Wide receiver Rome Odunze celebrates with Bears fans after being selected with the No. 9 pick in the NFL Draft.
Jeff Lewis/AP
It’s impossible for any general manager to get every move right. Misses are inevitable, but finding ways to fix them is what matters.
Wide receiver has been a problematic position for Ryan Poles and the Bears — until now. Poles drafted Washington star Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick Thursday, stacking his room with talent and giving incoming rookie quarterback Caleb Williams a potential long-term partner.
Odunze thought about that pairing throughout the pre-draft process. His visit to Halas Hall went “very well,” he recently worked out with Williams and Bears wide receivers DJ Moore and Keenan Allen and was on Williams’ flight Tuesday as they headed to Detroit for the draft.
“It was definitely a possibility that was running through my mind,” Odunze said. “He is super talented and a generational player, so to be able to catch balls from him and compete right beside him is a special thing.”
Odunze was a consensus All-American who led the NCAA with 1,640 yards receiving last season, caught 92 passes and scored 14 offensive touchdowns. He is 6-foot-3, 212 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.
Many believed he was the second-best player at his position this year behind Ohio State standout Marvin Harrison Jr. Harrison went fourth to the Cardinals, and the Giants took LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers at No. 6.
“I went crazy and then I went crazy again,” Williams said of the pick. “Ready to get to work with him. It’s sick. It’s crazy that it came to fruition.”
The Bears hope he and Odunze will become an iconic quarterback-receiver duo unlike anything they’ve ever had. They plan to introduce them at Halas Hall on Friday.
In the meantime, Poles has now outfitted Williams with a stronger cast of playmakers than any quarterback chosen first overall could hope to have waiting for him. Everything for the Bears, including Poles’ job, rides on Williams succeeding, and every move they make affects that in some way.
Adding receivers has an obvious impact. Williams will begin his career with Moore, Allen and Odunze as his top three receivers. Moore is coming off a career year, and Allen is a six-time Pro Bowl pick who just had one of his best seasons.
While Allen is 32 and his future is uncertain, Moore is in his prime at 27 and Odunze joins the team at just 21.
That’s a tremendous outcome for Poles, who inherited a dilapidated wide receiver room when he took the job in 2022 and survived a couple whiffs in his effort to rebuild it.
Poles cobbled together a group spearheaded by Darnell Mooney in 2022, but Mooney spiraled and third-round pick Velus Jones never materialized. Jones is a longshot to make the roster this season.
Poles tried to fix that by trading a second-round pick to the Steelers for Chase Claypool and bringing in Moore in a blockbuster deal with the Panthers last year — the move that brought the Bears the No. 1 pick to use on Williams — and went into last season believing he could cross wide receiver off his to-do list with Moore, Mooney and Claypool as potential Pro Bowl players.
He was wrong.
Mooney’s plunge continued, and Claypool was such a disaster on and off the field that the Bears unloaded him for next to nothing after a mere 10 games. He’s currently out of the league.
Resilience is the key, though. Allen might be a one-year rental, a luxury the Bears can afford because of Poles’ careful cleanup of Ryan Pace’s salary-cap mess, but it was smart to pick up a reliable, ultra-precise veteran with a rookie quarterback arriving soon. And if he impresses, the Bears have all year to talk about a contract extension with him.
The Moore-Allen-Odunze trio is supplemented by a top-10 tight end in Cole Kmet and nearly added Pro Bowl running back D’Andre Swift. The Bears’ offensive line isn’t perfect, but overall, Poles has excellent infrastructure built for Williams.
It’s also an ideal environment for Odunze. Unlike Williams, who absolutely has to shine right away, Odunze gets a chance to progress at his own pace thanks to Moore and Allen. He can take all the time he needs, and he’ll cut into their targets once he shows he’s ready.
“I do a lot of things well on the field, from playing outside, playing inside, catching contested balls, creating separation,” Odunze said. “I’m looking to come and make that immediate impact, find my role within the team with great receivers like Keenan Allen and DJ Moore already there.
“When you look at Keenan’s game, how complete it is, when you look at DJ Moore, how he’s able to compete in the league at a high level for a long time, the possibilities are endless of what I’m able to learn. I’m going to go in there and soak up all the information I can.”
For decades, it’s been rare to see everything fall into place so neatly at Halas Hall. It’s refreshing. It’s been years since there was this much legitimate hope for the Bears, and Poles certainly boosted it Thursday with the Williams and Odunze picks.