Chicago Bears trade down again and select Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright with the No. 10 pick in the NFL draft

Darnell Wright was so shocked, he wasn’t sure he would be able to answer questions Thursday night.

The Tennessee offensive tackle was at a party with family, coaches and friends at a Knoxville, Tenn., Hyatt when the Bears called to let him know they were taking him with the No. 10 pick in the NFL draft.

On a video call with Chicago reporters a short time later, Wright said his head was “racing 1,000 mph.”

“I knew as far as my talent and what I can do — I knew I could go this high,” Wright said. “But it just took the right team to just see that, the right coaches who know what they’re looking at. They know what I can be. I haven’t even reached my (potential). I’m just scratching the surface of what I can be. I think they know that. And I know that. It’s going to be fun.”

Before the Bears took Wright, general manager Ryan Poles traded back one spot with the Philadelphia Eagles, who selected Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter at No. 9. The Bears gained a 2024 fourth-round pick in the deal.

The Bears needed an offensive tackle to play opposite Braxton Jones, who started every game at left tackle as a rookie last season. Quarterback Justin Fields was sacked 55 times in 2022, and part of building a roster that will help Fields elevate his game is shoring up his protection.

In the 6-foot-5, 333-pound Wright, the Bears have a player who has prototypical size, an aggressive style and a lot of experience. He started 42 games over four seasons at Tennessee and was a first-team All-SEC selection in 2022. Some draft analysts believe he is a plug-and-play starter at right tackle.

Wright, 21, of Huntington, W.Va., described himself as versatile because of his ability to play on the right or left side and as being big and strong. He thinks he can show his athleticism to those who might not be familiar with him.

Poles praised Wright’s size, athleticism, physicality and ability to set a nasty tone.

“When you’re up close to him, you can feel the power, you can feel the size, the anchor,” Poles said. “When you’re looking at offensive linemen, you want clean hands. And he’s got some technique to work on. All of them do.

“But the one thing that I look for is if you miss with your hands and your technique’s a little bit off on a certain play and you still have the ability to anchor up — you can win when you’re wrong — that just shows you what he’s got on his body. So if we can clean those little details up — hand usage, angles, things like that, pad level — we think the sky’s the limit for him.”

The Bears picked Wright over other highly rated offensive tackles in Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski and Georgia’s Broderick Jones. The Arizona Cardinals picked Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr. at No. 6. Skoronski, who played at Maine South, went to the Tennessee Titans at No. 11, and the Pittsburgh Steelers took Jones at No. 14.

Wright got to know Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy at the Senior Bowl and he developed a solid relationship with offensive line coach Chris Morgan during their pre-draft visits. Wright said he went to Halas Hall, and Poles and Morgan also “kicked my (butt)” during a workout at Tennessee.

“He put me through the ringer,” Wright said. “He just wanted to see if I’d quit, and I wouldn’t quit.”

Morgan told Wright on Thursday night that it was hard not to call him and let him know the move was coming.

“It’s rare that you get to go somewhere where you really get to get coached by someone you really like and you feel like can take your game to the next level,” Wright said. “That’s what I feel like C-Mo can do for me. He already told me it’s going to be hard, but I’ve never shied away from hard. I just want to get the best out of myself, and I think Coach C-Mo is going to be perfect for me.”

ESPN’s Louis Riddick said on Thursday night’s broadcast that Wright “has the ability to be the best player in this draft.” Riddick noted that Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. — the first defensive player taken in the draft by the Houston Texans at No. 3 — said Wright was the best player he played against.

“He is big, mean, nasty,” Riddick said. “He has great feet. He has punch. He has good lateral agility. He can absolutely knock you off the football. … And as far as being a mauler? Ooh, he’s going to finish it, even in pass pro. If you let up at all and you don’t get off, he’s going to put you on the ground and then he’s going to put his helmet right in your chest.

“If you’re rushing against this guy, you’re sitting there going: ‘Where should I go? What can I do? I can’t run down the middle. I can’t get on his edge.’ And if I get out in space and I’m a second-level player? Make sure your chin strap is buckled.”

Fifteen months into rebuilding the Bears roster, Poles entered this draft with multiple major needs.

The Bears also need help at edge rusher after totaling a league-low 20 sacks in 2022. And they need a three-technique defensive tackle, a key position in coach Matt Eberflus’ defense.

Carter might have fit that role and was a popular topic of draft speculation surrounding the Bears.

Carter was ranked by many as one of the top defensive prospects in this draft, but character concerns caused him to drop. Last month, Carter pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing in relation to a car crash that killed a Georgia teammate and staffer. Carter was not driving the car that crashed.

At his pro day, Carter also had gained weight and struggled to make it through his drills, calling into question his preparedness.

Poles made clear last month the Bears would do their due diligence to make sure they were comfortable with Carter. He also said he would talk with Chairman George McCaskey and President Kevin Warren about making such a pick. The Bears met with Carter at the NFL combine, went to his pro day and hosted him at Halas Hall for a visit.

Asked Thursday night if character concerns played into the decision not to take Carter, Poles said, “I won’t comment specifically on him, but character’s always going to be important for us.”

Poles said he was confident the Eagles were going to take Carter. The Bears had another team inquire about moving up to No. 9, but Poles thought that move might have put the Bears at risk of missing on Wright.

“I wasn’t going to take the chance to miss on Darnell,” Poles said. “We had a good sense of (the Eagles’ plans), so we were good with it.”

Now the Bears will look to fill their defensive holes Friday and Saturday.

The Bears have three Day 2 picks — Nos. 53 and 61 in the second round and No. 64 in the third round — but there is a 43-pick gap between their pick Thursday night and their first second-round pick. Poles planned to meet with his staff after his news conference to consider their plans and the possibility of moving up for a chance at a group of higher-rated players.

“There’s some percentages we can play to see how many guys are left in a certain area,” Poles said. “What’s the likelihood that they’re there if we sit, or do we have to move to feel a little bit more comfortable about that? I’d say there’s a chance we could move up. There’s also a chance we can move back a little bit too.”

The Bears started down the road to this draft on Jan. 8, 2023, when they lost their franchise-record 14th game of the season to the Minnesota Vikings. When the Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts in their season finale that afternoon, that gave the Bears the No. 1 pick.

Poles spent more than two months determining what to do with that pick. One of the first steps was determining if Fields would remain the Bears starting quarterback, meaning Poles would not select one of a quartet of highly ranked prospects — Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Florida’s Anthony Richardson.

Instead, Poles turned his attention to fielding trade offers from other general managers and ultimately landed a deal with the Carolina Panthers that gave the Bears the Nos. 9 and 61 picks this year, a 2024 first-rounder, a 2025 second-rounder and wide receiver DJ Moore.

The Panthers used the No. 1 pick to take Young, one of three quarterbacks taken before the Bears picked at No 10.

Young, the Heisman Trophy winner in 2021, threw for 8,200 yards and 79 touchdowns with 12 interceptions over the last two seasons for Alabama. The biggest question with Young, who has elite processing skills and great instincts and poise, is whether his size — 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds — will affect his ability to hold up at the NFL level.

The Texans took Stroud at No. 2 and then traded up with the Arizona Cardinals to take Anderson at No. 3. The Colts picked Richardson at No. 4.

Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon became the first Illini player selected in the first round since 2012 when the Seattle Seahawks picked him at No. 5. Witherspoon is the first top-five pick from Illinois since Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice went second and third in 1996.

Iowa edge rusher Lukas Van Ness, who is from Barrington, went to the Green Bay Packers at No. 13.

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