Rome Odunze shows all the makings of a fantasy football star. Check out a breakdown of his first three games as well as analysis for the rest of the season.

The Chicago Bears drafted Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft with expectations the wideout would grow into one of the league’s top talents. After an underwhelming rookie season in which he showed brief flashes of greatness, the 23-year-old talent now finds himself in the midst of a breakout stretch to open his sophomore campaign. It appears Odunze truly is ascending in the wide receiver rankings, and the same rings particularly true for fantasy football purposes.

In light of an impressive open to the 2025 season, we’re breaking down Odunze’s fantasy football success.

Rome Odunze: WR1?

As a draft prospect out of Washington in 2024, Odunze brought elite pedigree to the table after leading the PAC-12 in receiving yards over his final two seasons, including a monster 2023 in which he racked up 92 catches for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns. Between his production and a 6-foot-2 frame with impressive athleticism, it was easy to see why the Bears selected him in the first round to pair with No. 1 pick Caleb Williams at quarterback. While Odunze’s rookie season in Chicago wasn’t bad by any means, he didn’t quite live up to the expectation set by fellow rookies such as Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. who each posted historic campaigns.

Still, a 54-734-3 receiving line as a rookie was nothing to scoff at for Odunze, especially while operating in an offense with poor play-calling under a head coach who was eventually fired, as well as one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines and a first-year quarterback under center. Once the Bears hired offensive mastermind Ben Johnson over the offseason, the hype train began boarding and fully took off when the coaching staff talked about wanting to use him as the top target in the offense. As it turns out, those quotes weren’t just ‘coachspeak’ and truly were a sign of things to come.

Through the first three weeks of 2025, Odunze averages 20.9 FPPG and comes in as the overall and per-game WR3. He’s seen 27 targets and hauled in 16 of those for 227 yards and four touchdowns, already surpassing last season’s total in trips to the end zone. The production looks very impressive, and with his role in the offense, the 23-year-old should continue to post strong performances as the campaign continues.

Elite usage

To this point, Odunze sees the 12th-best target share of any wideout at 28.4%. That mark puts him squarely behind Nico Collins and Mike Evans but just ahead of Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown, so the second-year standout finds himself in great company in that regard. Odunze’s 27 total targets also tie him for seventh-most, and his four red-zone targets tie for sixth-most at the position. If there’s one thing to learn from this usage, it’s that he truly has the workload of a superstar’s in the Bears’ offense under Johnson.

Not only is Odunze’s opportunity share better this season, but the deployment he sees brings a little bit more upside as well. Of course, he still profiles as a prototypical X receiver thanks to his stature, but he’s running around 33% of his routes from the slot with a target on 30% of those. It’d be nice to see a little bit of an uptick, but the good news is that this staff doesn’t view him solely as an outside threat. These layup attempts allow Odunze to leverage his speed and size mismatch to create after the catch, and while he can still grow his game in this area, he brings more of a threat with his legs than many other players at the position do.

Looking at Odunze’s route chart, it’s clear to see where he truly excels. Out-breaking routes toward the sidelines make up a large portion of his catches, and he’s put ball skills on display with some very nice toe-tap grabs to stay inbounds. His catch radius is also fantastic, highlighted by a diving grab across the middle of the field in Week 3. Overall, it’s very encouraging to see targets at all three levels of the field, including a couple of deep shots as well.

Will this continue?

By all means, fantasy managers can comfortably pencil Odunze as a reliable starter for the remainder of the season. With his usage as a top option in the Bears’ offense as Johnson schemes up opportunities, the Washington product brings a very safe floor (especially in PPR formats) as a WR2 with clear-cut WR1 upside when he finds the end zone. While his rate of four touchdowns in three games likely regresses some, Odunze remains the favorite target of Caleb Williams and should see plenty of looks with a star-caliber workload. Plus, he’s a red-zone threat in an offense which shows signs of growth.

After logging a 71st-percentile grade against man coverage and 87th-percentile score against press last season per Reception Perception, Odunze posted a quality rookie year and has shown clear signs of growth to begin year two. The second-year leap feels very real based on the stats and film seen over the first three weeks of action, earning a deserved leap in the redraft and dynasty wide receiver rankings — the sky feels like the limit for the young star as the breakout continues.