The most intense final exam of Darnell Wright’s life came on a Saturday morning earlier this month.
April 8, 11 a.m., the Anderson Training Center in Knoxville, Tenn.
Wright’s pre-draft journey to the NFL was almost complete. But now the Chicago Bears, who had hosted Wright at Halas Hall a few days earlier, were on campus at the University of Tennessee, intent on confirming their beliefs.
General manager Ryan Poles — with offensive line coach Chris Morgan in tow — had designs on obtaining peace of mind for the NFL draft, even if it came, temporarily, at Wright’s expense.
Poles wanted to feel certain the player he was leaning toward selecting with a top-10 pick had his preferred strands of football DNA. If the Bears were going to invest in an offensive tackle to support the growth of third-year quarterback Justin Fields, Poles wanted to identify a big, athletic standout who was fueled by a nasty competitive spirit.
The 6-foot-5, 333-pound Wright made 42 starts over four seasons for the Volunteers and had plenty of video evidence from his college career to check those boxes. But less than three weeks before the draft, Poles wanted to learn a little more and grab one last confirmation that what his gut was telling him was on point.
For Wright, a communication studies major, the Bears’ football final exam was designed specifically to strain him, to test his mental and physical limits, to wear him out.
When Wright arrived that morning, Morgan already had warned him what was coming. “He told me straight out, ‘You need to treat this like it’s the Super Bowl,’ ” Wright said.
Over several hours, the Bears flooded Wright with information, concepts from their playbook and whiteboard play designs to digest, regurgitate and teach back to Poles and Morgan — with every detail included.
Where was his aiming point supposed to be? How would he adjust if the defensive front changed? What if the linebackers moved?
The real objective was to test Wright’s recall — hours later, a.fter he had been pushed to exhaustion.
“You definitely see what you’re made of a little bit,” Wright said.
When the on-field workout kicked in, Morgan and Poles cranked the intensity knob to the maximum level, putting Wright through a grueling combination of offensive line drills and conditioning exercises with little time to reset or catch his breath.
They changed plays at the last second to test how quickly he would react. Morgan made him do old-school series of up-downs.
“He kicked my ass, if we’re being honest,” Wright said. “He wanted to see what I was made of.”
“We brought him into deep water to see if he could swim or not,” Poles said.
Wright continued grinding. Morgan kept pushing. “He was trying to make me tap out,” Wright said.
Wright, though, was handling it all, with Poles hardly able to contain his excitement.
“We just would trigger and trigger and trigger,” the GM said. “We got him exhausted and the kid had no (quit) in him. His body language was excellent. He stayed aggressive. He finished.”
This, Poles thought to himself, was the attitude he was looking for.
Twenty-four days earlier, Poles was 235 miles down the road in the SEC at the University of Georgia’s pro day, where a deeper assessment of All-America defensive tackle Jalen Carter ended with disappointment.
Carter, who already had been through a turbulent personal stretch during the pre-draft process, showed up overweight and quickly ran out of breath. His fuel light came on early during on-field drills. And because of cramping and fatigue, he eventually cut his workout short.
Poles, coach Matt Eberflus and defensive coordinator Alan Williams were among the Bears representatives to witness that, leaving Athens, Ga., with elevated concerns about how a job candidate could bungle an audition so badly.
Carter seemed like a student who had forgotten to study for a test.
As the draft closed in, Poles’ instincts, coupled with detailed internal discussions the Bears had in setting their draft board, kept telling him Wright was the player the organization needed.
When the Bears finally picked Wright on Thursday night — after passing on the chance to draft Carter and trading down one spot to No. 10 — Poles couldn’t have felt more satisfied, confident he had landed a difference-making starter who potentially could anchor the offensive line into the 2030s.
“He’s a tone-setter,” Poles said. “He plays with an edge to him, which we love and want more of.”
Draft drama
What seemed mostly like a made-for-social-media hypothetical became made-for-reality-TV drama at 8:12 p.m. Thursday, when the Bears went on the clock with the No. 9 pick and Carter still available.
How would Poles respond with his first first-round pick as an NFL GM?
Talent-wise, Carter is an undeniable beast, a massive defensive lineman with elite athleticism and game-wrecking explosion. He would have filled a major need in Eberflus’ defense, arriving as an immediate starter for the Bears at the three-technique defensive tackle position. He could become a perennial All-Pro.
When the college football season ended, Carter was grinning ear to ear at SoFi Stadium and holding up a special edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that proclaimed his Georgia Bulldogs as “PERFECT!” after a 65-7 destruction of TCU for the national title. There was a sense Carter’s encore could include a rise to becoming the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
But for Carter, the 15 weeks between that triumph and Round 1 on Thursday night was complicated. Which is why, inside the draft room on the second floor at Halas Hall, Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham was speaking volumes about the team’s final evaluation of Carter during a phone call with his former boss in Philadelphia.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman called to offer a fourth-round pick in 2024 to jump past the Bears in the draft line to No. 9.
Cunningham, with Poles’ eager approval, agreed. The Bears traded down one spot, allowing the Eagles to claim Carter. “We wanted to come out with an impact player,” Roseman said. “And we feel like Jalen can be an impact player for us.”
That’s a surface-level simplification of how the reigning NFC champions landed a player widely regarded as one of the top two or three talents in this class for the low price of a future Round 4 pick.
The trade and the Eagles’ willingness to gamble also stimulated discussions in two cities on when the time is right to make such a move.
Roseman, with 15 years of experience at the top of the Eagles front office, has a team that played in the Super Bowl less than three months ago and a talent-filled roster that affords him the chance to take a few high-profile risks. He also won a Lombardi Trophy five years ago.
The Eagles, many believe, have the stability to absorb a player with character concerns such as Carter.
The Bears? They lost an NFL-worst 14 games last season, including their final 10 in the first year of the Poles-Eberflus regime. Their roster is still, in Poles’ own words, “young and impressionable.” And in order to climb from the bottom of the conference toward the top, the Bears need to find a handful of sure — or, more exactly, surer — things.
The selection of Wright over Carter felt like a move to solidify a higher floor rather than shooting for a planetary ceiling.
For a young and developing GM such as Poles, who has talked openly about the pressure swirling this offseason and the anxiety he has felt, the Round 1 selection allows him to put his head on the pillow with more relaxation than unease.
Predictably, Poles was hesitant to share much about the Bears’ evaluation of Carter, steering around three questions on the topic. “I won’t comment specifically on him,” Poles said. “But character’s always going to be important for us.”
His more telling thoughts came a month earlier at the owners meetings in Arizona.
“It’s (about) making sure we continue to bring a good core group in,” Poles said then as he explained the complicated factors with Carter’s evaluation. “That’s important. I think maybe down the road, where maybe you want to take a risk like that, the locker room begins to run itself and you can take those chances.
“Right now we need both. We need talent. At the same time, I’m still going to be a little bit cautious of bringing in the wrong type of person.”
Tragic twist
In the world of NFL scouting, certain things stick with evaluators, from lower-level foot soldiers to front-office executives.
Clutch plays in big games. Leadership traits that enliven a program. First-hand intel on personality flaws. Details of off-field transgressions.
For some, images from a fatal car accident in Athens, Ga., on Jan. 15 proved significantly unsettling with a 5,000-pound Ford Expedition crumpled like a ball of tinfoil.
The driver and one passenger from that vehicle — 24-year-old Chandler LeCroy and 20-year-old Devin Willock — died in a one-car wreck that occurred around 3 a.m., hours after the Georgia football team held a parade and national championship ceremony.
LeCroy was a recruiting staffer for the Bulldogs. Willock was a sophomore offensive lineman.
Both were out that night in a group that included Carter, who, it later turned out, was connected to the tragedy. He was driving at high speeds alongside the SUV LeCroy was driving.
The two vehicles, according to a statement from Athens police, “switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists and drove at high rates of speed in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.”
At some point the Expedition struck a curb, left the road and collided with two utility poles and multiple trees before slamming into an apartment building. Willock was dead at the scene. LeCroy was pronounced dead shortly after at a hospital.
Carter was charged with misdemeanor counts of racing and reckless driving, eventually pleading no contest to both.
The legal ramifications were minimal. Carter was ordered, according to his attorney, to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 80 hours of community service while sentenced to 12 months of probation.
Still, for some NFL teams, the tragedy heightened the need to learn more about Carter’s wiring and judgment. Notes already were being scrawled in the margins of Carter’s profile about potential issues with maturity, accountability and drive last season. Talent evaluators felt compelled to dig deeper. One league source described “repetitive behavior” from Carter that potentially spoke to a lack of dependability and accountability.
Such red flags can lower the risk tolerance for teams like the Bears, who still are working to solidify their culture and chemistry. The Eagles, by contrast, feel firmer ground beneath their feet and have a larger margin for error with high-profile decisions.
Risk-reward
Roseman believes the Eagles will be able to absorb Carter’s arrival thanks in part to a strong support staff plus two former Georgia teammates and friends on the roster — linebacker Nakobe Dean and defensive tackle Jordan Davis.
The Eagles also might have gotten a gift when Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith fell to No. 30, creating an immediate reunion with Carter in Philadelphia.
For those who were disappointed by Carter’s pro day workout in March, some who attended that session believe the Georgia star would have fizzled out even earlier had Smith not been there, by his side and in his ear, cooling him down with water and prodding him to keep going.
“I felt conditioned,” Carter told reporters in Philadelphia on Thursday night. “But I guess I wasn’t.”
While Poles will likely remain hesitant to reveal specifics of the Bears’ final evaluation on Carter, it’s easy to understand why they were one of eight teams to pass on Carter. Most notably, the Seattle Seahawks chose Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon at No. 5. One pick later, the Detroit Lions traded out of the No. 6 spot rather than rolling the dice on Carter.
Even Roseman acknowledged the Eagles’ decision wasn’t risk-free.
“We understand there’s a reason he was available,” he said, before immediately pivoting to the reason they pounced. “Everyone will tell you this is one of the most talented players in the draft. He’s one of the most talented players to come out of college football in a long time.”
With the unrelenting pressure to win championships, that level of elite talent can persuade some organizations to look past potential problem areas more comfortably.
“Nobody’s hiding from the fact that a tragic event happened,” Roseman said. “We’ll do our very best to make sure (our) players develop every skill set they’ll need to be successful.”
Carter is now the Eagles’ prize and project.
Highs and lows
As the Bears were developing their final evaluation of Carter, Poles’ bond with Wright continued to grow. The Bears had the massive tackle on their radar for some time, drawn to Wright’s physicality, sturdiness and light feet.
Poles’ studies instilled confidence in Wright’s ability to “anchor” up, with the strength and sturdiness to string together successful reps even when his technique isn’t perfect or he misses with his hands.
“You can win when you’re wrong,” Poles said. “When you’re up close to him, you can feel the power, you can feel the size, the anchor when guys try to really press on him.”
Sam Summerville, a senior national scout for the Bears, was inside Neyland Stadium on Oct. 15 when the Volunteers hosted top-ranked Alabama. That evening provided a big test for Wright, who drew the assignment of containing Crimson Tide star Will Anderson without much help.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel had little trepidation turning Wright loose for the marquee matchup.
“The best thing as a coach,” Heupel said, “is when you have comfort where you feel like you have that luxury to put him on an island. You don’t have to protect him and he’s going to handle what is probably the biggest factor on the opposing side of the field.”
Anderson was a total nonfactor in the game and has admitted as much, singling out Wright as the best tackle he faced last season. That battle provided a decisive win for Wright and an even more momentous victory for Tennessee, which rolled up 567 yards in a 52-49 upset.
That win was part of an 8-0 start that propelled the Volunteers to No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings, a feat that would have seemed unfathomable 21 months earlier when the program was engulfed by an NCAA investigation centering around a high volume of major recruiting violations.
Coach Jeremy Pruitt was fired. Athletic director Philip Fulmer, who had coached the Vols from 1992-2008, hurried into retirement. Players began leaving the program in droves.
Uneasiness was a prevalent emotion.
“It feels like the NCAA is about to put you in jail,” Wright said.
Wright acknowledged there were times when “it felt like the whole house was crumbling on itself.”
“There was a certain point where there weren’t even coaches in the building,” he said. “We just had to keep the main thing the main thing. I was going in there working out by myself, just trying to handle my business as a professional.”
Still, as impressive as Wright’s power and athleticism were, his resilience and willingness to persevere through hard times also resonated.
In an era when the NCAA transfer portal becomes a convenient train station with hourly journeys away from uncertainty and stress, Wright stayed put, explaining the bonds he made with teammates meant a lot to him.
“I felt like there was no reason for me to leave,” he said. “(I said), ‘I can be my best here. I can do my best here.’”
Added Heupel: “That shows how he cares about the place he’s at. And it also shows he cares about the guys he is in the locker room with.”
‘I flip that switch’
As Tennessee students tore down the goal posts and took them into the Knoxville night after the win over Alabama, Summerville knew Wright had delivered a signature performance in a statement win. Easy to see, easy to sell.
But he also noted the performance wasn’t an outlier from the right tackle, who had been consistently sturdy and frequently dominant throughout his final two seasons in the SEC.
Heupel was impressed by how Wright continually grew, transforming from “a very young football player” in terms of his fundamentals and football IQ in early 2021 into one of the best players in the nation’s most demanding conference by the end of last season.
“He is somebody who gained great confidence in his work habits and through his work habits,” Heupel said, “and that allowed him to refine his play.”
For the Bears, the tenacity and toughness Wright displayed last fall — and throughout the pre-draft process — seems to make him a perfect match for the supportive but demanding coaching style of Morgan, who will be his day-to-day overseer.
The two already seem to have meshed. Said Poles: “You can feel it when you’re around certain people. There’s a connection there. That happened pretty quickly (with them), which is cool.”
Morgan and the Bears plan to nurture Wright but not baby him, and they have unbridled optimism for what he can become after he’s given a detailed developmental blueprint.
Like they did during that final exam in Knoxville, the Bears will press Wright and push him, demanding he bring the best out of himself.
Wright says he’s all in and understands the investment the Bears made creates an obligation for him to be a dependable bodyguard for Fields. “It’s my job to keep him clean,” Wright said.
As for that workout earlier this month? Wright said if he had been pushed to endure all of that only to have the Bears pass on him, he would have been aggravated.
“Oh, my god,” he said. “I would have called C-Mo on the spot.”
Instead, it was Morgan and the Bears calling him Thursday night to open the door for his NFL dreams. And Wright is eager to walk through them with a nasty attitude.
“There’s a certain switch you flip when it’s time to play,” he said. “And, yeah, I flip that switch.”
He thought about all that’s ahead.
“When it’s time to rock and roll …”
Wright’s grin said the rest.
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