Alex Wright’s world went into slow-motion when the Browns selected him with the No. 78 pick in the third round April 29. The defensive end with great size (6-foot-5, 267 pounds), a developing body (he’s only 21) and untapped potential had agonized over whether to leave the University of Alabama at Birmingham after a junior season disrupted by injuries.
The call from a Cleveland area code on the second night of the draft validated the decision.
“It was like a movie. I’m not even going to lie,” Wright said after arriving at team headquarters for rookie minicamp in May. “My heart was thumping, everything was just quiet and I was just like tunnel vision on the phone call.
“And I couldn’t stop cheesin’ from ear to ear. I was just happy because I finally reached my dream. Now I just gotta keep living my dream.”
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William Moguel was at the small draft party in Alabama. He’s known Wright since he was a kid and their relationship had grown beyond coach-player to family. Wright’s over-the-moon reaction to hearing his name called didn’t surprise Moguel in the least.
“That’s exactly who he is,” Moguel told The Chronicle-Telegram in a phone interview. “He was smiling the whole time.”
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Changes in attitude
Wright’s energy is undeniable.
He wasn’t always so effervescent and optimistic. After conversations with Moguel, he took a hard look inward.
“I just sat myself down one day and was, look, you can’t be focusing on this, you’ve got to focus on that. I used to focus on what I couldn’t control and that used to bother me a lot,” Wright told The Chronicle. “We agree I matured so much since then, just being able to look at the big picture. Instead of just focusing on the negative, I would focus on the positive more.”
The internal heart-to-heart came at UAB and reset his priorities.
“I would take football serious but I would hold the women and the video games up to that same standard,” he said. “So at that point I realized if I want to get to the NFL then I’ve got to stop doing certain things that I was doing.”
Wright was a second-team All-Conference USA selection last season after playing through ankle and thumb interviews to start eight of 12 games and total 46 tackles, seven sacks, three pass breakups and two forced fumbles. In 31 games at UAB, he had 91 tackles, 11.5 sacks, five pass breakups, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
He hoped and believed he’d be picked by the third round, and one of the reasons for Wright’s excitement at being chosen by the Browns was a connection he felt during a predraft visit to Berea. He’s back with the rookies and quarterbacks for training camp, and the first full-squad practice is Wednesday.
“It was really genuine. You could tell that it was from the heart and that they meant what they said,” he said on draft night. “It felt like that was my home. They never made me feel anything negative. It was always positive.”
Moguel sees the switch in mindset as a sign of maturity.
“He has grown into that,” he said. “He used to let some little things bother him, but he has truly grown out of that. When I talk to him now, he’s like, ‘Coach, I’m not even worried about that.’ He’s looking for all the positive things in life now and he’s trying to just move on and better himself day by day.”
Role model
Wright needed time — and Moguel — to make the adjustment. Wright grew up without a father.
“He disappeared before birth,” he said. “I can talk about it now. I accepted it, my mom accepted it and I don’t really trip about it. I’m obviously doing better things without him.”
Wright piles credit on his mom, Aretha, calling her his “rock.” He also is grateful for Miguel, who went way beyond head basketball coach and assistant football coach at Elba High School in Alabama.
“Me and him connected,” Wright said. “He was a military person, so he would coach about little things. He showed me how much they matter. “I would be at his house every day after school and after practice. That was my second home. So even though he wasn’t that biological piece, he still found a way to instill that with me, so I always looked at him as a father.”
Wright is good friends with Moguel’s daughter and considers his son, Ryan, a “little brother.” The bonds run deep.
“He just basically became like another son to me,” Moguel said. “Just kind of was being the male figure in his life, trying to stay on him, make sure he was doing the right things.
“The biggest thing for me was just watching him grow into the man he is now. His mother has done an outstanding job with him, but Alex just matured over the years. He’s a remarkable young man and he’s grown into a great young man.”
One driven to overcome his humble beginnings and succeed in the NFL. Elba is in southeast Alabama, had a population of less than 4,000 in 2019 and the city’s Facebook page celebrated Wright’s youth football camp July 18 in his hometown.
“I always wanted to be the person that sets the standard, not in my family, but also where I’m from,” Wright said. “Everybody looks at me now, ‘You made history. You’re the first person to get drafted.’ But I don’t see that. I just see the fact that I hope younger kids look up to me and just strive. It’s not just big for me and my family, but it’s also big for my hometown.”
Wright’s talent was brilliant enough to get him a ticket out of Elba and to stand out at often-overlooked UAB.
“This guy’s from a small town, but he’s not small town,” Bill Clark, who unexpectedly retired in June as UAB coach, told The Chronicle. “And what I mean by that is really all the good qualities you like from a small-town guy but yet he’s been in a big setting with us and played in big games.
“He’s going to really care about his teammates. He’s going to want to play for Cleveland, and all the things really that you want as an organization, a coach, a teammate, that’s really who this guy is.”
Learning from the best
The Browns drafted Wright because they’re confident he isn’t done growing physically or as a player. He’ll start off in a rotation at end — behind All-Pro Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, who were No. 1 overall picks — and possibly rush from the inside on third down.
“He came into UAB at 210 pounds. He is 270 pounds now. Yeah, he still has room to grow,” assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook said during the draft. “There is a lot of clay to work with there. We are excited about what he could be.”
The Browns think he has natural pass-rush ability and the size to set the edge against the run. With Clowney re-signing as a free agent, the coaches should be able to develop Wright at a measured pace and without too much pressure.
“He was really a favorite across the organization — scouts, coaches and our research and strategy group,” GM Andrew Berry said. “We love his frame. We love his ability to rush the passer. He is very driven, he is very smart and a very humble individual. He is a perfect scheme fit for our defense.”
The Browns forecast Wright as their “ideal big end” in years to come, starting opposite Garrett and rushing the passer from outside and inside. Wright has been bursting with the thought of playing with Garrett and picking his brain.
“He’s a sponge,” Clark said.
“Myles might tie him up,” Moguel joked. “Because he’s going to ask questions and he’s going to try to get as much as he can out of him because I know he wants to be as successful as Myles is. That’s just his goal.”
Garrett welcomed Wright during the offseason program and they should only grow closer as they hit it off away from the field. Wright played saxophone and clarinet in high school before quitting the band for football and enjoys drawing — cars, things from his dreams, science fiction — and science. Garrett is a dinosaur fanatic, a poet, a supporter of the arts and a lover of a variety of music.
“Just having the same taste, it should build chemistry between me and him,” Wright said.
Just like Garrett, he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed.
“How I am is just different bubbles that connects to one big dot,” Wright said. “I’m full of mystery. People can say I’m hard to read a little bit, I personally don’t see that. When I’m on the football field, everything shuts off and I’m focused on tunnel vision. That’s really how it is in my life overall, just a switch.”
He’s brought all of himself to the Browns.
“There’s so much more to this guy that meets the eye and it’s going be good for people to get to see that side of him,” Clark said.
