Bear Digest

Rome Odunze Confirms Race to 1,000 Receiving Yards Is On

Bears rookie agrees with DJ Moore's comment about the receiver corps being in a race to 1,000 yards, and describes what he'll need to do to adjust to a different game.

Gene Chamberlain

Rome Odunze runs past Matt Eberflus after making a catch Friday in Bears rookie minicamp.
Rome Odunze runs past Matt Eberflus after making a catch Friday in Bears rookie minicamp. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

If the race to 1,000 yards by the Bears receiver trio is real, rookie Rome Odunze is game.

Wide receiver DJ Moore had told Up and Adams' Kay Adams that it will be a race to see whether himself, Keenan Allen or Odunze can hit 1,000 y ards first.

"Yeah absolutely, I think that's exactly what it is," Odunze said at Bears rookie minicamp. "It's a very competitive environment. I think for me, for myself I think what I want in a wide receiver room is for everybody to think they're wide receiver 1. That's the mindset that I bring into the room and it's a friendly competition.

"You know, at the end of the day I want the best for the brotherhood beside me and I'm going to run every route and do every concept to perfection even if I'm the main read or they're the main read because I think that's what it's about when the brotherhood is in the room."

The smart money won't be on Odunze even if he is coming into the league with quarterback Caleb Williams and the two have a good QB-receiver relationship already going. Between Allen and Moore, there are 1,364 catche, 17,095 yards and 87 touchdowns. Allen has been a Pro Bowl player six times.

"So definitely, I think with that competitiveness you know these guys have been doing this for a long time so I've got a ways to catch up here, but I'm going to provide a different skill set and a different versatility aspect to the offense that I hope will complement there play," Odunze said.

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Odunze definitely isn't getting ahead of himself. He's assuming nothing about being able to beat NFL coverage. He hasn't faced league-quality defensive back yet and admits it.

"I guess I don't know if I can even speak on that because I haven't faced them but I think it's just going to be an elevation of the things I dealt with in college—the strength, the speed, the technique, I think all of those things are going to improve," Odunze said.

Numerous NFL receivers have said the defensive backs in college are allowed to be more physical than in the NFL, though, and from what Odunze has seen on film that might be the case.

"I think in college they maybe allow a little bit more physicality at points but I think where the physicality in college is increased I think maybe the technique in the NFL is maybe a little bit more increased with all of it," Odunze said. "So it's a trade, but I think it's something that I'll have to see.

"I remember definitely watching some NFL film and being like 'man they (DBs) can't even touch these guys (NFL receivers).' So hopefully that's how it is when I'm out there."

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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.