Windy City Gridiron
In this series, we look back at the biggest moves from a year ago and review how they have panned out up to this point.
Next up in our 2024 rearview mirror series is Wide Receiver, Rome Odunze.
In a loaded 2024 draft class, particularly for Wide Receivers, Rome Odunze was one of the consensus top three at the position, along with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers. All three players possessed the resume and physical prowess to eventually be WR1s in the league. Prior to trading Justin Fields, many thought the Chicago Bears would consider Marvin Harrison Jr. with their first selection.
But then the Chicago Bears earned the first overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft, and they went after the QB of the future with the top pick. More on that in the final installment of this series.
With the 9th overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, most pundits assumed an offensive lineman like Olu Fashanu or a defensive end like Laiatu Latu or Dallas Turner would be the pick for Chicago, considering the Bears had just traded for future Hall of Famer Keenan Allen. Instead, Bears’ GM Ryan Poles pulled the trigger on the former NCAA yardage leader the year prior in former Washington Husky Rome Odunze.
What appeared to be somewhat of a luxury pick, Ryan Poles selected the decorated wideout and added to the weapons in Chicago. And some weapon was Rome, having just amassed 1.640 yards on 92 catches and 13 TDs with a 17.8 ypc average. Standing 6’3” and weighing over 212 pounds, Odunze then ripped off a 4.45 forty yard dash, 39” vertical 10’4” broad jump, 6.88 three cone drill and 4.03 short shuttle. This was good enough for a 9.92 RAS score which ranked 26th out of 3,188 WR since 1987, courtesy of @MathBomb
Odunze was lauded for his resume and nature both on and off the field, but would there be enough targets to go around as a pro on a team that already included DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Keenan Allen, D’Andre Swift and newly acquired Gerald Everett?
While he did get 101 targets, Rome only caught 54 passes for 734 yards and 3 scores, and while he did lead the team in receiving yards in four games as a rookie, it is fair to ask if he was the best selection for the Bears at the time.
Hindsight is 20/20, and had Poles known Odunze would have been available at 1.09, it is far less likely that he would have traded for Keenan Allen. But what’s done is done, and Rome’s production and involvement were ultimately slowed by the presence of a future HOF on the roster. So was it a good pick? Yes, I think it was, and I am excited to see how Rome fares moving forward. But from a team-building standpoint, selecting a WR over an OL with a rookie QB and two WR1s on the roster already was not the most fool-proof move....
