Rome Odunze and Kiran Amegadjie Injuries Taint Rookie Camp

A hamstring issue for Rome Odunze and Kiran Amegadjie's rehab from last year's surgery left the Bears with only three draft picks at Saturday's second day of rookie camp.

Rome Odunze was able to go through this drill in Friday's rookie minicamp but couldn't participate Saturday due to a hamstring issue. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The two-day glorified walk-through known as rookie minicamp wasn't exactly that.

The Bears came away with an injury and also had one going in that will carry on into the offseason work at OTAs, if not minicamp.

Wide receiver Rome Odunze went through one practice healthy Friday but the first-round pick from Washington had hamstring tightness afterward and did not participate in Saturday's practice. He was on the field without a helmet and caught a few passes as a standing target for Caleb Williams when the Bears starting QB was loosening his arm during individual work by the quarterbacks.

Hamstring tightness is nothing of concern at this point but the Bears can be expected to be extra cautious with this type of soft tissue injury during offseason work because of the large number of these they had last year in offseason and training camp. Those soft tissue injuries cost them valuable practice time with numerous new players in 2023.

The other injury of note was the quad muscle surgery third-round tackle Kiran Amegadjie is still recovering from, and it's possible he won't be available until training camp. Matt Eberflus said as much on Friday and Saturday the Yale tackle from Hinsdale said he was just happy to be involved at the rookie camp learning at meetings.

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"Yeah, I've been meeting with the medical staff and kind of getting my rehab protocol together," Amegadjie said. "Just really excited to get in, get in with the offensive line coach, coach (Chris) Morgan and get the playbook down, do everything I can mentally when my time comes physically."

The surgery he had was in October last season but he couldn't say for certain whether he'll be back for the start of training camp. This all explains why Bears GM Ryan Poles had said after the draft that he doesn't expect Amegadjie to be a starting candidate at left tackle this year.

"I mean we will see. We will see how everything plays out," Amegadjie said. "I'm going to trust them and trust their guidance on this. I'm not a doctor.

"I know how my body feels and how to communicate that with them. We will see as time goes on."

The Bears are not hurting for a starter at left tackle since Braxton Jones is there in his third year, and hasn't slipped any in the eyes of Morgan.

"He's come back bigger, stronger, just looks more mature, much more confident in what he’s doing," Morgan said of Jones. "So I'm excited about where he’s headed."

Without those two, the Bears were down to three drafted plyers participating in the rookie camp. The only offensive draft pick practicing Saturday was Williams.

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