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Rome Odunze projected to be a big-time producer for the Chicago Bears after the team selected him with the No. 9 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. While Odunze delivered a fairly successful rookie campaign, the Bears wide receiver holds himself to a higher standard and spent the offseason working on getting stronger as he enters his sophomore season.

Odunze wanted to get himself into "peak condition spiritually, mentally and physically." The Bears wideout added a few pounds of mass and got rid of some fat to help improve his upper-body strength.

"There's a lot of nitpicking and grabbing in this league that isn't always shown," Odunze said, per The Athletic. "I feel like I needed to build upper-body mass to be able to combat some of those things."

The Bears receiver hauled in 54 passes for 734 yards, which both ranked third on the team behind DJ Moore and Keenan Allen. Odunze also caught three touchdowns throughout the 2024 season in which he did show potential of being an elite wide receiver.

Odunze did record a 47-yard catch in a Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, which ended up being his longest reception of the entire season. That happened to be the most productive game of his rookie campaign as he caught six passes for 112 yards along with a one-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Caleb Williams in a 21-16 Bears loss.

"It's a different game than college football. There are different windows, different ways to get open, and there's a different pace that you have to get adapted to," Odunze added. "Having a full season under my belt, I feel like I'm aware of those things. I can now play the game freely in a way that I know where I need to be when I need to be there."

However, Odunze also experienced his fair share of growing pains throughout his rookie season. He only exceeded 50 receiving yards in two games over the course of the rest of the season. In an early November loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Odunze caught seven passes for 104 yards, but that would be his final 100-yard performance of the year.

The Bears look to make quite the leap in their first season under new coach Ben Johnson. Chicago finished the 2024 season with a 5-12 record and lost 10 of their last 11 games to finish in last place in the NFC North.