The Chicago Bears will be in the mix for one of the best wide receivers in the 2024 NFL draft at pick No. 9 and will to meet with that player sometime next week.
Brady Henderson of ESPN’s NFL Nation reported on Thursday, March 28 that the Bears will host wideout Rome Odunze of the Washington Huskies to a pre-draft meeting in the coming days, as will a handful of other franchises.
“Washington WR Rome Odunze, projected to be drafted early in the first round, tells me he has upcoming meetings with the Cardinals, Jets and Bears at those teams’ facilities,” Henderson wrote. “The Giants also flew him out for a meeting after the combine.”
Bears Have Shot to Select Rome Odunze if Draft Dominoes Fall Just Right
The Cardinals select at No. 4 and the Giants pick at No. 6, which could mean that Odunze is off the board before Chicago ever gets a chance to draft him. However, that the team is taking the time to host the receiver at all means it believes there is at least a chance Odunze falls to No. 9 and that the Bears will be reasonably interested in selecting him if he does.
There are several trade scenarios that could impact the way the top four or five picks play out, with organizations like the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos potentially interested in trying to move up for a quarterback. There are also wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr. of Ohio State and Malik Nabers of LSU to consider.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. currently projects Harrison to go No. 4 to Arizona, Nabers to go fifth to the Los Angeles Chargers and Odunze to come off the board sixth and head to New York.
“The Giants have improved their receiving corps over the past two years — Darius Slayton, Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson are their top three guys right now — but they don’t have a true No. 1 guy who can dominate on the outside,” Kiper wrote. “They could add that in Odunze, a touchdown machine in a 6-foot-3 frame.”
Kiper’s projections, however, don’t take into account trades that have yet to occur, even if they are likely to happen eventually. There is a reasonable chance that one of the three teams selecting between 4-6 moves off its pick for a king’s ransom, which might ultimately result in Odunze dropping to Chicago at No. 9.
Rome Odunze’s Status as 3rd-Best Wideout in Draft Class May Benefit Bears
Meanwhile, Kiper and other prominent NFL analysts believe that Harrison and Nabers are the Nos. 1 and 2 receiver prospects in this year’s class — in some order.
“There are some NFL personnel men who believe Malik Nabers is this draft class’ top wideout,” Adam Schefter of ESPN posted to X on Wednesday.
For argument’s sake, let’s imagine the Chargers trade out of the No. 5 spot with the Vikings and the rest of the draft plays out as Kiper sees it. In that scenario, the top six picks see teams select four quarterbacks and two wideouts, and those two receivers are Harrison and Nabers — in some order — at pick Nos. 4 and 6.
Kiper predicts the Tennessee Titans will take a left tackle at No. 7 and the Atlanta Falcons will pick the best edge rusher on their board at No. 8. That would leave Odunze for Chicago at No. 9, and he might simply be too elite of a talent to pass up that low in the draft.
The Bears could leverage Odunze’s value to trade out of the 9th spot, especially if the team intends to extend Pro Bowl wideout Keenan Allen, who it acquired via a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers for a fourth-rounder earlier in March. But the chance to pair Odunze with DJ Moore and quarterback Caleb Williams of USC — Chicago’s prospective No. 1 overall pick — may be too exciting of a prospect to ignore.
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