When the Bears faced Carolina in last season’s playoffs, they had serious problems blocking one Panther in particular on special teams. Dante Wesley seemed to tackle Bears returners at will, so the Bears did what any NFL team would do: They signed him as an unrestricted free agent. In Chicago he has become part of the NFL’s No. 1 special-teams unit. Wesley attended Watson Chapel High School in Pine Bluff, Ark., made the University of Arkansas team as a freshman walk-on, then transferred closer to home and was a three-year starter at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
If you could meet one person in all of history, who would it be? What one question would you ask?
It would be Jesus Christ. All the people who did get to meet him aren’t alive to tell the story. They’ve gone home. If I meet him, then I’m already gone. I’d like to ask about life in general, all of creation: “How did the whole thing start?”
What’s the best advice you ever got?
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Keep your eyes on the prize and stay focused. That’s not just football; that’s in life, period. And keep God first. My mother was the first to tell me that, and it’s always been true.
Other than a family member, who has been the most influential person in your life?
My wife Renetta. That’s technically a family member, but she’s from outside the family. She keeps me motivated, keeps me on point, keeps me grounded. We’ve been married three years, but she’s influenced me from college on into this league.
You have a degree in general studies and business management. If you weren’t in football, what would you most want to be doing?
Physical therapy of some kind, probably working with athletes. I love that. I’d love to be a trainer. I took some classes in that in college, and it was something I liked very much.
What’s the biggest hurdle you overcame to get here?
I would say it’s been coming from a small school and having to prove yourself every year. You are always an underdog.