Chicago Bears named 'worst' landing spot for Rome Odunze

The Chicago Bears selected University of Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth overall pick of the NFL Draft last Thursday, adding to their ever-growing stable of weapons.

The problem for Odunze is that the Bears may have too many weapons for him to thrive.

Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay has listed Odunze as one of the rookies who ended up in the worst possible situation in terms of likely production in 2024.

Keep in mind that Kay is not saying that Chicago is a bad team or that Odunze will be a bust. He is merely stating that Odunze may have difficulty getting touches in the Bears’ offense, and he has a point.

Chicago entered the offseason with DJ Moore as its lone reliable receiver. It then swung a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers for Keenan Allen, giving the team one of the most lethal one-two punches in football.

Now, the Bears have added Odunze into the mix, and while rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will have a smorgasbord of targets to throw to in his debut campaign, the statistics will probably end up spread out, and Odunze may end up being the odd man out.

Let’s face it: Moore and Allen are already established stars on the NFL level, so Williams will probably feel more secure throwing to them than he would to Odunze next season.

Not only that, but Chicago also has a budding star at tight end in Cole Kmet and signed fellow tight end Gerald Everett—who has caught over 50 passes in each of the last two years—in free agency. Plus, the Bears signed a solid pass-catching running back in D’Andre Swift.

Taking all of that into consideration, you can see why Kay thinks that Odunze may end up getting the short end of the stick in his first NFL season.

We’ll see how Chicago ends up utilizing Rome Odunze in 2024.