Scouting Profile: Rome Odunze, WR, Washington
An insanely productive & polished wide receiver amidst the insanely talented wide receiver prospects in this Draft.
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 212lbs
Class: Senior
NFL Comparison: rich man’s Mike Evans
Remember the scene in Deadpool, in which Wade Wilson fawningly tells Vanessa: "It's like I made you in a computer"?
That's how Draftniks feel about wide receiver Rome Odunze from the University of Washington.
Standing 6'2-and-a-half" and 212lbs, Odunze caught 92 passes for 1,640 Yards and 14 touchdowns in 2023, led all receivers in this year's Draft in contested catches, and ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.5 seconds at the Combine. If the sub-4.5 speed doesn't impress you, then try this on for size: Odunze took home a state title in high school in the 200 meters, with a time of 21.25 seconds; to put into context, that was only one second over the Olympic qualifying time.
The best part is, Odunze is a better receiver than he is an athlete—perhaps by a decent margin. Take, as an example, the fact that he had a superior success rate in 2023 in literally every type of route that exists on the tree. He knows how to use the subtleties in his route movements to set corners up for failure, and understands how doing one thing will result in putting defenders in conflict/out of position. He has multiple release plans for shaking free at the line of scrimmage, can drop his hips and cut in the opposite direction remarkably easily, and keeps defensive backs on their heels because he shows virtually no tells in his routes.
Odunze possesses elite hand-eye-body coordination, knowing when to use his athleticism and when to use his size/strength to defeat defensive backs. Once the ball is in the air, he's very savvy in using his hands to swipe off jams and create just enough separation as the ball arrives. It doesn't matter where the ball arrives, though, since Odunze hauls in passes anywhere/all around the strike zone. He catches the ball effortlessly, climbing the ladder on overthrown passes, routinely coming down with catches in which he knows he'll get hit, and/or pulling in the disgusting one-handed catches when need be. He turns "50/50 balls" into 80/20 situations, in that he's going to come down with the catch ball closer to 80% of the time in jump ball situations. Once the pass is secured, he's an underrated YAC threat, showing surprising burst, speed, and shiftiness in the open field.
The main question(s) that teams will have about Odunze's game will center around his ability to separate from coverage at the next level. He's not a naturally explosive runner, so teams will have questions about his overall quickness and his ability to separate. There are elements of his route running he can clean up, as far as being more deliberate with his movements and mastering some of the finer techniques. He'll have to get better at defeating jams at the line of scrimmage and fighting through press/grabby coverage, particularly as the level of competition he'll face will be exponentially better than what he saw in the Pac-12. And he'll have to adjust his style of play such that he’s not relying on winning the 50/50 chances in the NFL as often as he did in college.
Still, it's really hard to ignore the talent that Odunze exudes, and just how much of a natural ball magnet he is. In most other years, he'd be the runaway WR1 in his Draft class. But even among the absurd level of talent in this year's class, there's a growing movement of people who believe that you could give Odunze, Malik Nabers, and Marvin Harrison Jr. something of a "1a-1b-1c" ranking. It would be a stunning turn of events if Odunze wasn’t taken among the first 10 picks of the NFL Draft. ■