Chicago Bears: Darnell Wright was thought to be a Day 2 pick for most teams

The Bears were impressed with Wright during his Pro Day at Tennessee and during the week of the Senior Bowl. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was one of the coaches for the Senior Bowl.

The Chicago Bears took a risk on Darnell Wright

The Senior Bowl executive director, Jim Nagy, was recently a guest on the CHGO podcast. Nagy gave insight as to where most of the NFL had Wright before he was invited to the Senior Bowl. (The Senior Bowl works with GMs and scouting departments to vet the best players to invite to the event.)

According to Nagy, most scouts saw Wright as a Day 2 pick.

Darnell, he probably made more money than anybody in Mobile last year,” Nagy said.

“I can speak with certainty that Darnell, for most teams, was a second or third-round player, like middle of the second, and some teams might have had him a little higher. And so for him to go up all the way to the top ten, he really had a great week. He locked people down.”

Poles will hope he chose wisely with Wright. I doubt many teams had Wright as a top-ten player in the draft. However, the Bears coaching staff took a special interest in Wright and worked with him to ensure he’d fit in with the culture in Chicago.

Taking Wright wasn’t a safe choice by Poles. However, Wright has shown flashes of promise during the preseason and in college. Wright was impressive against number three overall pick Will Anderson Jr. during the Alabama/Tennessee game last season.

Wright has a big test in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. He will go up against a solid pass-rushing group that includes Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, and rookie Edge Lukas Van Ness.