Rookie WR Odunze eager to learn from Bears' veteran duo

LAKE FOREST – Chicago Bears rookie receiver Rome Odunze walked into the media center at Halas Hall and stepped up to the podium. It was time to answer questions about his first NFL training camp.

But first, he had to finish watching the play streaming on his tablet. Odunze focused on his tablet for a moment before closing it up and giving reporters his full attention.

Practice ended minutes earlier, but the No. 9 overall draft pick couldn’t wait to watch the film.

“I like to watch it when it’s fresh on my mind just so, one, I can get myself pointers and stuff like that and, two, going into the film room, you can have an idea of what you want to talk about or questions you want to ask to try and get better,” Odunze said.

For a high-level NFL rookie who wants to make an impact immediately, there’s not a second to waste. It’s about a month until Week 1 kicks off. For a player who just two months ago said he was “not where I want to be,” every single day is an opportunity to get better.

On most NFL teams, a wide receiver selected in the draft’s top 10 would be the star offseason addition for an offense. For this 2024 Bears team, which added a quarterback with the first overall pick, traded for a six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver and spent big money on one of the top running backs in free agency, Odunze is nowhere near the highest-profile addition.

In some regard, Odunze is flying under the radar a little bit.

He doesn’t have to be the star receiver on his team, as is the expectation for the two receivers drafted ahead of him (the Arizona Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr. and the New York Giants’ Malik Nabers). Odunze doesn’t have to feel the weight of the franchise on his shoulders when veterans DJ Moore and Keenan Allen are expected to be the top two options in the passing attack, and when much of the fan base’s attention is trained on quarterback Caleb Williams.

But make no mistake, Odunze is not going to take a backseat.

“We just talked about that a week ago, probably – hey, don’t get comfortable being in that role. Like, you should be trying to take these guys’ spot,” Bears wide receivers coach Chris Beatty said.

Beatty noted that while Odunze has tons to learn from Moore and Allen, the rookie should be pushing them as much as they are pushing him.

Allen said that Odunze is “polished” for a rookie.

“You don’t have to teach him how to play receiver,” Allen said. “He came in and he knows how to play the game.”

“You don’t have to teach him how to play receiver,” Allen said. “He came in and he knows how to play the game.”

—  Keenan Allen, Bears wide receiver

That sounds simplistic but Allen was serious. Not all college programs prepare wide receivers well for the NFL.

Beatty credited Odunze’s coaches at Washington for preparing him for the pro game. The scheme that the Huskies ran last season, which led them to the College Football Playoff national championship game, required a lot from the wide receivers. The goal was to stretch the field and there was nothing cookie-cutter or simplistic about the routes that the Huskies asked Odunze to run.

Allen said that Odunze is a better wide receiver as a rookie than he was coming in as a third-round pick with the Chargers in 2013. Allen is an 11-year veteran who has totaled 1,000 yards or more six times in his career. Odunze has plenty he can learn from Allen.

That’s why Odunze is always studying – as evidenced by his eagerness to watch film after practice.

“The process is not too big for him,” Beatty said. “He wants to understand everything about it and he asks a lot of intelligent questions. When he’s in [the film room], he takes notes like nobody’s business. If you look at his notepad, I mean it’s filled up every day. He wants to be great, and that’s what you want.”

So what was the play that Odunze couldn’t wait to watch after practice?

“I was just watching the first 7-on-7 period in the back goal line,” Odunze said. “Had Keenan with the big body catch. Had to go see him do that.”

The rookie is learning everything he can from the vet.