Rome Odunze has been almost entirely overshadowed by his own teammate this offseason. The one story that did involve him got mangled in the retelling and left people with the wrong impression about his health.
The actual concern is what happened after Week 4 last season. Fantasy managers should ask whether the gap between the two Chicago receivers is really this wide.
Should You Draft Rome Odunze in Fantasy Football?
In PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, Odunze currently has an ADP of 62.2, so depending on how many people are in your league, that’s about a 7th-round pick. PFN’s fantasy experts Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe are a little bit higher on him than the consensus. They have him at 53, which is WR27 overall, with 13.19 points per game in PPR formats, of course.
Odunze was on pace for over 1,000 yards last season before he got hurt and missed the final few games of the season, so naturally, he fell short of that. But Odunze was a solid producer. He maybe hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations of being a top-10 pick just yet, but he showed, especially early on in the season, that he’s capable of going off for some big games in PPR formats.
There are two big questions. One, how are the ascensions of Luther Burden and Colston Loveland going to factor into Odunze’s production? After all, he put up a lot of his numbers while both of those guys were still having relatively small roles in the offense. As the second half of the year progressed, naturally their roles got a lot bigger. Yes, DJ Moore is gone, but you’ve also got those two guys. Cole Kmet’s going to get some touches. D’Andre Swift’s going to get a decent amount of targets in PPR format as well.
With Odunze, there’s a bit of a risk, and also worth mentioning are the foot issues he’s been having. He’s getting used to his “new normal,” as far as his foot feeling different when he runs. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of a sudden he’s going to be slower. With his specific element, he can regain that speed. It’s just going to feel a little bit different for him running, and I do anticipate a slight adjustment period for him in that regard.
I’m probably going to sell Odunze at his current ADP. If he falls, and you’re in a league with a bunch of Packers fans for whatever reason where you can get him in the 70s, I’d say it’s absolutely worth looking at him around that range. I’m sorry to the Bears fans, but Odunze, I think, is getting drafted just a little bit too high in fantasy. I’m selling at his ADP.
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Rome Odunze’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
I don’t remember a 1st-round pick who earned 100+ targets as a rookie and saw environmental growth in Year 2 who generated less excitement in Year 3 than Odunze.
He came out of the gates red hot last season (35 targets earned and 5 scores last September) and saw his profile shift to more hit-and-miss as his talented teammates saw their respective stars shine.
So what?
A foot injury removed Odunze from our radar in the second half of last season, and he’s admitted to needing to adjust to a “new normal” this summer, but this is still a high-pedigree player with plus-physical traits playing in an offense that is very much trending in the right direction.
Did I mention that Luther Burden missed most of August with a groin injury?
I’ve got Odunze ranked as a WR3 this week and have no reservations about playing him in his favorable matchup. I like Chicago to score as many points as anyone in Week 1, and if Burden is hampered in any way, a double-digit target day against 2025’s 8th-most vulnerable defense on a per-deep-pass-attempt basis is well within the range of outcomes.
With time, we should get an idea of the target hierarchy in Chicago. Until then, we have no real reason to assume that we know it, and I’d rather err on the side of aggressively projecting all attached pieces instead of waiting.
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Where Odunze Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Garrett Wilson | NYJ
- Luther Burden III | CHI
- Parker Washington | JAX
- Christian Watson | GB
- Jameson Williams | DET
- Rome Odunze | CHI
- Carnell Tate | TEN
- Marvin Harrison Jr. | ARI
- DJ Moore | BUF
- Davante Adams | LAR
- Josh Downs | IND
Compare him against the rest of the board in PFN’s Full PPR Wide Receiver Rankings.
