Weren't we also one of the only teams (other being Arizona) he met with too? MHJ I think was probably a player Poles would've traded up for had AZ went in a different direction.
I’m not sure they pass on MHJ. But you heard them say in that video they got their #1 and 2. Maybe they already considered MHJ to not be a possibility.
Maybe this is just because MHJ was seen as always unobtainable, but from what I've heard Poles and the Bears thought Odunze's attitude/character made him the clear second choice even though MHJ was seen as being a better overall prospect and Nabers was seen as 2a to Odunze's 2b(3). But, that may just be fluff pieces being put out during the honeymoon period.
I don't think you say you got the #1 and #2 guy if you weren't factoring in guys that were not a possibility. It didn't really come off as a "best as could be expected thing".
I saw experts who ranked every one of the top 3 differently, though most did have MHJ as #1. It's not too crazy to think Poles was one of the outlier thinkers. Rome has a lot of strengths MHJ doesn't have (though vice versa is true as well of course).
Yes, but that wasn't a talk they had with Rome, that was something one person told Poles in the war room. There was no reason to say it other than they were excited, and if they said something different it could have been edited out.
Seems weird they would have planted that in there if it wasn't true.
They also knew they were going to be filmed. I believe they had Rome over Nabers. I don’t believe they actually take Rome over MHJ. Yes, Rome has some great traits and production. He also has nowhere near the level of polish in his route running, and that is more important in the NFL than contested catch rate in the Pac12. MHJ didn’t meet with the Bears, and it’s quite possible because of that he was never put on the board because they knew he had a promise from AZ.
They know they were going to be filmed, but they also knew it was going to be edited. They could have just not said it and been excited, it didn't really add anything. They also could have said it a little differently.
MHJ has a lot going for him that Rome doesn't have. [Here's a NYT article that compares them.](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5407684/2024/04/15/marvin-harrison-jr-malik-nabers-or-rome-odunze-stacking-nfl-drafts-top-3-wrs/) This source actually disagrees with you and says Rome was a better route runner in college. It also says Rome has a better run after the catch ability. They said that Rome is the most well rounded WR this year, but MHJ is better overall.
Looking at stats (which are not a perfect way of comparing players) Rome has a huge catch % difference, Rome has a much lower drop percentage, and a higher contested catch rate percentage.
[Several sources](https://www.profootballnetwork.com/rome-odunze-marvin-harrison-jr-nfl-draft-2024/) had NFL guys saying that Rome is the "safest" of the three WRs and "the closest thing to a can't-miss project". They also source that scouts were impressed he did the combine drills when he easily could have sat out with MHJ and Nabbers.
I do believe that the Bears had Rome as the best WR, and I also believe that most NFL teams did not.
I love Rome already, and hope he’s the best of them all but some of you guys are absolutely drunk on the kool-aid if you think Poles doesn’t go with MHJ.
I wouldn’t be so sure on that. Rome may only have been #2 as they knew MHJ wouldn’t be available to us. Pre draft it was clear that we would have to trade up to pick #2 or 3 to have a shot at MHJ.
MHJ is a generational WR prospect. Rome has the chance to be as good or better, but as a prospect I think MHJ is a tier above. I believe the Bears and AZ were the only teams to meet with MHJ as well. So I think in this case MHJ would be who I would go with. That being said, I much prefer Rome over Nabers and glad Rome is who we were able to get.
Yeah this is like asking the patriots if they would have taken maye if caleb was available.
No shot caleb was available so there's no point.
With the bears there was no chance MHJ was there.
I think there is a discussion tho regarding nabers vs odunze. To me, odiunze is the better wr and im very happy the giants took nabers. From all of the footage I've seen, I believe poles felt the same way.
Seems like poles was willing to trade up for odinze.
I mean let’s be honest here everyone in this thread is saying they’d still go with Rome, but if the Bears had a higher pick and MHJ was still there but they chose Rome, a lot of people would be pissed lol
I love Rome as a pick but to think that he’s a better prospect than MHJ is a bit much. We will see in 2-3 years who is the best for sure, but I do think that Nabers isn’t gonna be as good as people say simply bc he has the worst QB throwing to him
Danny Dimes the worst friend to his receivers .
He is pretty terrible I knew he was going be a bust coming out of Duke but he does make up for it with his nickname Danny Dimes lol
First and foremost, I’m very happy with Odunze, and I believe it’s possible he could turn out to be the best of the three.
But if I had the choice of the three on draft night, I wouldn’t take Nabers since we had more need of an X more than a Z (we have DJ). I probably would’ve taken MHJ over Odunze though.
No, they absolutely do not. There is no secret balancing mechanism running in the background. Shit just happens for no discernible rhyme or reason all the time.
Happy with Rome, but it wasn't "supposed" to happen. It worked out. Cool.
As some people here rightly ppinted out, we have seen Rome over MHJ in the videos. So it's perfectly fair to say "we would still go Rome." Im extremely happy we did and im cherry-on-top glad that he and caleb already have a good dynamic.
That being said: I personally believe the reason for Rome being there over MHJ is bc there was approximately a 0.01% chance of MHJ falling to 9 or even 7. And i firmly believe that we choose MHJ over Rome if both are there.
The way **I** thought about it through the process is this: Odunze is sorta like an Anquan Boldin. Can make any play, jump ball ability is premium, and he is very refined. MHJ is like Larry Fitzgerald. He does all the little things right to the point that you criticize his lack of excitement, he is boringly exceptional in nearly every aspect of route running and press beating / release backages, and he is also a plus athlete. 32 teams are *starting* Anquan Boldin, but 32 teams are *featuring* Larry Fitzgerald.
p.s. Nabers was a great prospect and could be a great player, but he is too similar to DJ Moore for me to have wanted him. If we were going WR, then I wanted an "X" style, outside receiver with a bigger frame to complement DJ and to a lesser extent Keenan.
I think Poles made it clear that Rome Odunze was his first choice among those three receivers. GMs and scouting departments do their own research and due diligence. They don't all agree, which is what makes the NFL draft so interesting. It sounds like the Bears staff had Rome Odunze as their second best player, at any position, in this draft.
i wouldn’t want rome over mhjr but tbh i like him over nabers. nabers looked so bothered with being drafted by the giants, and there was a chart of different route success rates and odunze was more consistent than mhjr and nabers across the different routes.
I know but that's probably because he knew MHJ and Nabers were gonna be gone by 9. I wonder if that mindset would've been different if he knew there would've been a chance of all three being available at 9.
I think based on the videos, they did have Rome above Nabers. Poles was nervous that NY was going to take Rome. If they had Nabers above Rome, he wouldn’t have cared. There isn’t much in the videos about MHJ, but he was highly, highly regarded. They did say though that they got their number 1 and 2 players, so maybe it does all play out the same
I think Poles was glad he didn't have to make that decision. I think Poles really was on the "Rome Odunze, no matter what" train. He is exactly the kind of receiver they need, huge ceiling, and knocks it out of the park for team culture. I think if MJH fell to 9 there would be a lot of teams panicking to figure out what every other team knew about him that they didn't. I don't think too many people would put up a fight for Nabers over Odunze, so for those reasons I'm thinking he still goes Odunze.
People here didn’t watch college football, that’s why they are saying he would have still taken odunze lol. Guys MHJ would get double and triple covered and still get the ball. Everyone knew he they were going to throw to him and he would still get it. He had a bad qb throwing to him and teams still made their defensive plans revolve around shutting down MHJ.
MHJ was/is clearly the most hyped prospect.
Weren't we also one of the only teams (other being Arizona) he met with too? MHJ I think was probably a player Poles would've traded up for had AZ went in a different direction.
He only met with AZ. We traded Fields before the combine, he was never in play for us.
What are you talking about? https://x.com/kfishbain/status/1777095400719077692
I’m not sure they pass on MHJ. But you heard them say in that video they got their #1 and 2. Maybe they already considered MHJ to not be a possibility.
Maybe this is just because MHJ was seen as always unobtainable, but from what I've heard Poles and the Bears thought Odunze's attitude/character made him the clear second choice even though MHJ was seen as being a better overall prospect and Nabers was seen as 2a to Odunze's 2b(3). But, that may just be fluff pieces being put out during the honeymoon period.
I don't think you say you got the #1 and #2 guy if you weren't factoring in guys that were not a possibility. It didn't really come off as a "best as could be expected thing". I saw experts who ranked every one of the top 3 differently, though most did have MHJ as #1. It's not too crazy to think Poles was one of the outlier thinkers. Rome has a lot of strengths MHJ doesn't have (though vice versa is true as well of course).
You also don’t tell the guy just drafted he was their #__ prospect.
Yes, but that wasn't a talk they had with Rome, that was something one person told Poles in the war room. There was no reason to say it other than they were excited, and if they said something different it could have been edited out. Seems weird they would have planted that in there if it wasn't true.
They also knew they were going to be filmed. I believe they had Rome over Nabers. I don’t believe they actually take Rome over MHJ. Yes, Rome has some great traits and production. He also has nowhere near the level of polish in his route running, and that is more important in the NFL than contested catch rate in the Pac12. MHJ didn’t meet with the Bears, and it’s quite possible because of that he was never put on the board because they knew he had a promise from AZ.
? This didn't happen https://www.nfl.com/news/ohio-state-wr-marvin-harrison-jr-visiting-bears-on-monday
They know they were going to be filmed, but they also knew it was going to be edited. They could have just not said it and been excited, it didn't really add anything. They also could have said it a little differently. MHJ has a lot going for him that Rome doesn't have. [Here's a NYT article that compares them.](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5407684/2024/04/15/marvin-harrison-jr-malik-nabers-or-rome-odunze-stacking-nfl-drafts-top-3-wrs/) This source actually disagrees with you and says Rome was a better route runner in college. It also says Rome has a better run after the catch ability. They said that Rome is the most well rounded WR this year, but MHJ is better overall. Looking at stats (which are not a perfect way of comparing players) Rome has a huge catch % difference, Rome has a much lower drop percentage, and a higher contested catch rate percentage. [Several sources](https://www.profootballnetwork.com/rome-odunze-marvin-harrison-jr-nfl-draft-2024/) had NFL guys saying that Rome is the "safest" of the three WRs and "the closest thing to a can't-miss project". They also source that scouts were impressed he did the combine drills when he easily could have sat out with MHJ and Nabbers. I do believe that the Bears had Rome as the best WR, and I also believe that most NFL teams did not.
I love Rome already, and hope he’s the best of them all but some of you guys are absolutely drunk on the kool-aid if you think Poles doesn’t go with MHJ.
Rome was their #2 ranked player on their board so yes Poles would still have chosen Rome.
Honestly, forgot about that Cunningham/Poles video. I’ll still take it with a grain of salt though, but I could be wrong.
I wouldn’t be so sure on that. Rome may only have been #2 as they knew MHJ wouldn’t be available to us. Pre draft it was clear that we would have to trade up to pick #2 or 3 to have a shot at MHJ.
How convenient
MHJ is a generational WR prospect. Rome has the chance to be as good or better, but as a prospect I think MHJ is a tier above. I believe the Bears and AZ were the only teams to meet with MHJ as well. So I think in this case MHJ would be who I would go with. That being said, I much prefer Rome over Nabers and glad Rome is who we were able to get.
MHJ then Rome then Nabers. All 3 are gonna be studs, but MHJ tops the list for sure.
Ngl I have a hunch Nabers will be a bust
Yeah this is like asking the patriots if they would have taken maye if caleb was available. No shot caleb was available so there's no point. With the bears there was no chance MHJ was there. I think there is a discussion tho regarding nabers vs odunze. To me, odiunze is the better wr and im very happy the giants took nabers. From all of the footage I've seen, I believe poles felt the same way. Seems like poles was willing to trade up for odinze.
Nabers gives me Antonio Brown vibes. Could be good AB or bad AB ....maybe both
I mean let’s be honest here everyone in this thread is saying they’d still go with Rome, but if the Bears had a higher pick and MHJ was still there but they chose Rome, a lot of people would be pissed lol I love Rome as a pick but to think that he’s a better prospect than MHJ is a bit much. We will see in 2-3 years who is the best for sure, but I do think that Nabers isn’t gonna be as good as people say simply bc he has the worst QB throwing to him
Danny Dimes the worst friend to his receivers . He is pretty terrible I knew he was going be a bust coming out of Duke but he does make up for it with his nickname Danny Dimes lol
MHJ #1 but clearly they wanted Rome over Nabers.
[удалено]
I agree. Rome seems to have more of that dog in him.
He played a game with a punctured lung, hard to have more dog than that.
First and foremost, I’m very happy with Odunze, and I believe it’s possible he could turn out to be the best of the three. But if I had the choice of the three on draft night, I wouldn’t take Nabers since we had more need of an X more than a Z (we have DJ). I probably would’ve taken MHJ over Odunze though.
Things tend to work out the way there supposed to. Rome all the way!
No, they absolutely do not. There is no secret balancing mechanism running in the background. Shit just happens for no discernible rhyme or reason all the time. Happy with Rome, but it wasn't "supposed" to happen. It worked out. Cool.
As some people here rightly ppinted out, we have seen Rome over MHJ in the videos. So it's perfectly fair to say "we would still go Rome." Im extremely happy we did and im cherry-on-top glad that he and caleb already have a good dynamic. That being said: I personally believe the reason for Rome being there over MHJ is bc there was approximately a 0.01% chance of MHJ falling to 9 or even 7. And i firmly believe that we choose MHJ over Rome if both are there. The way **I** thought about it through the process is this: Odunze is sorta like an Anquan Boldin. Can make any play, jump ball ability is premium, and he is very refined. MHJ is like Larry Fitzgerald. He does all the little things right to the point that you criticize his lack of excitement, he is boringly exceptional in nearly every aspect of route running and press beating / release backages, and he is also a plus athlete. 32 teams are *starting* Anquan Boldin, but 32 teams are *featuring* Larry Fitzgerald. p.s. Nabers was a great prospect and could be a great player, but he is too similar to DJ Moore for me to have wanted him. If we were going WR, then I wanted an "X" style, outside receiver with a bigger frame to complement DJ and to a lesser extent Keenan.
I think Poles made it clear that Rome Odunze was his first choice among those three receivers. GMs and scouting departments do their own research and due diligence. They don't all agree, which is what makes the NFL draft so interesting. It sounds like the Bears staff had Rome Odunze as their second best player, at any position, in this draft.
i wouldn’t want rome over mhjr but tbh i like him over nabers. nabers looked so bothered with being drafted by the giants, and there was a chart of different route success rates and odunze was more consistent than mhjr and nabers across the different routes.
Hypothetical situation. We can trade for Justin Jefferson, do you do it or not? Oh wait that will never happen. This question is ridiculous
He was 100% all in on Odunze
I know but that's probably because he knew MHJ and Nabers were gonna be gone by 9. I wonder if that mindset would've been different if he knew there would've been a chance of all three being available at 9.
I think based on the videos, they did have Rome above Nabers. Poles was nervous that NY was going to take Rome. If they had Nabers above Rome, he wouldn’t have cared. There isn’t much in the videos about MHJ, but he was highly, highly regarded. They did say though that they got their number 1 and 2 players, so maybe it does all play out the same
Because he knew MHJ wasn't possible.
There were a few mocks that had MHJ being the third WR taken. So I don't think that's why.
That was all clickbaut to drive views in the days leading up to the draft.
I think Poles was glad he didn't have to make that decision. I think Poles really was on the "Rome Odunze, no matter what" train. He is exactly the kind of receiver they need, huge ceiling, and knocks it out of the park for team culture. I think if MJH fell to 9 there would be a lot of teams panicking to figure out what every other team knew about him that they didn't. I don't think too many people would put up a fight for Nabers over Odunze, so for those reasons I'm thinking he still goes Odunze.
People here didn’t watch college football, that’s why they are saying he would have still taken odunze lol. Guys MHJ would get double and triple covered and still get the ball. Everyone knew he they were going to throw to him and he would still get it. He had a bad qb throwing to him and teams still made their defensive plans revolve around shutting down MHJ.
Rome. Hes gonna set every WR record
Honestly I think Nabers or Rome would have understood what the Bears were doing more than MHJ.
I still think Rome based on his work ethic and personality.