Ex-UW star Rome Odunze still has ‘chance to emerge’ with Bears

During his time on Montlake, Rome Odunze became one of the best wide receivers to ever don a UW Huskies uniform.

Odunze was a a part of an absurdly talented wide receiver room at UW that in 2023 featured five future NFL wide receivers (Odunze, Jalen McMillan, Ja’Lynn Polk, Denzel Boston and Germie Bernard).

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After an All-America season in 2023 while helping the Huskies reach the national title game, he went on to become not only the highest drafted among that group when he was taken ninth overall by the Chicago Bears in 2024, but the highest drafted wide receiver in Huskies history, matching Reggie Williams and John Ross by going No. 9 overall.

But two-plus seasons into his NFL career, the 24-year-old Odunze has yet to make the sort of impact many envisioned he would.

Is the former UW star close to breaking through in his third year with the Bears? Matt Spiegel from “Spiegel & Holmes” on Chicago’s The Score 670 AM shared his insight when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob to preview the Seattle Seahawks’ matchup against the Bears on Monday Night Football, which will be Odunze’s first game in the Pacific Northwest since his decorated Huskies career.

‘He’s yet to kind of show you the full package’

Odunze missed five games last season, but was still able to double his number of TD receptions from his rookie year with six in 2025. However, he caught just under half of his 90 targets with 44 receptions for 661 yards.

This year, he has 24 receptions for 381 yards and no touchdowns in seven games this season. He caught four passes from quarterback Caleb Williams for 69 yards in a win over the New England Patriots last week.

@RomeOdunze SNAGGED that

📺: Prime Video pic.twitter.com/pxd9LY1sgp

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 23, 2026

“He had a great night last week against the Pats, a couple of big time catches on third down in the second half on great Caleb plays, and they definitely have a bond,” Spiegel said. “He had a lot of drops last year, a lot of drops, and he’s had some drops this year too. Even in that game, he dropped one in the end zone. It was offensive pass interference, but still, that’s been a problem.”

Odunze had six drops as a rookie in 2024 and two last season, per Pro Football Reference. He has two this year.

Odunze’s 39 targets are third on the Bears this season to wide receiver Luther Burden III (47) and tight end Colston Loveland (41). Spiegel said those two have passed Odunze in terms of being Chicago’s top receiving options.

“Now I think he’s been kind of replaced as the primary target by both Colston Loveland, the tight end, and Luther Burden, who’s like the guy who gets all their designer touches — the stuff that went to DJ Moore last year. So like, bubble screens and stuff on the move goes to Luther Burden and he had an explosive first half last week,” Spiegel said. “But Rome is still very, very important. Caleb really trusts him and they have a bond, but he’s yet to kind of show you the full package.”

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The rest of this season figures to be important in determining Odunze’s future in Chicago. Next season will be the final year of his rookie deal and the Bears will have to decided if they want to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal for 2028 this coming offseason.

“They’re going to have to decide whether to pay him next year or not,” Spiegel said. “At this point, it might be an interesting conversation and decision, since they’ll obviously also have to pay Caleb and now they’ll have Jeffery Simmons, who after next year will be making $35 million a year. So, they’ve got a lot of a lot of different choices to make. So, it’s not been the best start for Rome’s career, but he still absolutely has a chance to emerge.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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