Rome Odunze is the Chicago player with the most riding on this season, according to The Athletic. Kevin Fishbain made the pick as part of a July 20 rundown covering all 32 NFL teams.
The case is straightforward. Odunze came off the board eight picks after Caleb Williams in the same draft and opened last season looking ready to take over as Chicago’s primary target. A foot injury interrupted that. He returned for the playoff run and made one of the biggest catches in franchise history in the win over Green Bay, though the season also included a stretch of drops that ran counter to everything he had shown to that point.
Fishbain notes that Odunze has talked about still adjusting to how the foot feels since the fracture, a comment that landed hard with a fan base already nervous about it. The money is the other half of the argument. If Odunze establishes himself as the clear No. 1 receiver, he sets up a significant second contract, the same conversation already running around Williams. Fishbain also points out that Chicago has not given a multiyear extension to a receiver it drafted since Earl Bennett in 2011.
A comparison point already exists. Seattle extended Jaxon Smith-Njigba earlier this offseason, which reset what a productive young receiver coming off a rookie deal can command.
Four more Bears with something to settle in camp
Braxton Jones, left tackle. Jones started 2025 at left tackle and did not finish the year there. Theo Benedet and Ozzy Trapilo covered the spot after he came out of the lineup, and an injury cost him a stretch of the season plus the playoffs. He is healthy now with a real path back to the job. Benedet, Kiran Amegadjie and Jedrick Wills Jr. are all still in the picture.
Tyrique Stevenson, cornerback. Stevenson walks into another camp competition, this time against fourth-round rookie Malik Muhammad. The precedent is recent. Nahshon Wright used last year’s camp as the launching point for a Pro Bowl season nobody projected. Wright is gone and the job is open again.
Caleb Williams, quarterback. Williams enters his third Bears camp after an offseason of steady praise, which raises the familiar question of whether a team that feels good about itself in July shows up sharp in September. Chicago fans of a certain vintage have watched that go badly before.
Austin Booker, defensive end. The Bears passed on adding an established edge rusher this offseason, which leaves a role available. Booker has used camp and the preseason to draw attention in each of his first two years, and the front office did not bring in a veteran to take the snaps away from him.
