Bears introduce first-round pick Darnell Wright as team eyes further draft moves
CHICAGO (CBS) – The NFL Draft continues Friday night in Kansas City with teams making their second and third-round selections.
The Bears selected Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright with the No. 10 overall pick on Thursday. Wright said he was excited to help the Bears offensive line that allowed quarterback Justin Fields to be sacked 58 times last season. That was the fourth-most in the NFL.
It was all smiles in Lake Forest when Wright was introduced for the first time at Halas Hall.
Wright played at both left and right tackle and right guard in his time as a Vol. He capped off his college career by not allowing a sack in 19-straight games. But its his versatility that has the Bears' top pick feeling like he can make an immediate impact on the O-line. Wright said he already received a text from Fields welcoming him to Chicago.
"It gives me a lot of confidence that they think that I can come in an help them in any type of way," Wright said. "It just feels like having that confidence, that they believe in me, it just gives me more confidence to even believe in myself."
Wright will wear Roquan Smith's old No. 58. He's likely going to be a starting tackle for the Bears after years playing against some of the top talent in the SEC. He's also not too worried about the pressure of being a top 10 pick.
"I embrace expectations upon myself," he said. "I have expectations upon myself bigger than just football ... but whatever that role is, I'm going to take it full on. I'm going to do the best I can. I'm not sure what that role is whether it's right tackle, whether it's wide receiver, you know what I mean?"
The Bears went into the night with the No. 9 pick and holes to fill on both the offensive and defensive lines. But the team traded down one spot with the Philadelphia Eagles, who ended up taking Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a player the Bears had shown interest in leading up to the draft. Off-the-field issues likely led to Carter still being available at No. 9 for the Eagles.
"I knew that question would come up," said Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. "I think what I'd rather do with that is just stick with talking about Darnell. We felt comfortable that that was the guy that we wanted. We did the swap with Philly."
When asked if it was fair to say that character played a role in passing up on Carter, Poles declined to comment specifically on the Georgia lineman, but added, "character is always going to be important for us."
The Bears and Poles enter the second day of the draft with three picks: No. 53 and No. 61 in the second round and No. 64 in the third round.
After already trading back twice in the first round, Poles said there's a chance the front office isn't done making moves.
"We might have to maneuver a little bit and see what we can do," Poles said. "And I've seen that before where you try to move and you strike out. The pairing doesn't make sense and a guy or guys fall to you, which is always a good experience too. Yeah we might have to move a little bit and see what happens."
Multiple teams have been showing interest in trading up to the 32nd pick, owned by the Pittsburgh Steelers, with reports saying the Bears could be one of those teams.
