After DJ Moore's exit, Rome Odunze 'ready' to be Bears' WR1

CHICAGO -- On Dec. 14, Necia Bunnell felt her phone buzz moments before kickoff at Soldier Field. Her heart sank when she saw who was calling, as her motherly intuition was kicking in.

"As a mom, you want to fix everything for your kids," she said.

On the other line wasChicago Bears receiver Rome Odunze ringing his mother on this frigid Sunday.

The 23-year-old receiver, who dealt with a persistent stress fracture in his foot since before the midway point of the season and was set to return after a one-game absence, aggravated his injury at the end of pregame warmups so significantly that he was scratched from the lineup. Before the ripple effect cascaded through the NFL world, he was giving his mom the heads-up that she wouldn't see him on the field that day -- a 31-3 rout of the Cleveland Browns.

"He was devastated," Bunnell said. "I could hear it in his voice."

Shortly thereafter, Odunze learned that the Bears were shutting him down for the rest of the regular season. His sophomore campaignin Chicago,which included just four catches for 88 yards when he returned for the Bears' two playoff games, fell way short of expectations.

He masked his disappointment with the same fervor he displayed while punching a hole through the ceiling of the visitors locker room after the Bears beat the Eagles two weeks prior. While Odunze celebrated the plays his teammates made while he was sidelined, he learned an important lesson in patience and navigating the ebbs and flows of emotions that spark doubt.

"Your career is going to invite those moments of adversity," Odunze told ESPN. "That's the moment that I was in, and I embraced that. I know I'm better for it to be able to go through something like that and have the season that I did that brought me to that sort of disappointment. I feel like there's those moments can tell you who you are and where you're going to go from there."

The destination Odunze believes is within his reach is a trip straight to the top of the Bears' depth chart. His foot has healed and he has put in the work this offseason to make sure an injury of that magnitude doesn't again hold him back. ThoughDJ Moore's departure this offseason creates a void in leadership and on-field production, Odunze sees a prime opportunity to grab hold of the WR1 role he has been expected to fill since being drafted ninth in 2024.

"Oh, I'm ready for it," Odunze said. "I'm 100% confident in it."

The 2025 season reinforced the type of patience that Odunze has encountered throughout his life, whether via his own terms or while having to navigate circumstances out of his control. It's a trait that helped him master a headstand at 3 years old and perfect the lines of his sketches in art class, a skill that later made him the perfect person to emulate artist Bob Ross in the Bears' schedule release video.

It helped him overcome a broken collarbone that cost him nearly his entire sophomore season in high school and deal with the discontent of falling short of his own aspirations during his second season in the NFL.

Now, it's a big part of what will fuel Odunze to be the playmaker the Bears can rely on in 2026.

WHEN THE BEARS drafted Odunze, eight selections after securing quarterback Caleb Williamswith the No. 1 pick, they were not only bringing in college football's leading receiver (1,640 yards for national champion runner-up Washington) but the most dominant wideout on 50-50 balls.

Odunze's 24 contested catches during his final season with the Huskies in 2023 were tied for the most in the FBS. Dropped passes were never part of his makeup in college, which is why the receiver was so critical of himself as missed opportunities became as magnified as the plays he made.

According to ESPN's tracking, Odunze's three drops were tied for the team lead with rookiesKyle Monangai and Luther Burden IIIand tied for 54th in the NFL with 38 others.

After a strong start over the first month of the season, Odunze's momentum slowed following Chicago's Week 5 bye. He managed one 100-yard performance -- Week 8 in Baltimore -- which coincides with when he developed his foot injury.

As players returned to Halas Hall for the offseason program, coaches took to reminding Odunze about the type of receiver they expect him to be.

"You go back and you pull [the contested catches he made in college] from that film, match it up with the plays he has made in the NFL as it relates to those 50-50 balls or what have you," Bears wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El said. "The one thing you get is like, all right, the confidence is restored. Now let's go do it from that standpoint. So it's just about showing him. That's what we've done, and we fully expect him to go out and make those plays."

The Bears' own metrics for drops reveal that they accounted for 43 in 2025. From Randle El to head coach Ben Johnson, the staff was quick to label Odunze's drops as an anomaly and easily correctable. T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the 11-year NFL veteran receiver whom Odunze trains with in Southern California, sees the path toward fixing this issue similarly.

"The way Rome caught the ball in college, I would always tell my guys, Rome was playing with six fingers. Everybody else is playing with five," Houshmandzadeh said. "He caught the ball so effortlessly. Great hand-eye coordination in college that when you start dropping the ball in NFL, you're pressing. It's your concentration. You're not getting many opportunities. So when opportunity comes, you start to press. And I don't really worry about guys that drop the ball that I know that have good hands.

"Him catching and dropping a ball, on a scale of one to 10 concerned, it would probably be a zero."

ODUNZE LEARNED OF the dynamic shift in the Bears' wide receivers room when he received a text from Moore shortly before Chicago sent Moore to Buffalo in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

So much was about to change for the Bears' offense and for what would be asked of Odunze in Moore's absence.

"It was tough for sure," Odunze said. "DJ's my brother. He was a big mentor for me being here, and I'm happy he's now with a great team, a contender that has awesome players as well. I'm excited to kind of fill that role that he was playing here and kind of absorb some of that void collectively."

The pressure associated with being WR1 is a challenge the Bears don't expect Odunze to shoulder alone. Insulating the young receiver was a strategic play by the Bears during free agency, which led them to veteransKalif Raymond, who played for Johnson and Randle El in Detroit, and Scotty Miller, who won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay.

"As long as there's an older guy in the room, you always learn from that guy because that guy has played more ball," Randle El said. "... But [Odunze has] still got to go play. I don't think it takes any pressure [off] from that standpoint because I always feel like the coaches helped it. Let's say if I didn't have the veterans, and he is the lead guy, it's like I've got to help him with that. The pressure is always going to be there because that's just the game. And if you continue to make those plays, you feel the pressure less."

Odunze has put the onus on himself to turn those pressure moments into triumph by how he set up his offseason training. That began with focusing on specific exercises to strengthen his feet by working the intrinsic foot muscles, a group of 20 small but powerful muscles that aid with balance, arch support, toe movement and shock absorption. Applying these techniques to routes and cuts he has repped repeatedly throughout his training helped Odunze regain the confidence in two of his most important weapons: his feet.

Honing the rest of his confidence comes from the work put in during throwing sessions with Williams and his teammates, receivers Jahdae Walkerand Burden and tight end Colston Loveland.

Odunze said he never saw a disconnect between Bears receivers and Williams in moments where drops and missed opportunities felt prevalent but understands that the rhetoric of not being on the same page won't cut it as Chicago's offense progresses into Year 2 under Johnson.

In these side sessions, Williams has encouraged receivers to flip their hands upward to receive passes to make it easier to haul in the throws he makes with such speed and velocity.

Bears coaches call it the "Cs," where receivers are taught to form their hands like the letter C facing inward while keeping their eyes locked on the quarterback through the opening created by their hands.

"You can't catch it if you can't see it, and then when you catch the ball, you want to 'C' it," Randle El said.

Over the next two weeks, before the Bears break for summer, Odunze will have a chance to see how the efforts he has already put in this offseason are paying off. The balancing act of being patient while wanting to make an immediate impact for a Bears team coming off an 11-win season is one he'll have to learn to master while taking on an even bigger role in the offense.

Though Odunze's regular season ended on that frigid day in Week 15, he has worked his way back to fill that void that he knows awaits the team, but in that moment in December, his mom couldn't help but feel for her son.

"You don't want them to go through the hard things," Bunnell said, "understanding, though, that that's a part of life, but you still don't like to see your kids struggle."

That struggle is something that has fueled Odunze, though, and he looks forward to what Year 3 will bring in his new role.

"The biggest thing for me is my actions daily," Odunze said. "I feel like if I take the proper steps daily, I'm doing the right things and people will be able to follow. And then when things might find themselves out of line, being able to correct those things -- whether it's vocally or through more action, whatever that takes."br/]