Rome Odunze isn’t playing second fiddle in Chicago

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected wide receiver Rome Odunze ninth overall. While he didn’t have a breakout season, he did pretty decent for a rookie year, catching 54 passes for 734 yards and three touchdowns. And this was despite playing in a struggling offense with poor pass protection.

This year though, he’s expecting a lot more of himself, and he expects the team to feel the same way.

Rome Odunze has bold vision for his role in 2025

Despite sharing the field with veteran star DJ Moore, Odunze told ESPN he believes he deserves to be an option “on every single play” and doesn’t buy into the idea of strict WR1/WR2 roles.

“I think I deserve from what I put on the practice field to be an option on every single play,” Odunze said. “But at the end of the day, in a wide receiver room, I don’t believe in a wide receiver 1, wide receiver 2, I think we all got to come together to have a good wide receiver corps, so I’m just glad to be part of it.”

With new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson calling plays and a rebuilt offensive line protecting quarterback Caleb Williams, expectations are sky-high. Odunze isn’t backing down. He’s embracing the pressure and ready to evolve into the Bears’ go-to receiver. For Chicago, anything short of a breakout year could be seen as a letdown.

“I’m just really just trying to carry that (momentum from last year) over and expand on that within my entire route three, so that’s something that I think I can do well, as well as the contested catches and all those things that I have kind of carried on since college,” Odunze said. “So all those different things, honestly, just looking to expand on and take it to a new level.”

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