ALEX WRIGHT: NFL DRAFT PROSPECT INTERVIEW BY: JUSTIN MELO MARCH 19TH, 2022 THE DRAFT NETWORK
UAB's Alex Wright is one of the most intriguing pass rushers in the 2022 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-5, 271-pound chiseled EDGE defender experienced an excellent campaign in 2021 by recording seven sacks in 12 appearances. It was a proper follow-up to a freshman campaign that saw Wright total 4.5 sacks as a young defensive star-in-the-making. The moldable tools and traits could help Wright get drafted earlier than most currently realize.
Wright recently spoke exclusively with The Draft Network about his exciting and expansive pass rush arsenal, his experience and takeaways from the NFL Scouting Combine, how UAB placed him in positions to succeed, which teams have shown interest in him throughout the process, and what kind of impact he plans to make at the next level.
JM: You enjoyed a career-best season in 2021 by recording seven sacks en route to being named second-team All-Conference USA. What changed for you this past season?
AW: My mindset and approach definitely changed for the better. I learned to control the things I can control and how to let go of everything else. I stopped focusing on the things that were outside of my control. You could always control your own mindset. I had to make sure I was putting my best foot forward on every single play.
JM: You certainly did that. You had an excellent weigh-in at the combine, coming in at 6-foot-5, 271 pounds with 34-inch arms. Have you heard the words “traits” and “tools” a lot throughout the pre-draft process?
AW: I have, and I continue to do so, yes sir. Everybody has their own play style and different traits. No two prospects are the same, even though some of the traits may be similar. I feel like my traits are incredibly unique. My body type, my length, it’s definitely uncommon or irregular. It allows me to do some things that maybe other prospects and other pass rushers can’t. I understand how to use the traits at my disposal. Those are the things that put me in this position to begin with.
JM: You possess rare traits and tools. What were your main takeaways from the combine experience?
AW: You have to enter the combine with a strong mentality. Everybody watches the combine on television and they think it’s all about working out and doing interviews. Heck, I sorta went into the combine thinking it was going to be like that (laughs). There’s so much that happens behind the scenes with medicals and whatnot. There’s a lot that goes into it. That was probably my main takeaway.
You have to possess a strong mentality and you have to be yourself out there. You might run into coaches like Pete Carroll or John Harbaugh. These are coaches you’ve been watching on television your entire life. You might get a little starstruck at one point (laughs). You have to remember you’re here for a reason. It’s a showcasing event and basically a job interview. If you end up getting coached by one of those more recognizable coaches, you’ll get used to it. You start to realize that’s your coach and not some television celebrity.
I had to be myself. I entered the week with the right mentality, a great mentality I’d say.
JM: It’s so important to realize that. Did you meet with many teams formally throughout the week, and do you have any virtual visits coming up?
AW: I’m supposed to meet with the New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I had roughly 12 formal interviews at the combine and that list included the Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, and Philadelphia Eagles, to name a few. I had a bunch of informals as well. I’ve met with a lot of teams, man.
JM: There’s a lot of interest in you and it’s easy to see why. How would you describe your pass rush arsenal? What do you consider to be your go-to moves and counters?
AW: My set of go-to moves may differ based on my weekly opponent. It depends on who we’re playing against. I’m comfortable switching it up every week if I have to. I look to identify certain tells on tape throughout the week of film study. I love using the cross-chop on certain offensive tackles. I love the bull rush and swipe moves as well. Those are the top three moves in my pass-rushing arsenal currently. It all depends on the offensive tackles really.
JM: Your arsenal really pops on tape. If you could hand-select the quarterback to be the victim of your first career sack, who would you choose and why?
AW: I would definitely say Tom Brady now that he’s back (laughs). It was Brady at first, and then he retired. Then it was Lamar Jackson, and when Brady announced he was coming back, it became Brady again (laughs). Jackson was the backup plan.
Watching Brady throughout my life, the reason I choose him is because of the type of person he is. He’s won so many championships. Watching him throughout my childhood, I always appreciated the way he treats his teammates. He’s a special person beyond what he’s accomplished on the field.
JM: You clearly put some thought into that. I love that. You had a backup plan ready to go when Brady retired for 40 days (laughs). Having played at UAB, some people are going to refer to you as a “small school prospect.” How do you typically respond to that?
AW: People don’t realize that most NFL players actually come from small schools. They don’t all go to Alabama or Georgia. If you’re a good football player, the NFL is gonna find you regardless. They have scouts, eyes, and ears everywhere. The NFL will always identify talent no matter where it comes from. It doesn’t matter if you come from a Power 5 school or a Group of 5 school. They’ll find you. If you can play football on tape, you’ll receive an opportunity. That’s how I feel about that.
JM: That’s the honest truth. How do you think playing in UAB’s defense helped prepare you for the next level?
AW: I’m extremely confident in the type of coaching and constructive criticism I received throughout my time at UAB. I had an excellent coaching staff throughout my entire tenure at UAB. That staff recruited me and they really spoke of my continued development and brought that into existence. They believed in me and I felt the love they had for me. I believed in the process and they always worked with me. They always filled me with confidence. That’s really how I look at it. I have to give all of the credit to my coaching staff.
JM: That’s a terrific answer and we love to hear such positive stories regarding a relationship between prospect and coaching staff. I’ve really appreciated your time today. What kind of impact is Alex Wright going to make at the next level?
AW: I’m going to make the impact that only Alex Wright is capable of making. I'm not trying to be anybody but myself. I watch a lot of film and I might model my game after certain players, but I’m my own player and my own man at the end of the day. I’m going to play to the best of my abilities and put my best foot forward. When I get drafted, the journey is just beginning. It’s not the end of the process. I plan to achieve a whole bunch of goals in the NFL. Whichever team drafts me is going to get the best version of Alex Wright.
Alex Wright reminds me a lot of Jordan Smith whom came out last year, I think he's 2 years away from making any impact...I thought he would go more 4/5 of the draft...but we shall see, definitely was a need and hopefully he can contribute as a wave.
Players who have not played a down in the NFL and already their careers are over.
Wow we sure stink and that Berry guy must be some kind of mor on.
I'm not going to comment on the pick because I really don't know enough about the kid as of now.
But we have just as many people on here who give this FO and coaching staff a free pass on every move they make. As much as I hate to break the bad news to you, everyone is human. Nobody bats 1000. None of this FO or coaching staff are Gods. They will make mistakes just like every other human being does. Are some too negative and giving them crap over everything? Certainly. Are there people who also give them a free pass and make excuses for everything they do? Certainly.
I think the Browns have a very solid FO and coaching staff. But blindly supporting every move they make is not really any different than criticizing every move they make.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
His video was good. I just hope he was not a developmental player (project) with great measurable but raw the front office will ask the coaching staff to create a player from the measurable s. Everytime the Browns attempt that it fails. I would rather draft football players instead of projects.
Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
We are all just fans. Nobody on this Board is employed in the NFL.
All fans can hate or love any player, coach, GM, owner, water boy. No problem.
For any of us to think we know as much about the draft as Berry is comical. He did not rise to the level he is on a bs resume.
He had to prove it and earn his way. These decisions are not easy. They are poured over. Careers are on the line.
Of course they be will wrong at times. The draft is not a science. However, it is not from lack of information and study. It is the nature of the beast.
But a good GM is making decisions from a well thought out plan and as much information as can be gathered.
IMO we are fortunate as Browns fans to have Berry as our GM.
I think it is odd to have a message board and be told not to make comments on it. I don't see people saying they know more about football than Berry, but what the hell is the point of having a Brown's message board if we are chided for giving our opinions? It's okay to have different takes on things. Honest discourse leads to good discussion and people can learn. I feel it's wrong to attack people for speaking their football opinions. We have too many posters who feel the need to attack those who don't agree w/their own opinions. And no, I am not including you in that group, but it's a freaking message board about the Browns. You may have an opinion about a player, coach, FO dude, the owner, etc that I disagree with, but I am not going to try and get you to stop giving your opinion on that particular person. Honest discourse should be celebrated and nourished and censorship and insults should be discouraged .......you know.......in my opinion.
Jesus, I think I have to change my ideas on how good he is after that video. It was designed to make him look good, but damn, he looked terrible. Plays really high and that is a no-no in the NFL. Doesn't play w/the outside--in technique that all good high school programs teach from middle school on up. Relies way too much on athleticism. Gets dominated at the point of attack when engaged.
Damn it! That video was damming even though I don't think the dude who made it intended it to be.
Unfortunately that's the difference in talent you get from 44 to 78 ... hopefully we can coach him up and he becomes a good player for us in a couple of seasons.
Jesus, I think I have to change my ideas on how good he is after that video. It was designed to make him look good, but damn, he looked terrible. Plays really high and that is a no-no in the NFL. Doesn't play w/the outside--in technique that all good high school programs teach from middle school on up. Relies way too much on athleticism. Gets dominated at the point of attack when engaged.
Damn it! That video was damming even though I don't think the dude who made it intended it to be.
In his defense, he was a 210 lb wide receiver in high school and started out as a TE at UAB. He definitely does need to play with better pad level. Fortunately, I think this staff does try to spend a good amount of time going "back to the basics."
The fluidity and stringing moves together is nice. He is still "growing into his body" and should get stronger. Clean up the technique and we could have something.
Hopefully Clowney is back and he can learn from him and Myles without being fully relied upon early.
Edit: May have had some facts wrong. Might have converted to DE late in high school. Trying to track down where I picked that WR/TE nugget up from. Not sure if it came from a TDN article that seems to no longer be hosted or one of the interviews. He is still a young guy, only 21. He's 4 months younger than Ojabo.
Last edited by Bull_Dawg; 05/01/2212:09 AM.
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
No doubt this is a pick where analytics had influence in the pick. Everything points to him having the ability but is still a unfinished product. He has the body type and has flashed the skills, is young, and recently underwent a position change.
No doubt the bet is he will continue to rise in his learning curve and turn in to a good finished player. If not, then he becomes just a "guy" as we say.
At his height he should be able to add another 10 lbs or so of sold to his frame easy enough. When he does that added to continued coaching, if he works at it, then we find out his ending point.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
This pick is about scheme fit. This is what they want for DE.
Berry mentioned it in his press conference. He has the size they want for their scheme. He is 6'5" 270lbs.
Woods plays a 4-3.
His DE is often a wide 9. And a 5 technique. There is a closed(strong) or open side(weak). It is basically a single gap scheme that can change with hybrid fronts and can go to 2 gap.
Wright has the potential to develop into this scheme. He will used in rotation till he gets comfortable and earns more reps.
This pick is an example of why continuity in the staff is so important.
Which was my entire point. I understand exactly what you're saying and I agree that Berry is an excellent GM at this point early in his career. My guess is that he will only get better. There is also the ying and yang of it as I mentioned. Some will uphold every move he makes and some will criticize every move he makes. Some will look at each decision on an individual basis and give their opinions on those moves individually. Berry, as with all humans will make mistakes. When and if he leaves the Browns you will see those who point to every mistake he made as evidence of how badly he sucked. You will see others point to every success he had as to how great he was here. Like it or dislike it that's the way things go on a message board.
I'm not so much disagreeing with you as I am trying to show you there's two sides to every coin. In this case possibly three sides.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
In his defense, he was a 210 lb wide receiver in high school and started out as a TE at UAB. He definitely does need to play with better pad level. Fortunately, I think this staff does try to spend a good amount of time going "back to the basics."
The fluidity and stringing moves together is nice. He is still "growing into his body" and should get stronger. Clean up the technique and we could have something.
Hopefully Clowney is back and he can learn from him and Myles without being fully relied upon early.
Edit: May have had some facts wrong. Might have converted to DE late in high school. Trying to track down where I picked that WR/TE nugget up from. Not sure if it came from a TDN article that seems to no longer be hosted or one of the interviews. He is still a young guy, only 21. He's 4 months younger than Ojabo.
BACKGROUND: Alexander “Alex” Wright grew up in the small town of Elba (population less than 4,000) in southeastern Alabama and started playing football in the second grade. His focus switched from sports to music in middle school, giving up football for band (woodwind instruments). Wright attended Elba High and started playing basketball as a freshman and then returned to football as a sophomore. Wright played both ways as a wide receiver on offense and edge rusher on defense. As a senior, he led Elba to an 8-3 season and earned All-District honors on defense with 63 tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks on defense, adding 15 catches for 266 yards and three touchdowns on offense. Wright lettered in basketball through his junior year (averaged 11.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game) and also played on the AAU circuit.
A three-star recruit out of high school, Wright was the No. 116 strongside defensive end in the 2019 recruiting class and the No. 73 recruit in the state of Alabama. Playing in the lowest classification in Alabama, his recruitment was more gradual than instant, picking up steam after attending several recruiting camps. Florida Atlantic offered him at tight end, and several ACC programs (Duke, Louisville, Virginia and Wake Forest) offered him on defense. But he developed a close bond with UAB linebackers coach Nick Gentry and committed to the Blazers because it “felt like family.” Wright decided to skip his senior season and enter the 2022 NFL Draft.
Last edited by Milk Man; 05/01/2201:29 PM. Reason: I don't know why it's posting choppy like that. Oh well!
15 reps on the bench is real weak for a DE, wild that he is 271lbs with that thin an upper body. Size and wing span are solid.
15 reps means he needs an entire year in the weight room.
They better be signing Clowney because his size and measurables give him potential....he's not strong enough to be anything close to a fulltime player yet.
My concern with this pick is that he put up all his sacks against small schools like Texas-San Antonio, Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion. I read in one of the draft write ups on him that when UAB played Georgia that their TEs were able to block him one on one.
He got injured and didn’t complete his bench press.
Here's hoping that he didn't get injured BECAUSE he was trying to do too much for his strength level (e.g. over straining already after only 15 reps) and more because it was just a freak thing to happen
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
My concern with this pick is that he put up all his sacks against small schools like Texas-San Antonio, Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion. I read in one of the draft write ups on him that when UAB played Georgia that their TEs were able to block him one on one.
That's good information to consider provided it's accurate. I have reason to believe that you would not fabricate such a thing. I'll be watching him at the point of attack closely.
My concern with this pick is that he put up all his sacks against small schools like Texas-San Antonio, Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion. I read in one of the draft write ups on him that when UAB played Georgia that their TEs were able to block him one on one.
That's good information to consider provided it's accurate. I have reason to believe that you would not fabricate such a thing. I'll be watching him at the point of attack closely.
They didn't have the TE's block him one on one very much. Here's the full game:
Alex (#16) had a couple decent plays but nothing to write home about. Jamaree Salyer planted Wright pretty good once early, but he didn't look out of place after that. The UAB secondary got toasted early and often. Definitely not his best tape, but Georgia steamrolled the UAB team early. The Bulldogs out athleted the secondary and were chucking it deep to wide open receivers first few drives. Not much time to get into a rythm on one and two play drives. Gave up 3 TDs of over 60 yds.
Wright was able to push the Georgia TE (#19) 2 yards into the backfield when single blocked. When "handled" one on one, it's hard to know his responsibility. They ran inside him a couple times when it looked like he was setting the outside edge against the TE. He wasn't getting knocked back by them or anything.
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
Still not sure how I feel about the pick. I don't think the way he was predominantly used at UAB is how we'll use him. The few plays I've seen him in a 3 point stance it looked rather awkward and almost like they were having him 2-gap. Hopefully we'll have him attacking more, as that looks like where he is most effective.
Definitely hope we're bringing Clowney back. Kid could be good, but he's got a lot to learn/get comfortable with.
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
If you don't mind, will you post your thoughts on I. Thomas on his thread? I watched a few videos and he looked good to me, but I have very limited data base.
Definitely hope we're bringing Clowney back. Kid could be good, but he's got a lot to learn/get comfortable with.
Just spitballing an idea that struck me, here, but I have to wonder if he isn't going to sign relatively soon-ish... delayed so as not to affect the Compensatory Pick formulas.
Appendix V of the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement contains the binding bylaws of the compensatory pick system. App. V, §1 explains the basics as follows:
[A] Compensatory Free Agent (“CFA”) shall be defined as an Unrestricted Free Agent (“UFA”) who: (i) signed with a new Club during the prior free agency signing period […] prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Monday following the NFL Draft for that League Year1 […]; and (ii) ranked within the top 35%2 of all League players […]. Clubs that lose to other Clubs a greater number of CFAs than they sign or acquire from other Clubs shall be eligible to receive a Compensatory Draft Selection in the College Draft to be held in the following League Year subject to the provisions set forth below.
So, if I am reading this correctly, only Unrestricted Free Agents whose contracts expired and UFA's who are signed between the start of the league year Free Agency period and the Monday following the Draft are included in the compensatory pick formula.
So, Clowney's contract expired, so he counts as a loss. Him not signing until after yesterday basically means that getting him back doesn't count in a way that cancels out his loss.
Berry gaming the system, again???
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
That was my first thought when reading that. I certainly don't know all these intricacies, but it would seem that re-signing would nullify any comp picks regardless.
Well, his re-signing will happen outside the window that applies to signings that impact the formula, so I was thinking perhaps it may not count as a re-signing for the formula... an exploitable loophole.
I reckon I need to dig up the rest of the current CBA and read further.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.