There wasn't much drama or debate about what the Chicago Bears were going to do with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Pretty much as soon as that picked was locked in, it seemed all but certain that the Bears would take USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
That top selection was the one the Bears received via trade from the Carolina Panthers, though, and they also had the No. 9 pick thanks to their own performance last season. And there was slightly more uncertainty about what would happen there, even if only because there was so much debate about what would happen in the top eight.
Early in the process, it was all about Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze, who seemed like he was going to be the third wide receiver off the board. But after the Bears traded for Keenan Allen, and especially later in the process when it seemed like the receivers could come off the board extremely quickly, rumors popped up that the Bears could instead target an offensive or defensive lineman.
Alas, Odunze fell into their laps, and general manager Ryan Poles pulled the trigger on the pick.
"Rome was at the top of our list," Poles said on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show. "We have our draft board kind of separated by different colors, and there's certain guys you don't pass up on. And Rome's one of them. It's hard to find a guy that is that big and that talented at the receiver spot and on top of that being an unbelievable human being, as well. So, there was no moving off Rome at all."
Odunze has a chance to ease into the league as a complementary option behind Allen and D.J. Moore, but he can also quickly ascend given his prodigious skill, as well as Allen's age and injury issues. And it would not be surprising if he became Williams' No. 1 target before long. When you have a trio of truly elite receiver prospects in the same class (as this year did with Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, and Odunze), that's the luxury of having two top-10 picks. The Bears were able to land their quarterback of the future, as well as a running mate for the foreseeable future.
