Roma Odunze began to reserve it.
The No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft saw his classmate move on from the Chicago Bears.
With just over two minutes left in a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Caleb Williams was stepping out of the pocket. The designed play was over. The fun was about to begin.
Odunze ran down the left sideline, slowly separating himself from his defender. He realized there was nothing between him and the end zone, so he kept going.
Williams validated the decision, launching a deep pass just out of the defender’s hands and right into Odunze’s.
Forty-five yards. Seven yards from the goal line. Williams would score a touchdown from the free yard line.
“It was a broken play where Caleb was making people miss in the backfield and I realized it pretty early and was able to take the top off the defense and create some separation,” Odunze told Yahoo Sports over Zoom on Tuesday. “It hit me right at the right time.
“It’s something I think fans can continue to expect from us… and I hope there’s more to come.”
Did the Bears also expect such theatrics? Yes and no.
On one hand, Chicago selected Williams first overall for his spectacular playmaking ability, including off-frame plays like that 45-yard bomb. The team also selected Odunze, knowing that an off-frame quarterback needs an off-frame receiver as a key partner.
Odunze demonstrated that in Washington with quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
“One thing that stood out was (Odunze’s) different ability to play off-schedule,” offensive coordinator Shane Waldron told Yahoo Sports. “He was able to find open spots and had some big plays that way.”
“He was the man Penix turned to in those critical situations.”
So the Williams-Odunze connection isn’t surprising.
But if the rookie duo can replicate that kind of showmanship against more complex NFL defenses in the regular season, they’ll be showing something that wasn’t something that could be taken for granted because at the start of training camp, they still weren’t on the same page.
The difference was on display during the Bears’ final unpadded practice of training camp, a segment of the NFL schedule that largely boils down to passing game camp.
During the July 25 session, the game barely resembled the final result and the tackling wasn’t in full swing yet. But Williams and Odunze, who had played together before the draft, were working on improving their chemistry.
Odunze was a frequent target in team drills that day, with Williams looking for him on various depths of routes, including deep ones. On shorter passes, they were successful. On longer passes, not so much. Odunze took full responsibility for a mistake that probably looked more like the connection between the two than the responsibilities assigned to each player.
“I wanted to take the top off of him and have him throw the ball over his shoulder, but for him, he’s either reading wherever the defender is in a stacked position or playing over me,” Odunze told Yahoo Sports. “I need to do a better job with my release and getting separated on that play, and joining him on (what) he wants.
“We have time to solve these problems.”
In fact, Williams and Odunze were expected to get time, both because there were more than six weeks left until the start of the regular season and because Odunze joins a deep receiver room with veterans DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.
But by the second week of preseason, clear progress had been made.
“That’s definitely something I’ve improved on and it’s helped our chemistry.” Odunze said Tuesday, speaking in association with Levy, a food, beverage and hospitality partner of the Bears“I recognized the space on the field. I recognized that there was no defender on the defense, so I just took advantage of that space and allowed him to make the shot.
“Create the habit of always being prepared for that to happen.”
Odunze also credits Moore and Allen for teaching him the nuances of how to overcome influence during training. When should he reposition himself and when should he accept influence and “face off” against them to create a passing lane? The veterans have taught him each of these aspects.
Williams, meanwhile, will be able to choose his target during his NFL regular-season debut on Sept. 8 against the Tennessee Titans.
Odunze predicts the Bears will feature an explosive passing game that maximizes Allen’s ability and Moore’s physicality across the route tree. Odunze’s versatile skill set could take the roster to the top, literally and figuratively.
His warning to defensive coordinators?
“I don’t think it’s possible to stop us,” Odunze said. “I just hope we can minimize some of the damage.”
