Darnell Wright is one of the most intriguing offensive linemen in the 2023 NFL Draft, but his buzz is just starting to catch up to his potential.
Wright, 21, blossomed into one of the SEC’s best trench players at Tennessee, where he started 42 total games including stints at right tackle (27 starts), left tackle (13 starts) and right guard (two starts.) Wright’s draft profile reached a new level of visibility following a superb week at the Senior Bowl, which finished with his peers voting him American Team Offensive Lineman of the Week.
While it’s great to see Wright receive the recognition he’s due, the case for him as a top prospect has been justifiable for some time. I think he has everything it takes to make an impact as an early starter at tackle in the NFL.
2022 Games Studied: Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina
Background
Wright stepped onto campus at Tennessee as a consensus five-star recruit out of Huntington, W. Va. following an All-American prep career for the Huntington High Highlanders. Gotta love how that school-mascot combo rolls off the tongue.
He was also a foundational piece of a program renaissance for the Vols. Wright’s career concluded with Tennessee producing the highest-scoring offense in the FBS and the program returning to a level of winning not seen in Knoxville since Wright was in elementary school.
At the conclusion of his final season with the Vols, Wright was named a Lombardi Award finalist and a First Team All-SEC selection.
Best Traits
Wright checked in at a little over 6-foot-5 and 342 pounds with arms measured at 34.5 inches at the Senior Bowl earlier this month. If his preferred playing weight is 342 pounds, then he’ll step into the league as one of the heftiest tackles in the NFL.
The most important part of Wright’s game is his ability to utilize that frame generating different types of power. His grip strength, lower body explosiveness, first punch and ability to hold his anchor are all impressive tools which will translate to the NFL.
Here are a few examples of how he uses his strength and explosiveness to create violent lateral displacement on down blocks. Pay attention to the displacement he generates with his initial punch, then watch how he drives his legs to finish each block.
His ability to do this as part of the frontside double-team on gap-based run concepts like counter, dart and duo was a central part of Tennessee’s identity running the football last season. Any team that drafts Wright should expect him to be a weapon in the downhill run game.
Wright is nimble for his size, which shines through in pass protection. He’s shown the ability to mirror dynamic pass rushers and move his feet and hips to adjust to changes of direction and counter moves. He had a really strong game in pass protection against Will Anderson Jr. when the Vols upset Alabama early last season, but he was a consistent performer in that area of the game.
Wright has also displayed active and precise hands while using a few advanced pass-blocking techniques. I found a few good examples of him using the “snatch technique,” a technique where a blocker bats down a rusher’s arms or helmet to take advantage of their momentum and cause them to fall flat, and the “hamilton technique,” a technique where an offensive lineman grabs a pass rusher’s arm and lifts it to limit the force they can create.
His first punch is an asset in pass protection, both when blunting rush attempts and when he can take advantage of being left uncovered and go for a slab shot on whoever his guard is blocking.
Wright’s strength also helps him recover when he gets in trouble.
On this rep against Anderson, Anderson is attempting a forklift move, and if he’s able to get Wright’s outside arm off of him, he’ll be able to drive Wright straight into Hendon Hooker, who’s put himself in danger by drifting to his right in the pocket. Wright’s grip is strong enough for him to stay latched on and preserve his anchor, buying enough time to let Hooker get rid of the ball for a score.
Wright also has above average balance, good lower body flexibility and a strong sense of body positioning which helps him recover from mistakes that leave him momentarily off balance or out leveraged.
Wright is not the most dynamic athlete in this year’s tackle class, but he has enough foot speed to be effective as a puller and to make an impact blocking at the second level, especially when working double teams vertically or to a backside linebacker.
Wright has also responded well to complex pre-snap pictures and post-snap games. One of my favorite reps of his that I came across was when he handled this “coffee house blitz” by Dallas Turner. Coffee house blitzes involve a defender faking dropping into coverage in order to get an offensive lineman to lose track of them before the defender plants their foot and comes after the quarterback. Wright keeps his eyes up here and gets back in position to handle the blitz perfectly.
Wright’s film demonstrates that he can handle blitzers coming from depth, which speaks well to his understanding of how he fit within Tennessee’s protection scheme. He’ll be asked to make similar plays like this one against South Carolina in any NFL pass protection scheme.
Weak Spots
There are a few areas that Wright could clean up. His aggressiveness firing out in the run game is part of what makes him stand out as a prospect, but he does have a tendency to duck his head while run blocking. If that continues, it will give seasoned NFL defenders something to study and exploit, like Anderson does in the first play of the cut-up here.
While I don’t think that Wright is a scheme dependent player, I do think his talents are better served in an offense that favors more gap-scheme runs than zone-scheme runs. A team looking to major in outside zone would be better served drafting someone more comfortable executing the backside reach block on that play. Wright struggled with that at times, like on the second play of the cut-up.
He also physically outmatched most of the players he went up against, even in high-caliber SEC games. The difference in talent between college and pro may be most stark at the edge position, which is something all rookie tackles have to adjust to. Wright didn’t have to respect the bull rushes of most college edge rushers, so sometimes he let his center of gravity get higher than you’d like to see against elite speed to power artists like Denico Autry or Joey Bosa.
At the same time, I don’t want to penalize him too much just for making things look easy.
Potential Landing Spot: Houston Texans, 2nd Round, Pick 34 Overall
While I can imagine teams like the Bengals and Jaguars will consider using their first-round pick on Wright, I like the possibility of him landing in Houston at this spot. Let’s say the Texans draft a quarterback at pick No. 2 and then the wide receiver or defensive player of their choosing at No. 12, Wright would be a monster value for them at this spot if he’s available. I also think it would be an intriguing situation because it would provide an opportunity for him to play early alongside talented teammates in the trenches.
Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil was one of the best offensive linemen in football last season, and left guard Kenyon Green is coming off an outstanding rookie year. As the Texans look to bring in a new quarterback and new head coach DeMeco Ryans looks to build a consistent identity for the team, investing draft capital to ensure that the offensive line is a position of strength makes a lot of sense.
Houston hasn’t hired an offensive coordinator yet, so it’s hard to prognosticate what its priorities will be on offense. But looking at what the Detroit Lions have accomplished with centering the offensive line in their rebuild could give the Texans the idea to make Wright a part of their new young core.
