Rome Odunze: Everything you need to know

Odunze said Wednesday that his foot feels different after suffering a stress fracture last year, but the wideout doesn't think his "new normal" will be "anything that's going to prohibit (him) from making plays," Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic reports. "I feel like with the break, it's just like when you tear your ACL, it's never really back to normal," Odunze said. This obviously isn't what fantasy managers want to hear, even if it's mostly just Odunze being overly honest about something that a lot of players deal with after significant injuries. He got off to a hot start in 2025 before the stress fracture torpedoed his season, and while he didn't need offseason surgery, the injury still adds an extra layer of risk to his fantasy profile for 2026 (and beyond?). Odunze seems to be a full participant at spring practices, handling his usual workload while adjusting to the different feeling in his foot. With DJ Moore gone, there's not much doubt about Odunze, Luther Burden and TE Colston Loveland serving as Chicago's top three pass catchers this coming season, in some order.

Odunze and Luther Burden are Chicago's unquestioned top WRs after the team traded DJ Moore to Buffalo, Patrick Finley of The Chicago Sun-Times reports. Moore might've only been the No. 3 receiver anyway if he'd returned to Chicago, after plummeting to a 16.0 percent target rate in 2025 while easily leading the team in routes run (512). The Bears also lost WR Oladime Zaccheaus (305 routes), who is signing with Atlanta. There's plenty of time to add competition behind Odunze and Burden, but it does seem clear that those two and TE Colston Loveland will lead the team in targets in 2026 if they stay relatively healthy. Odunze said in January that he didn't anticipate needing surgery for the foot injury that cost him five games at the end of the regular season (he returned for two postseason games, posting 2-44-0 receiving lines in both). He failed to maintain a hot start in 2025, his second pro season, but there were still some promising signs overall, including a 24.4 percent rate and six TDs in 12 regular-season games. Odunze, Burden and Loveland are all popular fantasy breakout candidates for 2026.

Odunze said Monday that he will not require surgery this offseason to address the foot injury that forced him to miss the final five games of the regular season, Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Odunze retook the field for both of Chicago's postseason contests, managing an identical 2-44-0 receiving line on six targets in each game, though he was initially listed as questionable for both the wild card round and divisional round. Across 12 regular-season appearances, the 2024 first-round pick secured 44 of 90 targets for 661 yards and six touchdowns, with injuries seemingly hampering his ability to emerge as a true leader in a Bears pass-catching corps that also features wideouts DJ Moore and Luther Burden, as well as tight ends Colston Loveland (concussion) and Cole Kmet, all of whom remain under contract for 2026.