LAKE FOREST, Sick. — Days earlier than the NFL draft in April, Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was starting to construct chemistry along with his high three huge receivers in a exercise he organized in Los Angeles.
Understanding that he would quickly be chosen by the Bears with the No. 1 general choose (which normal supervisor Ryan Poles confirmed was the crew’s choice after Williams’ top-30 go to), the previous USC quarterback invited veterans DJ Moore and Keenan Allen to a throwing session close to the place he lives and trains in Southern California.
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Rome Odunze, the Washington receiver who led FBS with 1,640 yards as a consensus first-team All-American, was additionally within the space coaching and received the invite from Williams to make it a four-person exercise.
Nobody could possibly be sure on the time that Odunze would grow to be the third member of this receiver trio, however even within the second, Moore felt a way of serendipity.
“I had the offense for a number of days, so I sort of knew the whole lot that was happening with the offense, the ins and outs of it,” Moore stated. “So, once I received on the market, I used to be simply serving to [Williams] alongside, he was asking questions, Rome was asking questions. I used to be like, ‘Do y’all know one thing we do not know out right here and also you’re each coming?'”
The Bears’ plans to bolster their huge receiver room even additional after buying and selling for Allen in March meant utilizing the No. 9 general choose on Odunze. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound wideout was a participant the Bears needed to have, a lot in order that Poles needed to be talked out of buying and selling up for him by assistant normal supervisor Ian Cunningham after fearing that Odunze wouldn’t be accessible when Chicago was again on the clock after taking Williams at No. 1.
Odunze, who in his youth would spend hours watching Devin Hester punt return highlights on YouTube, was the third receiver taken, after Arizona chosen Marvin Harrison Jr. and the Giants drafted Malik Nabers.
How seamlessly he would match into Chicago’s receiving corps and what he would imply for Williams’ improvement as an NFL quarterback was obvious to Poles from the time he watched Odunze dazzle for 120 yards and two touchdowns towards Washington State final November.
It did not take lengthy for Odunze’s new teammates to come back to that very same conclusion.
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“He is been with the 1s proper off the bat,” Allen stated in June. “He is working round fairly good. His routes — he is aware of what he is doing — his tasks.
“… We’ve not even received to coaching camp and he already sort of is aware of the place to go, the place to line up, the place to be at. In order that’s large.”
Incorporating Odunze right into a place group with Moore, who posted a career-best 1,364 receiving yards in 2023, and Allen, who in his eleventh NFL season topped 1,243 yards (the second most of his profession), creates a stage of power the Bears have not seen from their huge receiver unit for the reason that 2012 season, when Chicago boasted a top-five passing offense that includes Professional Bowl receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey.
The abundance of riches Chicago now boasts is an anomaly. Exterior of Moore, no Bears huge receiver had greater than 414 receiving yards or one landing in 2023.
“I went from I do not know who was right here [to] now you bought Keenan, Rome, you bought Velus [Jones Jr.], you bought Tyler [Scott],” Moore stated. “You bought infinite playmakers in there. Like I stated, it is in all probability going to be a race to 1,000 [yards] now. I do not know who’s going to get there first, however it may be a race.”
Odunze is predicted to be firmly in that blend. As soon as coaching camp practices start Saturday, the Bears can additional the method of forming numerous roles for his or her high wideouts.
How rapidly Odunze picked up the offense throughout OTAs and minicamp will enable the Bears to proceed so as to add extra to the rookie’s workload in camp.
Whereas gamers stretched in the course of the second day of obligatory minicamp in June, coach Matt Eberflus approached Odunze to inquire concerning the rookie’s plans to proceed his studying course of over the summer season.
“He likes to really go on the sector and recite the play and put himself within the place and the movement and the route as a part of his conditioning,” Eberflus stated. “I feel that is a extremely great way for him, and I feel that was actually mature on his half to have the ability to really discern and perceive how he learns finest. I feel he is aware of himself very well. Very mature for his age. He is an exquisite teammate and he’ll be thrilling to observe.”
On the end result of his first six weeks with the Bears, Odunze laid out his summer season plans, which included a cease again at residence in Las Vegas to go to household and pals, a few of whom could be put to activity to assist the rookie additional his schooling on Chicago’s offense.
Odunze stated his mother and father would keep it up their custom of serving to him grasp an offensive set up by calling out performs — even outdoor in 115 diploma Vegas warmth — whereas the receiver goals to grasp the Bears’ route tree.
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“I’ve some habits that I love to do in the course of the offseason,” he stated. “I like to get the playbooks, get the installs, and I like to go on the market and simply run by way of the routes, the route tree and have my mother or my dad or any person say the playcall to me, and I am going line up or exit and run the route.”
That course of was essential for Odunze’s improvement in changing into one in every of faculty soccer’s high huge receivers and a top-10 choose within the draft, preparation he believes will contribute to creating an early affect as a rookie.
“I feel my identify’s going to be known as in these massive moments,” Odunze stated. “I really feel assured in that, and I feel I’ve the arrogance and the power to make these performs after they come up and when my identify is known as. I feel it is one thing you simply put together for.
“It is like Kobe [Bryant] all the time [said], he by no means took a shot within the recreation that he hadn’t took a thousand instances in observe. And I feel that is actually true. We go on the market and we observe tremendous exhausting and put ourselves in robust conditions, so after we get within the recreation it feels such as you’re there within the current doing all of your job.”