Chicago Bears Fantasy Preview: Caleb Williams-Rome Odunze Breakout Connection Emerges

The Chicago Bears enter the 2025 fantasy football season with a loaded offense and breakout potential across the board. From Rome Odunze’s WR2 upside to Caleb Williams’ fantasy value and deep sleeper Kyle Monangai, here’s what you need to know before draft day.

Breakout Candidate

Rome Odunze, Wide Receiver

The Bears gave Odunze plenty of chances (101 targets) in his rookie season, but his timing was off with Caleb Williams based on his catch rate (53.5%). He has the look of a stud wideout with the profile to emerge as an impact WR1 with a long, successful career ahead of him.

In his rookie season, the Bears featured him as their WR3, behind DJ Moore and Keenan Allen. He has a natural progression to Chicago’s WR2 role this year, even with the Bears adding two more talented receiving options (Colston Loveland and Luther Burden) in this year's draft.

His WR3 profile screams value, but Odunze is still at the mercy of the development of Williams. He has scoring and big-game potential that should shine more over the second half of 2025.

.@RomeOdunze with hands that you can trust :🤲 pic.twitter.com/9pN3OpySc4
— NFL (@NFL) August 5, 2025

Value

Caleb Williams, Quarterback

In his rookie season, Williams had minimal moments where he made the fantasy market giddy about his potential. He ran the ball well and minimized the damage from interceptions. The next step in his development requires him to fix his command and timing issues with the football.

The Bears surrounded him with a deep core of receiving options while also upgrading their coaching staff in the offseason. Just by connecting all the dots, Williams has the tools and talent to take Chicago from the doormats of the NFC North to a division title over the next few seasons.

This draft season, Williams has a range from QB6 to QB20 depending on draft flow and league format. I expect his offensive package to gel this year, creating a winning opportunity for his price point.

Deep Sleeper

Kyle Monangai, Running Back

With the Bears bringing in Ben Johnson to lead their transition to a winning franchise, many expect their running back position to deliver a great opportunity in fantasy stats and production. D’Andre Swift should be the easy winner in this backfield, but he is coming off his heaviest touch season (295). If he has an injury, Monangai will compete for an early down active role in this offense with Roschon Johnson. He has minimal experience catching the ball, and Johnson will have the early inside track in goal-line and short-yardage situations.

Monangai will go undrafted in most leagues, but he should be a player to follow over the summer and during the regular season. The reports about him in training camp have been positive in early August.

Bears HC Ben Johnson on Kyle Monangai:

“I’m very pleased with where he’s at. I think he’s a guy we’re gonna be able to trust this fall.” pic.twitter.com/umkJZ5QjAj
— Dave (@dave_bfr) August 3, 2025

Fade / Bust

Colston Loveland, Tight End

I’m not dismissing Loveland's talent or future ceiling, but I do expect his target opportunity to be messy in his rookie season. Chicago has strength in receiving options at wide receiver, and Cole Kmet will get tight end snaps this year. The Bears showed their excitement in his outlook by drafting Loveland as the top tight end this year.

By putting him in the fade category, I’m not fighting for him in drafts and overpaying for him. I will keep an open mind if his ADP slides later this summer based on his projected role and usage in the Bears’ offense. As a borderline top 12 tight end in fantasy leagues, I don’t feel comfortable starting early in the year. The coach-speak in Chicago could also influence his movement in either direction over the next month.