Is it too soon to panic about Darnell Wright's performance in training camp?

It is no secret that the Chicago Bears needed to make some major changes to the offensive line this offseason. The team gave up 58 sacks last season — fourth most in the NFL. The interior of the line was suspect most of the year thanks to Lucas Patrick and Sam Mustipher. Braxton Jones played fairly well for a rookie. The right side of the line was a mess as Riley Reiff, Larry Borom and even Alex Leatherwood attempted to keep Justin Fields upright — they failed. Teven Jenkins was a bright spot when healthy and Cody Whitehair was average in a good way.

This offseason, Ryan Poles added Nate Davis to the interior of the line and announced that Cody Whitehair would shift back to center. I'm still nervous about his ability to snap the ball, but time will tell if that is as big of a problem as Mustipher and Patrick were at allowing inside pressure last season. Matt Eberflus and Alan Williams played against the Titans twice a year while in Indy. They know just how good Nate Davis is and I'm excited about that signing.

Teven Jenkins is to move over to the left guard spot — his third different position in the same amount of years. This left the right tackle spot open and Ryan Poles selected Darnell Wright out of Tennessee to man that spot. He wasn't my first choice. I had him in the same tier as Broderick Jones but behind Paris Johnson, Jr. Reports are a little all over the place regarding Wright in training camp, but I have seen more negative than positive. The question is, when is it time to start to panic?

When should Chicago Bears fans panic about Darnell Wright?

To start, Darnell Wright was receiving praise from Braxton Jones. Jones stated back during OTAs and minicamps that Wright is currently further along than he was last year as a rookie. I think it's fair to say that should be expected from a top-10 pick versus a fifth-rounder. Nevertheless, it's great to hear. The problem is that we have seen too many poor plays already during training camp. Here are a few social media posts discussing Darnell Wright's performance. They have not been great.

It seems like Terrell Lewis has Darnell Wright's number to this point in the offseason. The question is though, should Chicago Bears fans be worried that the Bears once again missed when drafting an offensive tackle early in the draft? The answer is simply, no, not yet.

Rookie offensive tackles usually struggle in their first season — even guys who are considered the best at their position. It seems like Darnell Wright has a great work ethic. He accidentally trained for the WR conditioning test instead of the offensive lineman one, but it worked according to Ryan Poles who said Wright crushed it. With the help of a personal chef and the wrong conditioning workout, Wright came into camp 16 pounds lighter than he was in June, but didn't lose any muscle mass. Now, we just need to see these things translate to the field.

Not to mention, the most important part about Wright's performance to this point in the offseason is the team is practicing without pads. That's a big advantage to the defensive linemen. If Wright is still struggling throughout all of training camp and the preseason, we should be a little worried, but still shouldn't panic. Wright could struggle all season in 2023 and Chicago Bears fans shouldn't panic until he is at least a few games into the 2024 season. For now, it's nothing to worry about.