Chicago Bears OT Darnell Wright “crushed” conditioning test after doing wrong workouts

LAKE FOREST – Earlier this week, Bears general manager Ryan Poles commended rookie right tackle Darnell Wright for crushing his conditioning workout when he reported for training camp.

“He actually crushed the conditioning test,” Poles said Tuesday. “Like, didn’t break a sweat.”

On Friday, Wright – the No. 10 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft – had to admit he made a mistake. For the 40 days that players were away from the team facility in Lake Forest, Wright was accidentally doing the wide receiver conditioning drills.

When he finished his offensive line conditioning workout with the training staff at Halas Hall, he was a bit surprised.

“I thought we had like more [to do],” Wright said. “I was looking at the wide receivers’ running portion of the workout, so I was doing theirs.”

The 6-foot-6, 335-pound Wright never did test himself against the receivers, so don’t ask if he can hang with the speedsters. Until Friday, he didn’t tell anybody about his mistake.

After Wright’s conditioning test, Poles texted Wright a GIF of the rapper Drake celebrating. Little did the GM know his top draft pick had been studying for the wrong test. Wright said the wide receivers workouts included longer sprints than what the linemen do.

“I was working out pretty hard,” Wright said.

All that running has helped Wright drop 16 pounds, he said. So his 335-pound listing on the roster is probably more like 320. His body fat is also down. His first professional contract – four years, $21 million – helped him hire a personal chef to take care of his meals at home.

Ever since the Bears hired Poles, the organization has worked to make its offensive linemen more mobile. They condition their linemen hard and they put an emphasis on eating right and keeping body fat in check. It’s necessary in offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s scheme, which requires linemen to move laterally quite a lot.

Poles loves the way Wright has attacked it.

“Usually, it starts a bit slow in terms of executing at a high speed and as you get more comfortable, you can play it faster,” Poles said. “That’s what we look for, and I do want to give that kid credit. This offseason, he busted his butt.”

Wright has continued to work at right tackle on the offensive line throughout the first few days of training camp. The real tests for him will begin next week when the players begin wearing pads.