Wow, I cannot believe he got to #9. Penix going at #8 was the trigger. Hard to pass up at that pick.

5 different players had a case for being pick 9 . There was no bad choice.

55 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

5 different players had a case for being pick 9 . There was no bad choice.

Completely agree.  I was hoping for a trade, but Odunze is a Cris Carter type of receiver.  Let's hope...

Am I the only one that crossed their fingers and repeated "please be Odunze, please be Odunze"?   

I'm kinda disappointed we didn't trade back and grab at least another top 100 pick but I like Odunze a lot.  Having DJ Moore and Keenan Allen as mentors his rookie season is awesome.   It's the complementary type of receivers we have now that is really nice to see.   Then with Kmet and Everett at TE, Wililams is going to have a lot of options and not many excuses.  

As long as Williams is decent, and that should be the floor for him, we have a competitive roster.  We still have some significant depth issues at DE, 3-tech, Safety, OT, WR (gotta like the top 3), maybe IOL depending how you view them, and just two TEs listed on the roster.  Plus Poles can wait to see what cuts happen post camp and fill a couple spots, or make a trade for someone decent before they get cut.  We've got three 6th Rd picks next year we won't need them.   

VERY interesting - if you listen to the first three minutes of this, Poles says twice that he had his eye on Odunze, and that it took discipline not to TRADE UP for him. He literally mentions trading up for him TWICE.

That's very good news that they had him rated that highly, and that the board fell in such a way that they didnt need to trade up for him - it seems like that was a real possibility.

Thank you football gods

2 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

VERY interesting - if you listen to the first three minutes of this, Poles says twice that he had his eye on Odunze, and that it took discipline not to TRADE UP for him. He literally mentions trading up for him TWICE.

That's very good news that they had him rated that highly, and that the board fell in such a way that they didnt need to trade up for him - it seems like that was a real possibility.

Thank you football gods

This was all planned out, obviously you can't predict the picks but they wanted this. Just seen a video of Rome and he stated,  him, DJ, Keenan and CW have already been working out together. That wasn't by accident.

His big hero was Devin Hester growing up and his first NFL jersey was 54 Urlacher. This is a perfect fit. 

The fact that the Bears got Odunze without having to trade up was amazing. That saved a future pick being lost.

If we didn't have #1 overall, I would have been super happy with Odunze at #9 alone. 

 

Williams+Odunze without having to give up andy draft capital or McCarthy+Turner while giving up a bunch of picks (only 3 picks left in 2025)

7 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

VERY interesting - if you listen to the first three minutes of this, Poles says twice that he had his eye on Odunze, and that it took discipline not to TRADE UP for him. He literally mentions trading up for him TWICE.

That's very good news that they had him rated that highly, and that the board fell in such a way that they didnt need to trade up for him - it seems like that was a real possibility.

Thank you football gods

Saw that.  Poles must have had him rated as a top 5 pick.  He’s also very high on his character.   I don’t get the sense he’s going to be a primadonna WR.   

Look at all the ego trippers in the WR group of the league and we got 3 down to earth leader types at the same time in our WR room. People complained about not drafting George Pickens and look at the whining birch he has been. That's why we didn't draft him.

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

Saw that.  Poles must have had him rated as a top 5 pick.  He’s also very high on his character.   I don’t get the sense he’s going to be a primadonna WR.   

yeah he doesnt feel like that at all.

I think the negative narratives on high ranking players were really in play this year by teams hoping to create situations where players slide to them.

For example, Williams seems to be nothing like the sullen, selfish player he was painted to be the last couple of months.

4 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

yeah he doesnt feel like that at all.

I think the negative narratives on high ranking players were really in play this year by teams hoping to create situations where players slide to them.

For example, Williams seems to be nothing like the sullen, selfish player he was painted to be the last couple of months.

I think Odunze is a really really good and grounded dude. He is going to work hard, etc.  He has good 40 speed and shown a ton of ability to make tight catches and use his body. It really comes down to me - will those strength's overcome his lack of quickness - or is he quick enough to get enough seperation where he can dominate in the pro's or with the margin's shrinking and the hits better does it kind of negate some of his strength's and he ends up more "okay". Barring injury I think no matter what he will be a solid 750-900 yard guy...the question is can he be a 1300 yard type of receiver.  

44 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I think Odunze is a really really good and grounded dude. He is going to work hard, etc.  He has good 40 speed and shown a ton of ability to make tight catches and use his body. It really comes down to me - will those strength's overcome his lack of quickness - or is he quick enough to get enough seperation where he can dominate in the pro's or with the margin's shrinking and the hits better does it kind of negate some of his strength's and he ends up more "okay". Barring injury I think no matter what he will be a solid 750-900 yard guy...the question is can he be a 1300 yard type of receiver.  

He has two great vets to learn from in Moore and Allen.

54 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I think Odunze is a really really good and grounded dude. He is going to work hard, etc.  He has good 40 speed and shown a ton of ability to make tight catches and use his body. It really comes down to me - will those strength's overcome his lack of quickness - or is he quick enough to get enough seperation where he can dominate in the pro's or with the margin's shrinking and the hits better does it kind of negate some of his strength's and he ends up more "okay". Barring injury I think no matter what he will be a solid 750-900 yard guy...the question is can he be a 1300 yard type of receiver.  

We're going to find out. 

Allen has never been known for elite speed. Instead, he gains separation by running precise routes. That is why many believe, even at the age of 32, he has many productive years left before retiring. He seems to be a perfect mentor for Rome O.

 

17 minutes ago, Pixote said:

Allen has never been known for elite speed. Instead, he gains separation by running precise routes. That is why many believe, even at the age of 32, he has many productive years left before retiring. He seems to be a perfect mentor for Rome O.

 

Well said. Route running is a lost art in the modern, fast, out of structure sandlot ball style of football. I think it comes from laziness and lack of discipline in general. When a WR can run a tight route, he can beat anyone, because the shapes work. It's all fine and good to run a 4.39 forty, but theres a fast guy playing CB too, but a smart route will beat him every time.
 

1 hour ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I think Odunze is a really really good and grounded dude. He is going to work hard, etc.  He has good 40 speed and shown a ton of ability to make tight catches and use his body. It really comes down to me - will those strength's overcome his lack of quickness - or is he quick enough to get enough seperation where he can dominate in the pro's or with the margin's shrinking

Exactly. One reason for hope is that Odunze is insane at beating press coverage off of the line. His release is twitchy and nasty. So I think he has that quickness youre talking about, at least at the start of the route. He also has insane spacing skills, like Moore, he finds the perfect seams, angles and spacing. In that way Moore reminds me of our former safety Mike Brown who was also a master of spacing and predicting where someone is going to be in 2 seconds. Odunze seems to have those instincts as well.

Odunze is like a baby Moore with better speed. If Allen teaches him the finer points of tight routes (and DJ too!) then we are going to be dangerous for years.

Or better said: "We are just going to be dangerous for years"

My favorite part of the Rome pick is that you bring in someone who can work inside or outside, so you can really move those three primary WRs around as you see fit. My concern about waiting on WR was that we’d get a “slot only” type guy which would kind of lock you into a certain formation. But now any of the three and work in the slot or outside and try to maximize mismatches based on the defense. 

8 minutes ago, dawhizz said:

My favorite part of the Rome pick is that you bring in someone who can work inside or outside, so you can really move those three primary WRs around as you see fit. My concern about waiting on WR was that we’d get a “slot only” type guy which would kind of lock you into a certain formation. But now any of the three and work in the slot or outside and try to maximize mismatches based on the defense. 

It seems the future plan is to have Moore and Odunze. Allen was a piece of insurance against not getting a WR in the draft, and a clear move to be sure that they give Williams weapons.

The way it all worked out, Allen ends up a luxury for this year, he'll teach Odunze and maybe even Moore a thing or two about breaks in routes. We may well not bring him back next year. But for this year at least, we have a ridiculous 3 man roster at WR. It's completely unfair to defenses. Williams has to be thrilled.

And so am I!

1 hour ago, BearFan PHX said:

It seems the future plan is to have Moore and Odunze. Allen was a piece of insurance against not getting a WR in the draft, and a clear move to be sure that they give Williams weapons.

The way it all worked out, Allen ends up a luxury for this year, he'll teach Odunze and maybe even Moore a thing or two about breaks in routes. We may well not bring him back next year. But for this year at least, we have a ridiculous 3 man roster at WR. It's completely unfair to defenses. Williams has to be thrilled.

And so am I!

If we end up being successful, he may want to stay to win a SB and we can get a team friendly deal. Plus his a he could be counter productive on getting a big contract.

2 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

If we end up being successful, he may want to stay to win a SB and we can get a team friendly deal. Plus his a he could be counter productive on getting a big contract.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Poles isn't already working on a cap-friendly extension for Allen.

6 hours ago, Pixote said:

Allen has never been known for elite speed. Instead, he gains separation by running precise routes. That is why many believe, even at the age of 32, he has many productive years left before retiring. He seems to be a perfect mentor for Rome O.

 

Well said and I agree - we have two really good vets and both hopefully will help Rome (and Scott) and heck maybe even Velus (cause Velus physical skills are legitimately good).

I’m starting to get real excited about him. His character and work ethic is stellar and when you see a Fitzgerald comp thrown out - man if he can be 80 percent of Fitz they got a total stud. 

1 hour ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Well said and I agree - we have two really good vets and both hopefully will help Rome (and Scott) and heck maybe even Velus (cause Velus physical skills are legitimately good).

The only thing helping Velus are the new kickoff rules. 

1 hour ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Well said and I agree - we have two really good vets and both hopefully will help Rome (and Scott) and heck maybe even Velus (cause Velus physical skills are legitimately good).

Velus absolutely has speed, but i think we've seen from Poles that hes looking for football players and not just attributes. I dont see Velus doing much for us, but id be glad to be wrong cuz he sure is fast.

11 hours ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I’m starting to get real excited about him. His character and work ethic is stellar and when you see a Fitzgerald comp thrown out - man if he can be 80 percent of Fitz they got a total stud. 

He did an interview on ESPN 1000 yesterday.  He has a career in media when he retires.  Very charismatic.