A week of practice and a workout led the Bears to pick Darnell Wright at No. 10 in the NFL Draft

Darnell Wright “acing” the NFL’s pre-draft process started in January at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. It was there that Wright was named the offensive lineman of the week and it was there that he got the attention of the Chicago Bears. 

It was offensive coordinators Luke Getsy and offensive line coach Chris Morgan in particular from the Bears staff that coached prospects at the Senior Bowl, including Wright, who Chicago would later select at No. 10 overall in the NFL Draft last month.

The only hard part for the Bears was keeping the pick a secret until they could call Wright on draft night.

“I knew Coach C-Mo (Bears offensive line coach Chris Morgan), he liked me a lot. I knew Coach Poles (Bears general manager Ryan Poles) liked me a lot,” Wright said after getting picked. “You never know. You can try to say I think they’re going to pick me, but then again, Coach C-Mo, we actually just got off the phone, he was saying it was so hard to just call you and tell you, hey man, we’re going to pick you. 

“It’s just, you know, that’s part of the game, what they do. I don’t know much about it, I’m sure you don’t want to just show your hand before its dealt. It’s crazy.”

Bears OC Luke Getsy: “You can tell (Darnell Wright) is made of the right stuff”

Getsy told ChicagoBears.com that Wright handled himself perfectly from their first conversations in Mobile.

“The first offensive line meeting that we had, I went into it and I started talking about what it’s like to be a rookie in an offensive line room and how that’s probably the biggest obstacle in any room, in any building,” Getsy told the team website. “You have more duties than anything, and just the way that he handled that conversation and how he has respect for the position and the guys that he’s trying to emulate, it was really cool to see that.

“So we got off to a great start, and then on the practice field part of it, I mean the guy just doesn’t blink. It’s natural to him. You can tell this guy is made of the right stuff.”

There was more to the relationship than just the Senior Bowl, though. The Bears brought Wright to Chicago for one of his pre-draft visits. Morgan also made a trip to Knoxville in April to give Wright one last test to pass. 

“(He) came and worked me out,” Wright said. “He just kicked my ass, I’ll be honest. He wanted to see what I was made of. It was hard but I didn’t quit. I think he respected that.”

What did the workout consist of? The way Wright described it, the better question would be what did the workout not consist of.

“I mean, he put me through the ringer,” Wright said of Morgan. “We were out there working. You’re about 15 minutes in and you’re going back-to-back-to-back. Then you’re still going back-to-back-to-back and another 10 minutes pass, you’re going. Then another 10 minutes pass. He just wanted to see if I would quit and I just wouldn’t quit.”

Wright moved from left tackle to right tackle last season at Tennessee, anchoring the Vols’ offensive line as a First Team All-SEC talent. Now he’ll step into the right tackle spot for the Bears, a glaring need for the franchise and the reason they drafted the best right tackle available.

Darnell Wright on playing for the Bears coaching staff: “It’s going to be perfect”

The Senior Bowl, the visit to Chicago and the workout in Knoxville, that was all just the start. Now Wright said he’s ready to get started on the real work with Morgan, preparing for his rookie season and what is hopefully a long, successful NFL career with the franchise that fell in love with him. 

Already having a preexisting relationship with his new coaching staff already has him ahead of schedule. 

“We talked about a lot of stuff,” Wright said of his conversations with Morgan. “There’s a lot of stuff I need to work on, there’s a lot of stuff I do that (is done) really well. And I think it’s rare that you get to go somewhere that you really get to get coached by someone that you really like, that you really feel like can take your game to the next level. 

“That’s what I feel like C-Mo can do for me. He already told me it’s going to be hard, but I’ve never shied away from hard. I just want to get the best out of myself. And I think Coach C-Mo is going to be perfect for me. It’s going to be perfect.”