Who Should I Start? Rashod Bateman or Rome Odunze

Wednesday, June 3, 4:44 PM

Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze (foot) had a somewhat alarming answer on Wednesday when he was asked when his injured foot from last season felt normal again, saying, "This is my new normal. And it's not from a standpoint that I'm always in pain, but the way my foot broke there's callouses in there that create a different type of foot structure with those bones -- different types of things that kind of shift things around. So my new normal is kind of what I am going into." It's not exactly what you want to hear from a third-year player and former first-rounder who played in just 12 regular-season games in 2025 due to his foot injury. The former ninth overall pick in 2024 out of the University of Washington looked to be on his way to a Year 2 breakout last season after catching 20 passes for 296 yards and five touchdowns in his first four games, but he only had one 100-yard game and one touchdown the rest of the way while missing five games. There is less competition for targets in Chicago now that DJ Moore is in Buffalo, but second-year wideout Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland are both capable of much larger roles. Odunze may never live up to his draft capital as a top-10 pick, and he's most definitely a faller heading into his third NFL season.