Darnell Wright's extension is a big win for the Bears | Take The North

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Rahimi & Grote Show 14 min 3 speakers 7 chapters transcribed 1 month ago

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What are the terms of Darnell Wright’s four‑year, $116 million extension?

Mark Grote 0:00

this is a big deal in a lot of different ways a four-year 116 million dollar deal for darn all right to continue playing right tackle for the team 93 million guaranteed if you like it annually that's 29 million per year the largest deal ever for a right tackle and dan it's obviously a a win for the bears a win for the player darn all right but a massive victory i would say for the general manager of the bears ryan poles and if people want to still argue and go back and forth on whether or not the bears should have traded down from nine with the eagles to 10 to take darn all right over the eagles jalen carter who just got a four-year 152 million dollar deal worth 38 million annually i am open to it but the bears have themselves a cornerstone piece to their offensive line for the next five to seven years i guess four years would be the contract yeah in addition to this one so that's the extension beyond his uh his final year of his rookie contract and you're right it is a huge victory for the organization as a whole my colleague at the athletic kevin fishbane noted that it was the first

Dan Wiederer 1:12

Drafted offensive lineman that has received a multi-year extension from the Bears since Charles Leno. And that's almost a decade ago that Charles Leno, a draft pick who made good on a much lower draft pedigree and got a second contract for multiple years. Darnell Wright's a top 10 pick. And Darnell Wright is a guy that the Bears pushed their chips in on. A few years ago, you remember the whole conversation leading up to the draft and the conversation coming out of that draft night when they passed on Jalen Carter and traded back one spot because they believed that Darnell Wright could be an anchor on their offensive line. And they had serious character questions about Jalen Carter at the time. And so they took what they believed at the time was a safer pick and it's paying dividends.

Dan Wiederer 1:51

You know, and now it's paying dividends with a player in Darnell. I think you would share the sentiment, having gotten to know him a little bit over the last few years. Low key, dude, like this is not a guy that's motivated by chasing money. And that was very apparent both in the conversation we had with him at the podium a week ago with this contract situation kind of lingering. And then again today, after he finally got paid and Herb Howard in the Herb Howard way, asked him, what's it like to be rich? And he basically said, money don't get you into heaven. And I said, you know, I bet you could grease a couple of palms with one hundred and sixteen million and maybe maybe find a way to everybody has their price.

Mark Grote 2:30

Everybody has their price. I think that that is that is absolutely true. But no, you're right. Totally low key guy. A little bit quirky as well. Obviously, faith that you made it very clear. Very important to him. I thought it was interesting to hear Press Taylor talking about him and just kind of nailing it, talking about how the growth is real. And that's all you can ask for from a player to ascend from your rookie year. Every year, this guy has gotten a little bit better. It's beautiful. And he was talking about throwing the defensive end into the backside corner. I loved hearing that verbiage.

Why is the extension considered a win for the Bears and their GM Ryan Poles?

Mark Grote 3:09

And then using the word manhandle. Those are the words, man. Those are the words you hear in scouting terminology. Darnell, you, Bears fans, you have a right tackle that manhandles defensive ends. That's pretty cool. Yeah.

Dan Wiederer 3:24

Look, at times Darnell Wright has comic book strength. Like he does things that don't seem physically possible with how big he is. He's able to generate power and force that even turns the heads of coaches that have seen this stuff for decades, you know? And so that's very real. And you know, as much as I do, how much we talked a year ago about the challenges that they put in front of Donald Wright to become more consistently intense, to make sure that his daily approach was the same every day. And it had to be with a little extra edge. It had to be with a little extra purpose. And so this is where I think this podcast is so much fun is because we can, we can add a little bit of nuance to the whole conversation that, that you just alluded to there, the growth in this player and how it came to be and why it's been so impressive to the people inside the building, because it's a response, right?