The Chicago Bears were the biggest winners of the 2024 NFL Draft, suddenly getting not just a budding superstar quarterback, but his WR1 for the next decade (once their bevy of weapons give way to Odunze’s talent). But, those were the only fantasy football players they took in the 2024 NFL Draft. Let’s take a chunk out of our round one recap to take a look forward at the 2024 fantasy football prospects of Caleb Williams & Rome Odunze!
FULL 2024 CHICAGO BEARS DRAFT RESULTS
| Rd | Pick | Player | Pos | College |
| 1 | 1 | Caleb Williams | QB | USC |
| 1 | 9 | Rome Odunze | WR | Washington |
| 3 | 75 | Kiran Amegadjie | OT | Yale |
| 4 | 122 | Tory Taylor | P | Iowa |
| 5 | 144 | Austin Booker | EDGE | Kansas |
[Note: The following is an excerpt from our Round One Instant Reaction piece.]
Round 1, Pick 1: Caleb Williams, Quarterback, USC (6’1” 214 lbs)
Talent:
When Caleb Williams has time to throw the football, it’s easy to see why he’s the prohibitive favorite 1.01 in the 2024 NFL Draft class. He has a big, sexy, full-of-touch deep ball and a ton of zip on his shorter passes. Williams is also extremely athletic and can spin out of a ton of sacks, like early career Russell Wilson. The first knock on him, which I noticed against Cal in 2023, is that he occasionally “pushes” the football on deep passes due to a somewhat wonky throwing motion, but that’s also the game where I fell in love with the fact that he scrambles but keeps his eyes downfield, always looking for a deep man.
Unfortunately, he struggles a bit when he’s forced to move. Williams doesn’t stay in clean pockets and loves the 2006 hit film Happy Feet, instead choosing to roll out to throw balls, which tend to sail on him as he isn’t as good on the move as he thinks he is. Williams uses his athleticism and ability to keep his eyes downfield to throw “alley-oop” balls to running backs or crossers the moment a defender commits to him, turning a loss or a short gain into a decent chunk play. Ultimately, the more he has to think after the snap, the harder it becomes for him, like some sort of anti-Kirk Cousins.
In the end, Williams should be the top quarterback—and player—off the board in the 2024 draft class. He’s still a raw talent, however, and I don’t see him hitting the ground a la C.J. Stroud, but I also don’t see him struggling like Bryce Young. His ceiling is short Patrick Mahomes, but he needs to get some of his worse tendencies coached out of him before he can tap his potential. I like him to go #1 overall, but I fear for the Bears’ faithful if he goes there.
NFL Comparison: Short Patrick Mahomes (ceiling) to big-armed Alex Smith (derogatory), Prime Russ
2024 Opportunity:
The Chicago Bears cleared the deck for Caleb Williams, trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick. They also set him up for success, snagging D.J. Moore from the Panthers before the 2023 season, and Keenan Allen & Gerald Everett before this season. They also snagged him Rome Odunze, by WR2 in the draft, with the ninth overall pick. We haven’t seen a Bears’ QB setup for success like this since they got Jay Cutler had Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, and Matt Forte. That might not feel like that was that long ago, but this is the tenth anniversary of the last time they all played together.
2024 Outlook:
Caleb Williams will be set up for success immediately, and he has a profile that would fit immediately into top-ten consideration by season’s end. I don’t foresee him bottoming out like Bryce Young did last year, as the Bears are giving him weapons to succeed, something that escapes the Panthers. He’s draftable as a tandem quarterback in a 1QB league and is an ideal second quarterback in a 2QB or Superflex league. I prefer him over guys like Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert, Jared Goff, and Trevor Lawrence.
TALENT:
2024 OPPORTUNITY:
2024 OUTLOOK:
Round 1, Pick 9: Rome Odunze, Washington (6’3” 212 lbs)
[Note: The following is an excerpt from our Round One Instant Reaction piece.]
Talent:
Rome Odunze is the most fun receiver to watch in the top five, as he is a great blend of speed, strength, and toughness to immediately become a team’s #1 wide receiver. He is a strong receiver, with good contested catch ability thanks to his ball-tracking ability, his good late hands, and his body control. He runs a variety of routes and wins with a blend of speed and power after he catches the football. He can simply outfight many defenders in the NFL, especially if he goes to a team with a strong WR1 that will take the best defender away from him.
There’s not a whole lot to sway about Rome Odunze: he has an incredibly well-rounded skill set, and he is already well-refined as a wide receiver. He is a blend of Harrison & Nabers, and he takes the good from his Harrison side to make him the #2 receiver in my opinion in this class. Destination might be a problem, as he is a top-fifteen pick in this draft, and those teams will give him some trouble with consistent target volume.
NFL Comparison: Keenan Allen
2024 Opportunity:
That NFL comparison makes me extremely excited for Rome Odunze’s future in Chicago. Odunze already has the talent to stick as a top-10 to top-15 wide receiver for years to come, but having the opportunity to sit behind Allen and learn at his feet will do a ton to develop Odunze throughout his career. The keyword there is sit, which is… he’s the third-best receiver on his team, despite his talent. I don’t see a world where Caleb Williams throws enough in his rookie year to sustain three wide receivers. The record for rookie pass attempts and yards both belong to Andrew Luck, who threw for 4,374 yards on 627 attempts back in 2012. Even then, he had only two receivers over 90 targets. There just isn’t room for Rome in his rookie year, but that’s not why the Bears took him. They took him to grow and develop with Caleb.
2024 Fantasy Football Outlook:
I am not bullish on Rome Odunze his rookie year. We just saw this happen with Jaxson Smith-Njigba last year, where two absolute stud receivers were ahead of him on the depth chart. It choked out JSN, and it will choke out Odunze. I fear he won’t have the targets to matter in his rookie year. He’s on my watch list, but I don’t know how he finishes as a top-36 receiver in his rookie year without an injury to D.J. Moore and/or Keenan Allen this season.
