading into OTAs in May. But Wright has sown major improvement in each season he was at Tennessee, and the Bears think they can develop him into a star in Chicago. His pass blocking took a major jump last year. Wright must work on his run-blocking skills for a Luke Getsy scheme that relies on the ground game. In his final three seasons, Wright’s grades have hovered around the upper 50s to lower-mid 60s for his run-blocking skills in his final three seasons in Tennessee.
According to The Draft Network, Wright can be top-heavy when blocking and struggles to reach block:
“He has some tendencies to get top-heavy, duck his head, and fold at the waist when engaged with blocks—he needs to play with better bend and leverage. Wright’s range as a run blocker is underwhelming and he hasn’t proven to be effective on longer pulls or climbing to the second level while being tasked with connecting with moving targets. His modest lateral range creates challenges when attempting to execute reach blocks.”
Those will be hurdles Wright must overcome to succeed in the Bears’ zone scheme. But the Bears didn’t draft Wright because he was a finished product. They took Wright because he won’t quit getting better at this whole football thing he signed up for.
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