Making it to the NFL is a difficult enough feat, but for many players, it's getting that second contract that signifies truly "making it" in the pros. 

Add defensive end Alex Wright to the list of guys who made it. After inking a three-year, $33 million extension with the Cleveland Browns this week, Wright admitted that the thought of making it to a second contract made him emotional. 

"Life changing," Wright said of the deal. "I was just on the phone with my mom earlier. We was just reminiscing about being back in high school and my grandfather (Eldridge Lawrence) who passed away my second year in the league. He was just saying stuff like, you go to the league and he quote unquote, you want to make the big bucks, big bucks?"

On the day Wright finally made "the big bucks" that memory felt extra heavy. 

"He had a stroke. He couldn't really talk. So just seeing that, the first thing I thought about was him, and it made me emotional on the practice field," he said. "I started crying. It's just like, wow, this is really life changing. But I'm still in disbelief right now."

Several weeks prior to signing the extension, Wright was the subject of some trade rumors leading up to the NFL trade deadline. With the 2022 third-round pick playing in the final year of his rookie deal, Cleveland certainly could have considered flipping him for draft capital. 

Instead, three weeks later, they invested in keeping him, guaranteeing him $21 million of the $33 million he signed for. Wright was well aware of his option. Free agency was calling in just a few months. But for him, Cleveland was where he wanted to be. 

"Of course, it's a tough call," he admitted. "I want to say kind of like picking a school to go to for college and stuff like that. I looked at it just about the same. I don't want to go to free agency. I want to stay here because, just the defense that we have, I feel like those are my brothers. I grew up here." 

The guy he plays opposite of helped make the decision even easier. 

"I grew up with learning from Myles [Garrett], and still get to play with Myles and stuff like that. So just developing, just being across from him, it's kind of like, I don't want to play with nobody else," he explained.

There's someone else who Wright didn't want to leave either. 

"And then being under Coach [Jim] Schwartz type of defense, this defense is made for me," he said. "And that's something that me and Coach Schwartz talked about when he first got here. And our first conversation was, 'I'm going to make you into a star. I'm going to develop you, I'm going to push you.' ... I remember it like it was yesterday. So just for it to come to fruition, just me taking the path and just being hungry, especially coming off the injury last year and it's just like, here."

Last year, Wright suffered a torn triceps early in the season and wound up on the IR after nust four games. It came at the worst possible time too, after Wright delivered a game-sealing sack in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Two weeks later his season was over, just as it felt like Wright was emerging as that player Schwartz hoped he could become. 

"Alex has played really good football for us and just been derailed by a couple injuries, most notably the one last year, and was really being productive," Schwartz said. "We really missed Alex last year."

The setback became a rallying cry for Wright to return better than ever in 2025. It, quite literally, paid off. 

"It just shows the fact that they believe in me and I'm not mad at them for believing me," he said. "They put they all into me. They didn't have to draft me, they didn't have to throw me into the fire. They could have got somebody else my rookie year. But I learned just being out there physically, I learned going against people like Joel [Bitonio], Jack [Conklin], Dawand [Jones] just people just being a sponge and stuff like that. So it is just surreal right now, man. It's very surreal." 

So far this season, Wright has compiled 24 tackles including three sacks and a career-high nine tackles for loss. There's a forced fumble as well. He was on pace for a career-year before a quad injury forced him out of action for two straight weeks. 

His presence has been felt beyond just the raw stats, though. Wright has cemented himself as a productive member of Cleveland's d-line. Nobody sees his contributions more than the man who promised to make him a star. 

"Number one, he is a physical presence in the run game. He’s got great size, Schwartz said. "You know, some of our best plays on the edge are Alex taking on pullers and knocking tight ends back. And, those are things we really value. And he’s rushed really well for us, too, and been a good complement."

Wright may fly under the radar on a defensive line headlined by the greatest defensive player in football. But on both sides of the ball, it takes a collective effort in the trenches. 

"You know, a lot of times we look at individual performances. It’s hard to ignore Myles’ individual performance," added Schwartz. "But when it’s all said and done, D-line has a lot of, like, O-line components to it in that it’s the production of the group."

Wright's role along what's one of the best defensive lines in football is now guaranteed for the foreseeable future.