{"id":289467,"date":"2026-06-28T09:13:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T13:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=289467"},"modified":"2026-06-28T09:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T13:13:24","slug":"darnell-wright-contract-and-impact-menace-on-the-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/06\/28\/darnell-wright-contract-and-impact-menace-on-the-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Darnell Wright Impact: Menace on the Line"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Chicago Bears 2025 season wouldn’t have happened without significant investment in one of the game’s longest under-appreciated units in the offensive line. The Bears had long been atrocious in the trenches. To win a division and get anywhere, you can’t be terrible up front. <\/span>The additions of Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney, and Jonah Jackson were great,<\/a><\/span> but let\u2019s highlight Darnell Wright here.<\/span><\/div>\n

Darnell Wright Impact<\/span><\/h2>\n
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As mentioned earlier, the Bears’ offensive line was putrid for several years. You could even go back, probably over 10 years, and realize just how bad the unit was. Head coach Ben Johnson<\/a> was brought in, and he, along with Ryan Poles, helped orchestrate the offensive line overhaul. But one person who was around even before this turnaround was Darnell Wright.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The tackle out of Tennessee was tabbed by Poles, and it was a big decision. Standout defensive tackle Jalen Carter<\/a> had fallen to the Bears at #9, but his off-the-field behavior let him slip to that point. Bears had a choice, or really it wasn’t a choice, as they traded with the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> and added an extra 4th round pick to select Darnell Wright. That was Poles’ first-ever 1st-round selection, as he had no pick in 2022 after the Justin Fields trade<\/a>, so he needed Wright to be a hit.<\/span><\/div>\n
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His 2025 season was a breakout of sorts. He wasn’t the All-Pro 1st-team Penei Sewell that Johnson had in Detroit, but he did finish 2nd-team All-Pro. However, he missed only one game and at only 24 could get even steadier moving forward. Ben Johnson sees this and made it clear that Wright is a big part of the Bears’ plans moving forward. After all, he is in line for a massive extension.<\/span><\/div>\n
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All the reports out there have said the Bears would like to get a deal worked out before training camp. In recent years, the Bears have done this for a couple of players before training camp got underway with tight end Cole Kmet<\/a> and DJ Moore. Johnson made it clear that he has full confidence in Wright’s ability. “He just continues to get better,” Johnson said. “When you watch us on offense, we’re certainly a little bit more right-handed than left-handed, and that is with him in mind. I think he’s one of those tackles that’s a powerful player and can displace guys off the line of scrimmage.” Definitely sounds like a guy in a team’s long-term plans.<\/span><\/div>\n

Contract Status<\/span><\/h3>\n
The typical norm of a 1st round pick is obviously 4 years plus a 5th year option. Bears have already picked up his 5th-year option. His cap hit for next season at that price point would be $19 million. You can see why the Bears want to hammer out an extension with him. With the rising cap, it only makes sense for the Bears to get the deal done before more players get the money they are looking for to set the market, and you’re playing catch-up to them.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Another strong showing in 2026 could only raise his value if he wanted to wait. It was reported a while back that a price point of $25 million per year would satisfy both parties involved. Tristan Wirfs has the highest salary for a tackle at ($28.125 million), followed by Penei Sewell ($28 million) and Lane Johnson ($25 million). Wright definitely won’t get top-tier money at the position, but he has set himself up right near that $25 million mark. <\/span>He was long overdue for an elite season.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Everyone on the line has to be in sync. It is paramount that the Bears lock in what appears to be a very underrated and valuable piece of their foundation with the mountain of a man that is Darnell Wright at right tackle.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Image: Matt Marton-Imagn Images<\/em><\/div>\n
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The Chicago Bears 2025 season wouldn’t have happened without significant investment in one of the game’s longest under-appreciated units in the offensive line. The Bears had long been atrocious in the trenches. To win a division and get anywhere, you can’t be terrible up front. The additions of Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney, and Jonah Jackson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5854,"featured_media":289824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"1782586800","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Darnell Wright journey from 1st round talent to potential massive extension and impact.","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"600","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,23,6431],"tags":[9585,7403,9755],"class_list":["post-289467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-bears","category-nfl-teams","tag-ben-johnson","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-darnell-wright"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289467"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289828,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289467\/revisions\/289828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}