Rome Odunze is not waiting around to be handed the next step. With the Chicago Bears sorting through a crowded pass-catching room and D.J. Moore gone, the former first-round pick is already studying the traits that can help him become the guy.
On Cam Newton’s 4th&1 show, Odunze said he has been studying Davante Adams, Julio Jones, and Puka Nacua as he prepares for next season.
“I looked up to guys like Davante Adams, Julio Jones, I was even watching some Puka (Nacua) film from last year, especially at the catch point,” Odunze said. “I want to be better at the catch point this year when it comes to contested catches, catching in stride, and all of those different things.
Making the quarterback look good when I need to… When it might be a go-make-a-play play, I want to make that play. I watch film on all of those guys and continue to study that and I’ll display that this season, for sure.”
That focus makes sense. Odunze’s hands have been steady enough - he dropped just five passes in 2025, the same total he had as a rookie. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), his drop rates were 8.5 percent and 9.4 percent in those two seasons.
The bigger issue has been the tougher grabs. As a rookie, he caught 13 of 20 contested targets, a 72.2 percent success rate.
Last season, that number fell to seven of 20, or 35 percent. Three of his targets in those situations also turned into interceptions.
That’s the area Odunze is targeting, and it’s the right one. Caleb Williams can make every throw in the book, but the Bears are expected to try to slow things down and make life easier for him next season. That puts even more value on receivers who can win at the catch point and bail their quarterback out when the play breaks down.
Odunze has the frame and the ball skills to do it. He’s big, strong, sturdy, and has the kind of catch radius that gives a quarterback a real margin for error. If he tightens up that part of his game, Chicago’s passing attack gets even more dangerous.
The Bears were one of the league’s most electric teams last season, and expectations are only going up in year two of the Ben Johnson era. They have enough talent to make defenses uncomfortable all over the field. But talent has to be sharpened somewhere, and Odunze is trying to do that work now by studying the best.
Iron sharpens iron, and if he carries that approach into 2026, it could matter for the entire wide receiver room.
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