Let’s get this out of the way — Rome Odunze has not yet played like the #9 overall pick. He has played like a solid WR, but when you draft a WR in the top 10, you rightfully should expect him to become a top of the league player.
Still, I think Rome is getting a bad deal by Chicago Bears fans.
Sure, Rome has had some bad drops throughout his career, as well as contested catches that he should have come down with. However, I think that the narrative is clouding our judgement, and the “drops” decried
by fans have not always been fairly characterized.
Let’s acknowledge some of the egregious drops, as there have been a few.
The first, and arguably worst was this drop against the Rams with a chance to go to the NFC Championship on the line. While the ball was thrown behind Rome, he needs to snatch this pass rather than let it travel to his body:
Another happened during the Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, where Odunze lost concentration in the end zone before he could secure the ball:
There have been a few other legitimate dropped passes to gripe about, including one against the Patriots his rookie year that slipped straight through his hands on a comeback route.
But I am here to say: step out of the echo chamber and into reality. Rome needs to be better, yes, but the narrative around his drops is getting out of hand.
This was no more clear than on Sunday when Tyson Bagent airmailed a pass to Rome, where he remarkably got two hands on the ball, just for the CB covering him to get his hands in to break it up (please ignore this Twitter user’s silly analysis):
Calling this anything more than a highly difficult play broken up by a great defensive effort is just parroting a narrative. There are several other instances where the narrative parrots a drop after Odunze doesn’t secure a diving sideline catch 6” off the ground.
And it’s not just that the drop narrative has gotten out of hand; it’s that we seem to forget that he has made contested catches throughout his career. Here are some of my favorites:
Coming into the league, Rome’s identity was a contested catch specialist who might not be able to separate enough at the next level. While Rome needs to find consistency in contested catches, he continues to be one of the best in the league at creating separation:
This chart shows that Rome Odunze is consistently getting open, at a similar rate to Drake London, Garrett Wilson, and Romeo Doubs, but isn’t seeing the same target share as others.
Through five games, Rome has 17 receptions for 273 yards, giving him pace for 58 receptions and 928 yards. While these aren’t #9 overall pick numbers, they are far from unproductive. I am still confident that Rome can turn into an even better pro with time. Mind you that he has only played with Caleb Williams four times since Week 13 of last season, while two of those came after a return from injury for Odunze. Let’s practice patience and give him time and consistency with Caleb to figure it out.
