Rome Odunze's rookie season does not tell the full story for Chicago Bears

It is fair to say that Rome Odunze has not lived up to expectations so far this season. Amongst rookie receivers, he ranks fourth in yards, and being the third receiver drafted, this is not too bad. 

However, those four, plus Jordan Whittington, Ladd McConkey, Keon Coleman, Xavier Legette, and Xavier Worthy all have a higher yards per route run rate than Odunze, they just have not played as much as him. However, when they are on the field, they are more efficient. 

Is Rome Odunze a disappointment for the Chicago Bears?

 Odunze is also ninth in catch rate and ninth in yards per target among the rookie class. When you see Malik Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., and even Brian Thomas at the top of all of these lists, and then you see the only other first-rounder down so low, it can be a bit concerning. 

However, fans need to remember that is not only playing with a rookie quarterback, he has D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen as threats to steal targets while others do not. Jordan Whittington has 201 yards and is averaging 2.12 yards per route run, but the Rams need him because Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are out. 

Beyond that, even with the lack of efficiency, he is producing enough to get excited about. Before the season we looked into the bar for most of the successful top 15 picks. They almost all hit 600 yards in their rookie season. Odunze is averaging 41.2 yards per game, so he if he played all 17 games, he would hit exactly 700 yards. At this pace, he could miss two games and still hit the bar for what would be considered a solid rookie season.