The Latest Example Of Darnell Mooney’s Football Obsession Is Wild
Darnell Mooney isn’t a stranger to being ignored. He didn’t get many offers from prominent colleges coming out of high school. That is why he ended up at Tulane. Then despite a productive career, he still only managed to become a 5th round pick in the 2020 draft. No fewer than 24 wide receivers went ahead of him in that class. Experts didn’t think much when the Chicago Bears brought him aboard at 173rd overall. He had some excellent speed. Maybe he’d be a solid deep threat.
It didn’t take long to realize Mooney was far more than that. In a very short time, the rookie went from likely wide receiver #4 or 5 to their second-best target on the team. He broke the Bears’ single-season rookie record with 66 receptions. Then for an encore, he cracked 1,000 yards receiving last season. He did this while having to catch passes from four different quarterbacks. That is not easy to accomplish.
Speed alone doesn’t do that. Not in the NFL.
The reality is Mooney is a far more well-rounded receiver than he gets credit for. That is because he spends an inordinate amount of time working on his craft. People talk about speed and quickness. They don’t recognize how good he’s become as a route-runner. That isn’t by accident. In his latest column, Dan Pompei of The Athletic put into context how insanely driven the Bears receiver is at getting better.
It’s a little past midnight at the Bears’ indoor practice facility.
Most of the lights are off in the Walter Payton Center, and the shadows set a mood.
A Marshmallow speaker sits on the sideline. Coming from it, some Mariah the Scientist, Blxst or Alicia Keys. The sounds echo through the cavernous building.
One man, without company, practices releases and runs routes. He does his drills over and over, breathing hard, sweating, contemplating what he calls the “geometry of routes” — the degrees of his cuts, the angles of defenders, the alignments of coverages…
…Mooney didn’t take a vacation between January and July. In his two years with the Bears, he has gone out at night in Chicago just once. He went to a club only because his quarterback, Justin Fields, set it up.
Darnell Mooney refuses to sit still, and it serves him well.
It is a big reason why he and Justin Fields connected right away. They recognized in each other two football players aiming to be great. So they set about pushing themselves through various competitions to see who could outwork the other. Sometimes Fields won. Other times Mooney did. The underlying point was they were making each other better. That is why their chemistry started to blossom in the second half of last season.
People keep saying the Bears have no weapons on offense. Fields is being hung out to dry. Anybody that watched Darnell Mooney last season and knows his mentality will realize that is a grievous insult. He is a good player on the precipice of becoming a great one. The excuse was always used that his success came from playing with Allen Robinson. In reality, Mooney played two of his three best games last year when A-Rob wasn’t even on the field.
That is why people may not realize what is coming except those who know his work behind the scenes.