The Chicago Bears offense is relying on a lot of projection this year to convince people it's about to ascend. Caleb Williams enters his second season, which usually means a sizable bump in production. The offensive line was addressed significantly in both free agency and the draft. They also added another athletic playmaker with tight end Colston Loveland. On top of that, Ben Johnson brings his high-profile expertise from Detroit as the new head coach. Still, the Bears will need bigger contributions from some of the guys already on the roster. Rome Odunze is at the top of that list.
Chicago took him 9th overall in the draft last season. They believe he has superstar potential. Few players have his mix of size, strength, and speed. Put a tireless work ethic on top of that? It feels like success is inevitable. So why are some people lukewarm on him? Most of it stems from his okay-not-great rookie season, where he had 734 yards and three touchdowns. Not enough people have acknowledged the one key difference between last year and this upcoming season.
Pro Football Focus laid it out.
Simply put, there’s far too much talent for the former top 10 pick to grow panicked this early. Looking at Odunze’s underlying metrics, even his rookie year offers optimism given his 72.2% contested catch rate (97th percentile) and 4.8 yards after the catch per reception (67th percentile).
With Keenan Allen leaving Chicago, Odunze should garner even more targets than his 96 a season ago. The same adages about Williams in the Bears’ new-look offense also apply to Odunze. With a more stable infrastructure, better quarterback play and play-caller who knows how to get his top weapons the ball, Odunze should look more like the superstar we saw at Washington.
Rome Odunze doesn't have to worry about Keenan Allen this year.
It feels like much of the fanbase hasn't grasped that the veteran is gone. Last season, Allen ate up 121 targets in the passing game. While he caught seven touchdowns, he only had 744 yards. At times, it felt like the Bears were trying to force-feed him the ball because of his status as a former Pro Bowler. Those 121 targets have to go somewhere else with him out of the picture. A large chunk will be delegated to others like Loveland, Cole Kmet, and Luther Burden. However, Rome Odunze figures to get a healthy share of them.
Don't forget he only caught 54 of the 101 passes thrown his way last season. If Williams is even slightly more accurate with his throws this year, the receiver is going to crack 1,000 yards without breaking a sweat. The question becomes whether he will take over as the true #1 option in the offense instead of D.J. Moore. That is the real discussion we should be having. Just wait.
