Darnell Wright was the Chicago Bears‘ 9th overall pick in the 2023 draft. Some were surprised by that, feeling he went a little earlier than he should’ve. GM Ryan Poles wasn’t spooked. He believed the big, power, and athletic tackle fit the exact identity this team wants to build. His tireless work ethic and nastiness didn’t hurt either. All things considered, Wright had a solid rookie season. He played well in several games, some of them despite having an injured shoulder. It was validation that the Bears had made a good selection.
Another person who seems to think this is Geoff Schwartz. The former guard played almost a decade in the NFL before becoming a prominent analyst for Fox Sports Radio. In a fun experiment, he joined offensive line specialist Brandon Thorn and former All-Pro left tackle Andrew Whitworth. They were going to do an all-offensive line draft, trying to build the best starting five with one reserve under 25 years old. Schwartz got through his starting five before securing a top player under 25. He opted for Wright, which did not please his colleague Whitworth at all.
Clearly, the young Bears tackle is held in high esteem.
Darnell Wright looks like a pillar for the Bears to build around.
His 2023 performance was mixed. Still, there were signs that he was already morphing into a good player. For one, he was the highest-rated run-blocker in his entire class, and that was with playing the second-most snaps. He also finished the year strong as a pass blocker. Over the final five games, Wright had 91 snaps where he had to block a defender one-on-one. He allowed only eight pressures in those situations. He was clearly playing his best football throughout the second half of the season.
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He now has an offensive coordinator who has shown the capability to develop young tackles. Shane Waldron did great things for Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas in Seattle. Darnell Wright can benefit from his presence in several ways. It also wouldn’t hurt if the quarterback is able to get the ball out faster. That was a constant issue with Justin Fields, which likely impacted Wright’s numbers. Either way, when you have two legitimate former linemen fawning over you, it’s a safe bet you’re pretty good.
Well, I’m not sure if that was a partial biceps tear he went through in the early season. I never got the full details but you could see the use of his left arm was definitely limited.
The only thing holding Darnell Wright back from ProBowl-level performance/recognition is his O-line coach, Chris “C-Mo” Morgan.
If you don’t know why. . .just ask.
One set of metrics that I find revealing are those measuring elapsed time and success rates with the “screen pass” (you may remember Luke Getsy and Justin Fields involved in this exercise). The “screen” of course, is a “no-read pass” but their measurements tell us a lot about the level of a QB’s overall preparedness, consistency in balance, footwork and delivery, when monitored over an entire season. Here are a few familiar QB stat lines, to review: QB ▪︎ # screens ▪︎ comp % ▪︎ TTT ▪︎. TDs Tagovailoa: 95 ▪︎ 91.6% ▪︎ 1.25 secs ▪︎ 5 Josh Allen: 66… Read more »
@mbearest —
Why do you think Luke Getsy insisted on all those “stupid” screens, for Justin Fields?
If you can’t get the ball out of your hand, on target, and on time — screen passes will reveal that flaw, immediately — as it did with Justin Fields.
Fields responded, by blaming his coaches — and sealed his fate in Chicago.
Facts are facts: Zach Wilson, notwithstanding.
Did you send Trevor Sikkema a thank you note for that Cherry picked info, Gena? why separate longer throws from screens? Clean pocket throws? then try to compare him to all these other QB’s total marks. I’m sure that wouldn’t make a huge difference but it would be more honest. Also, nothing makes the TTT argument more questionable and also kind of laughable that seeing Zach Wilson as the front runner. In the long run, the eye test is what proves out.