A Tough Fantasy Football Road Ahead for Rome Odunze

The start to Rome Odunze’s career in the NFL hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. At times, he’s looked every bit the impressive prospect who got drafted 8th overall. At other times, he’s looked like another big athletic outside wide receiver whose skills don’t consistently translate in the NFL. His standing in fantasy football was further complicated by the additions of Colston Loveland and Luther Burden. Still, he remains a player with plenty of potential on one of the best offenses in the league.

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Rookie Season Struggles

Joining the Bears, Rome Odunze entered a crowded wide receiver room. D.J. Moore was coming off the best season of his career, Keenan Allen was continuing to earn targets late into his career, and Cole Kmet was a solid tight end. Odunze expectedly earned a day-one role, but that role wasn’t conducive to fantasy success. Despite showing ability in college to line up in different ways and earn targets at various depths, he was stuck mostly working outside, running deep routes.

Rome Odunze spent his rookie season lined up outside 75.6% of the time, with an Average Depth of Target of 13.8. A role like this doesn’t always line up with good production because it means the routes Odunze runs usually aren’t a quarterback's first read in progression, and they’re harder targets to convert on when they do come. For Odunze, this was further complicated by Caleb Williams, a rookie himself, who struggled on these routes. As a rookie, Odunze was 43rd among wide receivers in First Read Target Share, and 99th in Catchable Target Rate.

For his rookie season, Rome Odunze still managed to reach 101 targets, mostly because the Bears threw the ball 566 times, but he only averaged 6.9 Half PPR PPG. With him battling D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen for targets, and playing with a rookie quarterback who we expected to get better, we had built-in excuses for his production woes.

A Breakout Cut Short

Unlike his rookie season, Rome Odunze was the talk of the town to start 2025. Through the first four weeks, Odunze was on fire. During that time, he averaged 17.4 Half PPR PPG while scoring at least one touchdown in every game. He led all Bears pass catchers in every major category and had a 26.3% Target Share while recording a 2.24 Yards per Route Run. It looked like Odunze was at the beginning of a major breakout, and then his foot injury happened.

It’s been reported that Rome Odunze first started dealing with his foot injury in Week 6, and that lines up with how his production fell off. From Week 6 on, Odunze failed to clear 6.8 Half PPR Points in all but two games. During that time, he averaged only 6.8 Half PPR PPG before missing the final five games of the regular season. Odunze returned for the Bears’ two playoff games but only caught two passes in each.

During Rome Odunze’s downfall and subsequent absence, Colston Loveland and Luther Burden took a larger hold of the offense. Odunze was still running plenty of routes, but he fell down the target pecking order ladder.

Worst WRs by Yards per Target Over Expectation [Last 2 Years]

1. Xavier Legette (-2.4)
2. Troy Franklin (-2.4)
3. Rome Odunze (-1.6) 🙁
4. Marvin Harrison Jr. (-1.2) 🙁
5. Xavier Worthy (-1.1) 🙁
...
54. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (+2.0)
55. Puka Nacua (+2.4)
56. Jameson Williams (+2.6) pic.twitter.com/40Q4jvZxDq

— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) July 13, 2026

A Look Forward

Entering 2026, D.J. Moore is gone, leaving Odunze, Loveland, and Burden as the big three in the Chicago passing offense. Odunze’s start to 2025 inspires hope for many that he can still be the player his prospect profile suggested he would be. When a player has a short sample of great play, but has a great profile entering the league, it’s easier to believe the sample can grow into more. This is not a Travis Fulgham situation.

Rome Odunze has a couple of factors working against him, though. We may never know how bad his foot is now. He’s been quoted this offseason as saying that, because of how his foot broke and healed, he will always be in pain. Pain is manageable, but how manageable this injury will be is an answer only Odunze knows, and he might not even have a full grasp on it. It could be nothing; Keenan Allen notoriously has oddly protruding clavicles from repeated AC joint sprains, and he continued to play well. It could also hamper the rest of his career.

More importantly, Rome Odunze has to compete with Luther Burden and Colston Loveland, who Ben Johnson hand-picked in his first season as head coach for the Bears. The passing offense should condense around these three, but if Odunze is consistently third in the pecking order, there won’t be enough leftover for him to warrant his current cost. Not to mention, Odunze is asked to do the hardest job among them, consistently on the outside against press coverage, working downfield.

Rome Odunze says he has a “new normal” with his foot after injury last season. https://t.co/jy1MAs67jO

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) June 3, 2026

Bottom Line

• Outside of a four-game sample, Rome Odunze hasn’t lived up to his prospect profile and draft capital. That sample inspires hope, but it’s not enough to ignore other factors.
• Odunze’s role in the Bears’ offense is the hardest to do, and one that doesn’t always lead to fantasy success. He and Caleb Williams haven’t been on the same page as much as we want, either.
• With an ADP of WR28 at 61 Overall, Odunze’s cost isn’t prohibitive, but it’s hard to see how he can out-produce it by much. Especially considering he’s drafted before potentially equal or better bets in Christian Watson, Carnell Tate, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Brian Thomas Jr.