Darnell Wright settling in as Chicago Bears' starting right tackle

If you’re an offensive lineman, it’s difficult to show off in minicamps when you’re not even in pads. But rest assured that the Bears already know plenty about Darnell Wright. The rookie opened off-season team workouts as the starting right tackle.

The Bears used the 10th pick of April’s NFL draft to select big Darnell Wright, who’d been a standout at both right and left tackle at Tennessee. Wright was the second offensive lineman off the draft board. Arizona picked tackle Paris Johnson, the former Ohio State star, at No. 6. This also was the first time in a decade that the Bears used a first-round choice on an offensive lineman.

So when the team portion of OTAs started in Chicago, Wright was set at right tackle. He hasn’t moved from that spot since then.

“Darnell is really picking it up a lot faster because of the pace of it,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said, in an interview with 670 The Score. “And he can learn it this way. Then when we get to training camp, it’ll be more full speed.”

The Bears made a decision to go all in on quarterback Justin Fields, who’s headed into his third season. Fields led all quarterbacks in rushing last season. He was dazzling as he dashed to 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns. However, most teams prefer their highly-paid quarterback not run so much, even if he’s good at it. Fields threw for 2,242 yards with 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Those numbers need to improve.

Meanwhile, Chicago wants to fix its offensive line. The line allowed defensive pressure on almost 40 percent of Fields’ dropback attempts. Overall, the Bears allowed 55 sacks. You can’t always blame the line. Sometimes the quarterback holds the ball too long or a running back misses a block. But you can fix the majority of the problems with a better offensive line. Darnell Wright can help with that. He didn’t allow a sack for 19 straight games while with the Vols.

Wright stands 6-6, 335 pounds. But despite his big build, he’s still limber and athletic. Bears tight end Cole Kmet described a sequence that Wright screwed up.

“He fell down (during an OTA practice) and did this somersault,” Kmet told reporters. “And it was the most graceful somersault I’ve ever seen a 330-pound player do. It was pretty impressive. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s pretty good.'”

The Bears left tackle is second-year player Braxton Jones. Unlike Darnell Wright, Jones was a third-day pick in the 2021 draft. Still, the Bears also placed Jones in the starting lineup once team activities started in the offseason. Jones played all the snaps at left tackle in 2022.

He said he’s trying to mentor Wright. “Obviously, there’s a little bit of a different role I’ve taken,” Jones said on ESPN 1000’s Waddle & Silvy. “Obviously, Darnell Wright was taken in the first round. Trying to help him out a little bit in this offseason during OTAs. I still got a crap ton of work to do myself.”