Bear Digest

How Bears Have Enjoyed Less Risky Road at Receiver

Analysis: Slight hamstring injury at rookie minicamp aside, Rome Odunze looks like the model citizen and team-oriented guy teams prefer at receiver over divas.

Gene Chamberlain

Rome Odunze got in one healthy practice and his hamstring aside, the Bears can't be displeased with his rookie approach.
Rome Odunze got in one healthy practice and his hamstring aside, the Bears can't be displeased with his rookie approach. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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There are tradeoffs with every draft pick and the Bears clearly liked what they got at ninth overall with wide receiver Rome Odunze.

It was possible they might have had a choice, instead, of LSU receiver Malik Nabers. They eventually had Odunze fall to them and were satisfied it was a value pick, if not a downright steal. In fact, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller called Odunze the best pick of the draft.

In his Monday column, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer cited a few risks with Nabers and it seems the Bears avoided these by getting Odunze instead. They can be happy with the player they got even if he did suffer a slight hamstring injury at the weekend's rookie minicamp.

One big reason it seemed Nabers might fall to the Bears instead of Odunze was a reputation Breer said the LSU receiver had for being "high maintenance."

Wide receivers often get the label of "diva," and it sounds like this was a worry the Giants had with Nabers. Coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen had dinner with Nabers and they convinced themselves he wouldn't be like some of past "diva" types they'd worked with in their careers like Brandon Marshall, Stefon Diggs and Steve Smith.

The Giants organization, itself, has had these types of receivers at other times, from Odell Beckham Jr. to Kenny Golladay to Plaxico Burress.

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The Bears don't need to worry about this issue with Odunze, who comes across as focused on team success as young receivers will come these days.

The other question is Nabers' age. He's only 20 and this can't contribute to being a more mature player, although this doesn't necessarily mean much because Odunze isn't a good deal older at 21.

Considering Marvin Harrison Jr. had a rather controversial offseason by ignoring all workouts, Odunze came across easily as the receiver most team-driven.

It was the same way at rookie minicamp when he was talking about his goals for the start of his career.

"Just building that relationship with the coaching staff, diving into the playbook, trying to learn as much as possible and as well kind of coming into a new team, a new locker room just bonding with those guys and getting to know everybody cause that's what it's about," Odunze said. "You know the culture of the organization and the relationships is first and foremost I think, so that's first and foremost on my mind and I think everything will follow suit."

Good citizenship is always boring stuff but it is exactly what teams like to hear from their first-round picks.

Regardless of the injury at rookie minicamp, the Bears still liked what they saw for one practice and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower stoked the flames of the new receiver helping in another way.

"I think Rome is an every down player," Hightower said. "So Rome's a first down player, a second down player, a third down player and a fourth down player."

Fourth down?

"You all know that he had three (punt) returns that are on the books and one out of those three returns was a house call," Hightower said.

Odunze returned three punts for no yards, 4 yards and then an 83-yard TD.

"So we all love that ratio, right? And we all love what he can do as a receiver," Hightower said. "I mean leading up in there in yards. He's a dynamic player and, again, credit to Ryan (Poles) and his staff, he's an even better person. Like, he's a really good person. Hard worker."

Not a diva receiver—maybe a punt returner, too.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven


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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.