Darnell Wright started his Chicago Bears career on a high note thanks to an honest mix-up.
The rookie offensive tackle received praise from Bears general manager Ryan Poles after he “crushed” the team’s conditioning test because Wright mistakenly trained for the wide receivers’ conditioning test, making the offensive linemen’s far easier.
Wright, 21, explained that the players were given written guidelines of what was needed to pass the tests and since he worked out alone ahead of training camp, he accidentally trained off of the wide receivers’ expectations, which involved a longer sprints across a shorter amount of time.
“I was looking at the wide receivers’ running portion of the workout, so I was doing theirs. So then I came back and obviously, we have different, so,” Wright said.
As a result of his training, Wright lost 16 pounds of fat after weighing in at 333 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine in March and feels it made him lighter on the field.
“More distance and lower time,” Wright said of the receivers’ version of the test. “It definitely feels better, it’s a little bit of an adjustment as far as training power, still, but I think I’m more powerful because I didn’t lose any muscle mass. You definitely feel a step quicker.”
Wright was selected in the first round, 10th overall, in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Bears out of Tennessee, where he played a combined 47 games across his four years.
With this added training, he may develop into a strong starting tackle for the Chicago in the upcoming season.
