It would've been hard for Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze to have a less efficient season than he had in 2024. Despite being top-15 among wide receivers in air yards, average depth of target, deep targets and red zone targets, he had just 54 catches for 734 yards and three touchdowns on 101 targets.
There are a lot of reasons for the gap between what Odunze could have done as a rookie and what he did. Three offensive coordinators over the course of the season and the related struggles of quarterback Caleb Williams is at the core of it. Things should only be better, perhaps significantly so, this year under head coach Ben Johnson.
Odunze is a virtually automatic candidate for positive correction all the way around this season. Johnson has certainly uncovered ways to utilize the second-year man better, as he also lauded Odunze as the type of receiver he never really had when he was the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator.
Training camp reports, despite the expected ups and downs overall as a new offense is being installed, have consistently highlighted a great connection between Williams and Odunze.
It has become easy to offer the idea Odunze will unseat DJ Moore as the Bears' WR1 this year.
Stat prediction for Rome Odunze takes hype and expectations to another level
Now, in the teeth of draft season, Odunze remains an easy breakout darling in fantasy football circles. So he easily landed on a fresh list of second-year players set to become breakout fantasy stars from Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report.
"If (Caleb) Williams does perform consistently better in 2025, it'll help the stock of wide receiver Rome Odunze tremendously. The Washington product was drafted ninth overall to be Chicago's No. 2 receiver opposite D.J. Moore. However, his rookie numbers (54 receptions, 734 yards, 3 TDs) were modest."
"Odunze should see an expanded role in 2025, as Keenan Allen departed in the offseason. Allen was second on the team with 121 targets last season and led the Bears in touchdown receptions."
"A more efficient passing attack could cause a big jump in Odunze's numbers too. While he only caught 54 passes, he was targeted 101 times, meaning Williams did try to get him involved. Managers should expect the two to have a much higher success rate in 2025."
All of the above notes are old hat at this point. But Knox added a stat prediction for Odunze in 2025.
"Stat Prediction: 79 catches, 1,115 yards, 10 TDs"
That receiving yardage total would have been 13th in the league last season. Eight players in the league had double-digit receiving touchdowns last year, and three of them had exactly 10. 79 receptions would have been top-25 in the league in 2024. Put together, those numbers would have been the WR11 in full PPR fantasy scoring last year (250.5 points).
Read more: Fantasy analyst re-states the obvious about Caleb Williams in 2025
Expectations are naturally high for Odunze heading into in his second season, and he's on an early track to deliver. It's been more difficult to confidently tab what a breakout would look like for him numbers-wise, but somewhere along the lines of Knox's prediction would make Bears fans (and Odunze's fantasy managers) very happy.