OL Jeremiah Wright emotional about Saints opportunity

By Ross Jackson

There was no hiding the impact of the NFL Draft results for one player. New Orleans Saints’ fourth-round selection out of Auburn, offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright, didn’t hide the emotions that he felt after being picked No. 132 overall by the Saints. 

During his introductory media availability with the local media, Wright was forthcoming about how much the team’s selection meant to him and what he hopes to turn their belief in him into. 

“(I’m) blessed,” he said through tears. “Thank God, thank the organization, everybody for taking a chance on a kid from Selma (Alabama). Ready to get to work.”

Wright will have some development ahead of him upon arriving in New Orleans, but he’s got a strong foundation to start. At 6-foot-5 and 331 pounds with undeniable strength, he has the physical profile and violent play style that coaches will love. 

He is coming to the pros with a clear expectation of where he’s already at his current best, but also the tweaks he wants to make to take his game to the next level. 

“My strength’s being a dominant run blocker,” he said. “Being able to move people. Just be me, be violent, be a bully. Things I know I have to work on: just pass game protection and just fixing those little things like that.”

The Auburn guard has experience at a handful of positions dating back to his collegiate days. He started as a tight end and then moved to offensive tackle. Upon joining the Auburn Tigers, he was on the defensive line before moving to guard, where he started 24 consecutive games over the last two years. 

He told the story of how (and why) he played tight end for only a day in a moment of levity through an otherwise emotional conversation. 

“I don’t know if it was the quarterback or if I…” Wright joked. “My little five-yard out or slant or something like that. Out of three passes I probably dropped one. But my coach… I was a big guy. I was probably like 315, 305.”

That one day at tight end, when his coach decided to move him to tackle, set off the chain of events that eventually led him to his name being called in the NFL Draft. Now he gets to see that through on a Saints roster that won’t rush him into action and that will instead allow him to develop and provide quality depth behind the line of starters. 

However, Wright will be a name to track throughout his rookie contract. He has a lot of promising talent and traits. Both of which could lead him to eventually competing for a starting job as eventual changes happen along the line in future years.