LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze walked into his press conference Tuesday with his eyes glued to his tablet, watching back clips from practice as he anxiously awaits his first preseason reps as a member of the Chicago Bears.
“I like to watch it when its fresh on my mind so, one, I can give myself pointers,” Odunze said. “And two, going into the film room, you have an idea of what you want to talk about, or questions you want to ask.”
After being held out with the rest of the Bears starters in the NFL’s annual Canton Pro Football Hall of Fame game, Odunze has continued to absorb as much as he can from established veterans like Keenan Allen and DJ Moore in Chicago’s receiver room.
“I just try to take in every route that they run and what they see in different coverages, they’re probably annoyed with me with all the things that I ask about,” Odunze said. “But I try to gain as much information as possible, but sometimes I look back and I’m like, ‘Man I’m not even going to ask a question about that.’
“Whatever he did right there, that’s something special for him. That’s one thing that you garner too. Sometimes I watch Keenan. sometimes I watch DJ. They do things and I’m like, ‘Okay, I don’t know if that’s in my playbook, but I’m going to have to figure out a different way to get the route done because they’re special in that way.”
Allen was quick to heap praise back on Odunze too, who said the former Washington Huskie is far ahead of where most rookies are when they enter the NFL.
“He’s polished, you don’t have to teach him how to play receiver. He came in and he knows how to play the game. He was well coached in college,” Allen said. “Now, all he has to do is learn the offense.”
State of the offensive line
Starting right tackle Darnell Wright and left guard Teven Jenkins returned to practice Tuesday, which Eberflus said makes it more likely rookie quarterback Caleb Williams — Along with the rest of their first-team starters — will play Saturday at the Buffalo Bills, but that decision will wait until later in the week to be made official.
“You want continuity and you want consistency, and that’s what you’re getting to,” Eberflus said. “We’ll go as fast as we can to make that decision, but we’ll also have our patience and go as slow as we need to, to make the right decision.”
After missing a week with a groin injury, starting right guard Nate Davis did not participate in team drills Tuesday, and according to Eberflus, his lack of availability so far in camp has created competition at his position in the interior of the offensive line.
“If a person is out for an extended period of time, then a player that’s in that position is playing very well at a starter level, then you create the competition,” Eberflus said. “People say you can’t lose a job because of injury, I don’t think that’s true.
“I think that if the guy that’s playing there gives our team a good look and a good benefit for him being in that position, then it’s a competition, or the other guy could take it over, but that’s not just at guard, that’s at all positions.”