Who Should I Start? Rome Odunze or Tetairoa McMillan

Thursday, January 29, 12:00 PM

Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze was a popular preseason breakout candidate in fantasy football going into his sophomore campaign in 2025, mainly because of new head coach Ben Johnson. Fantasy managers who drafted Odunze were stoked early on, as he caught 20 of his 35 targets for 296 yards and five touchdowns in the first four weeks. That's where the good news last season ended, as the 23-year-old second-year pass-catcher only had one 100-yard game and scored just one more touchdown all year to finish with a 44-661-6 line in 12 games. Odunze missed the final five games of the regular season due to a stress fracture in his foot, and he caught four of his 12 targets for 88 yards in two postseason contests. It was a disappointing end to what could have been a second-year breakout. The good news is that he won't need surgery on his foot, and his chemistry with rising young quarterback Caleb Williams is strong. There's still a lot of upside with Odunze, but the emergence of young receiver Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland could cap his ceiling in the years to come.

Thursday, February 5, 4:52 PM

Carolina Panthers first-round wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was named the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year on Thursday night, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. McMillan got to work right away after Carolina took him eighth overall in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Arizona. The 22-year-old operated as quarterback Bryce Young's top target from the get-go and finished his rookie campaign with 70 receptions on 122 targets for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns in 17 regular-season games. He also caught five of his seven targets for 81 yards in the Wild-Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams in his first career playoff game. McMillan's strong chemistry with Young bodes well for his future, and he'll head into Year 2 in 2026 with clear WR1 potential, although the lack of passing volume in Carolina's offense could be an issue.