NFL Draft recap and reaction

When former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh asked Rome Odunze if he wanted to join a workout in Los Angeles with Caleb Williams, DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, it was an easy answer.

“Hell yeah I do,” Odunze told him.

As Houshmandzadeh, who has been training Odunze, watched the workout, he thought to himself, “If Rome makes it to No. 9, the Bears will draft him.”

Thursday night, after their workout together, and after they happened to be on the same flight together to Detroit, Williams and Odunze became teammates and the future of the Chicago Bears offense.

“Once the Chargers did not draft Malik Nabers, I said, Rome’s going to the Bears,” Houshmandzadeh told The Athletic. “And this is something that he wanted once he got to that workout with Caleb Williams, this is what he wanted was to be drafted by the Bears. And so I’m just glad that it happened. And that little chemistry that they were working on now will be developed and honed in on.”

A couple of days before the draft, Bears general manager Ryan Poles heard about the workout. He thought it was “pretty cool,” but he was nervous about Odunze being available at No. 9. He was nervous about it until the Bears went on the clock Thursday night.

“When I found that out, it was cool,” Poles said, “and obviously now, that group’s worked together, which is good.”

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