Darnell Wright Comes in Well-Tested by Bears

Bears GM Ryan Poles liked what they had seen of Tennessee tackle Darnell Wright so much he went to extreme measures to learn more.

For the first time, he went to a private workout with a prospect with an assistant coach on campus. Wright passed the hands-on test with flying colors and as a result, he was the pick for the Bears at No. 10 in Round 1.

"It was a really gpood experience from start to finish, a guy that we were comfortable with as being the top tackle in the draft," Poles said. "So we're pumped about that."

The private workout, Poles said, was "really big," perhaps a selling point.

Poles boarded a small plane with Chris "C-Mo" Morgan, the offensive line coach and they went to Knoxville for the April 8 workout. They weren't there to lob softballs at a potential prospect.

Wright, himself, talked about how Morgan let him have it.

Poles concurred.

"There's an attitude, there's a mental toughness that you have to have to play this game," Poles said. "With him, you know ... I kind of joke around ... we brought him into deep water to see if he could swim or not and he accepted the challene and he showed us the grit and the mental toughness to be able to fight through fatigue and all of those things that we look for," Poles said.

The workout lasted about an hour, Poles recalled. There was a mental part to the visit where they

put plays on a board or concepts and erase it and had Wright spit it back out.

"Teach it back to us, and we really talked about details," Poles said. "Very detailed in terms of, what's your aiming point? What do we do if things change, the front changes, the linebackers move?

"And he showed ability to adapt and learn really, really fast, which was good."

Then they worked him out by putting him at the line of scrimmage, calling a play and tested his ability to make changes before the snap.

"C-Mo would call out the play and then change it last second to see if he had the mental quickness to change and adjust," Poles said. "He did that for a while, started breathing heavy.

"We basically put him through a conditioning drill for five, 10 minutes. Up-downs, all that stuff, back, he'd huddle with me, he'd go to C-Mo, same thing. We just would trigger and trigger and trigger. We got him exhausted and the kid had no fight in him. His body language was excellent. He stayed aggressive, finished. Again, that attitude we're looking for up front."

It sounded nothing like the workout Jalen Carter had at his pro day when he struggled.

Carter fell to the Bears at No. 9 but they wanted Wright instead, and because they wanted him they felt comfortable trading back one spot with Philadelphia, which they suspected would take Carter.

Poles didn't want to talk about Carter specifically, but when asked about character issues with players he said, "Character is always going to be important."

The Bears had calls from one other team besides the Eagles. Poles didn't want to mention the team but said it never amounted to something they seriously considered because of what it meant to their pursuit of Wright.

"It didn't get too heated up and it was in a spot where I had a really good sense that Darnell would be at risk to be gone," Poles said.

The workout came after they had visited with Wright at the combine, at the Senior Bowl and they had him at Halas Hall for a visit.

"The one thing that stands out with him is he's a tone-setter," Poles said. "He plays with an edge to him which we love—we want more of."

Another thing Poles liked about Wright is how battle-tested he was in the SEC.

The Bears came into the draft with only two starters who played in the SEC, the toughest conference in the country. One was Eddie Jackson, and he hasn't been in college since 2016. The other was the fullback, Khari Blasingame, who played at Vanderbilt and was on the field about 20% of the plays last year.

"That's the cool thing," Poles said. "When you talk about SEC football, you go this year, there were guys that were on our board that are really talented that he's going against, and he did a really good job."

One was Alabama's Will Anderson Jr., who had one pressure and no sacks against Wright.

"You go to last year and go on the left side and see guys that were first overall picks, guys that have played in the league, guys that have production in the league, and he did really well," Poles said. "So that always helps because it's hard."

Poles said he'll likely play the right side.

"We talked about this last year: how can you put the best five together?" Poles said. "If that's right tackle, it's right tackle.

"We'll compete, keep it open, and whatever that front five is, that's what we'll roll with. Today, it's hard to just put him at one spot and say, 'hey, you earned your job.' He's got to come in and earn it like everybody else."

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