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How Rome Odunze Rates in Quest for Bears to Pick Up Fifth-Year Option

The Chicago Bears have a decision to make on the fifth-year option for their 2024 first-round receiver and it appears routine, although what happens after that is anyone's guess.
Gene Chamberlain|
Rome Odunze can't come up with Caleb Williams throw against Tampa Bay in a 27-24 Bears win.
Rome Odunze can't come up with Caleb Williams throw against Tampa Bay in a 27-24 Bears win. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

One player whose Bears future looked somewhat murky as this season began was wide receiver Rome Odunze. At the mid-point, it actually appears more partly cloudy than murky.

Drafted ninth overall in 2024, Odunze's fifth-year option comes due in May. It would seem likely the Bears would pick this up based on his performance to date, even if some dropped passes and his lack of huge receiving numbers seem to set off some Bears fans on social media. His injury last year might have been the only reason he didn't come up with really nice numbers through two seasons.

Odunze is trending up with three straight four-catch games and 216 yards in those three games. His first TD catch of the season came in the last game. Pro Football Reference lists him with three drops this year.

There are some reasons to suspect Odunze might not be part of the Bears' long-term future. For instance, the receiver position he plays wasn't a vital one in Ben Johnson's offense at Detroit and the positions played by Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III were. However, Johnson has Caleb Williams use Odunze enough as a downfield threat to show he has already adjusted the attack to provide for more balance.

The main reason Odunze would seem an ideal candidate to remain in Chicago at least through 2027 is the very low bar for first-round NFL wide receivers looking to get their fifth-year options picked up.

How others performed

The most productive first-round receiver to have his fifth-year option declined during this decade was Jahan Dotson, who had 103 catches for 1,257 yards and 11 touchdowns for three years. Odunze is already well beyond the first two numbers at 130 catches for 1,923 yards and is one TD short of Dotson's 11-TD mark but still has eight games left in his third season.

The other first-round receivers whose fifth-year options were declined this decade were Jalen Reagor, Kadarius Toney, Treylon Burks, and Henry Ruggs. None of them came close to Dotson's numbers.

Teams rapidly made decisions on those players and traded them before they had to pick up the fifth-year option. Ruggs wasn't traded, though. He was imprisoned after pleading guilty to felony DUI causing death, as well as misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.

Just because a player gets his option picked up doesn't mean he's part of the future.

It wouldn't be a first for the Bears to pick up a fifth-year option and then not extend a player. See Leonard Floyd as an example. However, it's a rare thing in the league, and that was GM Ryan Pace and not GM Ryan Poles who did it. Still, that would be classified as the Jerry Jeudy route. The Broncos picked up Jeudy's option but then traded him after the fourth year.

The big question will be the cash for Odunze's extension, if they do decide on picking up the option and don't trade him. With Caleb Williams' extension possible at the same time as Odunze's, the cash can become tight.

Jaxon Smith Njigba got a four-year extension at $168.6 million and Ja'Marr Chase four years and $161 million. Another group has come in at deals ranging from four years and $130 million to $141 million, including Zay Flowers, Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Justin Jefferson, and Chris Olave.

Some first-round receivers who did get their options picked up wound up with three-year extensions. Detroit's Jameson Williams was one. He got $83 million for three years but had knee injury problems that kept him off the field when he first came to the Lions. Others were Jaylon Waddle at three years and $84.75 million and DeVonta Smith at three years and $75 million.

Something with fewer years is always a possibility, depending on Odunze's continued production this year. Smith averaged over 1,000 yards in his first three seasons but still had just a three-year contract. Waddle was over 1,100 yards averaged in his first three years. Odunze hasn't hit 1,000 yards yet for one season.

Odunze's production the rest of this season will dictate where he comes in cash-wise with that huge group of first-round receivers from the 2024 class, one that includes Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., Xavier Worthy, Ricky Pearsall, and Xavier Legette. As it stands, Odunze is fifth among his own draft class in catches, fourth in yardage and sixth in touchdowns.

What's important, though, is how the Bears see his fit within their own offense's future and their cap.

It can't hurt that Odunze has forged a good relationship on and off the field with his quarterback as members of that 2024 class. This is the kind of thing that can weigh heavily on a player's side when the production is borderline.

In Odunze's case, he still has the rest of this season to show he's far above that low bar for fifth-year options, as well as a good fit for the offense's future.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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