Odunze excited to learn from Allen, Moore in Chicago |
At No. 9 overall, the Chicago Bears selected wide receiver Rome Odunze out of Washington. Regarded as one of the best receivers in the draft, Odunze adds to Chicago’s receiving room to give them perhaps the best trio in the league.
Odunze, who comes in with two veterans at his position, is seeking to learn from Keenan Allen and DJ Moore. “I’m hoping to learn a lot. They’ve been in the league for a bit and been veterans in the league, doing well for themselves for a long time. So, suck up all the information that I can and learn from them and hopefully go out there and make some plays too. I just came from a wide receiver field that was able to have a lot of success at my college. So, I think we can just do the exact same thing, but at the next level,” Odunze said. “The possibilities are endless. When you look at Keenan’s game, how complete it is, when you look at DJ Moore and how he’s able to compete in the league at a high level for a long time, the possibilities are endless on what I’m going to be able to learn and that’s why I (said) I’m going to go in there and suck up all the information that I can and learn as much as I can from them because they’re already two very established, very elite receivers in the league.” One benefit for Odunze is that he has already gotten experience working with his teammates Allen and Moore, as well as rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, whom Chicago selected first overall, in a group workout prior to the draft. “It was a great workout, just four of us getting better, working on our craft and that’s exactly what it was. I see that Keenan’s smooth. I see how explosive DJ is, and I see that Caleb can sling that ball wherever he chooses,” Odunze said. “So, super excited to work with that group now officially, and I think we can do special things.” Odunze has always been an ambitious player with high expectations for himself. Setting goals is part of his definition of success. In his meetings with Chicago, he also recognized the Bears’ high expectations coming to the end of their rebuild, as both parties share the desire to win a Super Bowl. “I think success for me is setting goals, setting accomplishments that you want to make and striving toward those things and continuing to see progress toward those things from long-term goals to short-term goals, seeing the progress and going toward those things. And for me, that’s exactly what it’ll be in Chicago,” Odunze said. “Chicago’s continued to develop, continued to get better as a team and the goal for them, I already know, is a Super Bowl. So, we’re going to make strides towards that, to have that success and we’ll build brick by brick to go accomplish that.” A final added benefit for Odunze is joining a team with his former college teammate, cornerback Kyler Gordon. The two played for the Washington Huskies in 2020 and 2021. Since Gordon came to Chicago, Odunze has communicated with him through social media, and they also connected during the draft process. “He’s wished me luck many times and when I visited Chicago on my visit, he said, ‘I hope you enjoy the city. I hope you’re enjoying your time’ and I told him it was a great visit. I’ve always commented on his posts and got him looking like Spider-Man with all his flips and stuff. So, I always comment on those things because he was doing the exact same thing in college. So, happy to be joining him, and I know he’s a great person as well, so I’m super excited.”
