2024 Dynasty Rookie Profile: Rome Odunze, WR

Welcome to the 2024 dynasty fantasy football offseason, whether it’s your first or your fifth, we hope you spend some of your time with us here at the Faceoff Sports Network. As many of you know, wide receivers are the bread and butter of our current football landscape. Additionally, rookies are stepping in immediately and winning leagues for managers across all formats, not just in dynasty leagues.

This 2024 wide receiver class appears to have a handful of notable players who can follow in their footsteps. Today, we will dive into Rome Odunze, a player that I believe has one of the safest floors in this class.

Rome Odunze (WR) – Dynasty Rookie Profile

Height: 6’3

Weight: 215 lbs

Player Comp: Chris Olave

Rome Odunze, born and bred in Las Vegas, Nevada, thrived at Bishop Gorman, one of the nation’s top high school athletic programs. He swiftly ascended to the varsity team in his Sophomore year. On top of this, he also stood out as a track star. As a Junior in 2019, he earned a spot on the all-state team for track and field. Additionally, he clinched the 4A state title in the 200-meter (21.25) and the 4×100 relay (41.36). Finally, he also clocked in fourth place in the 100-meter race with a time of 10.67 seconds.

Meanwhile, his Junior and Senior years in pads marked his ascent, tallying over 1,300 receiving yards each season. After winning the Gatorade Football Player of the Year award, Odunze committed to Washington as a four-star recruit.

Transitioning to college, Odunze took a moment to find his rhythm, but in his third and fourth years with the Huskies, he exploded onto the scene. As a redshirt Sophomore, he ranked fifth in single-season receiving yards (1145) in Washington’s history, claiming first-team All-Pac-12 honors.

The subsequent year, he shattered the school’s single-season receiving yards record (1640), earning first-team All-Pac-12 and All-American recognition. Odunze ended his college tenure as Washington’s second-all-time leading receiver in yards (3272) and receptions (214).

As a result of his contributions, the Huskies were propelled to a College Football Playoff championship appearance, capping off an impressive collegiate career for Odunze.

Strengths

NFL ready out of the box

Odunze smoothly moves despite his size, maintaining solid, consistent speed and effortlessly changing direction. He effectively utilizes what is referred to as “late hands”, a rare skill in college kids. Having late hands means that the receiver does not tip his hand to the defensive back too early. And what better source to describe this trait than an NFL player? Here is a quote from Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown on how he incorporates late hands into his game:

“I keep them around. I’m in drive phase, with my arms swinging, he doesn’t know where the ball is at, so I just try to stay calm and relaxed and throw my hands up last minute and make a catch. I call it winning late…” – AJ Brown via Heavy

Additionally, Odunze demonstrates intelligence in route running, adeptly manipulating leverage against man coverage and navigating the gaps in zone defenses. He adeptly identifies weak points and efficiently positions himself there.

Late Hands Teach Tape from Rome Odunze pic.twitter.com/6PiLKW2zYZ

— PreSnap (@presnapinc) January 8, 2024

Catch Point Dominance

With remarkable confidence, he consistently attacks and snatches the ball from the air, away from his frame. He wins vertically by stacking for late separation and making necessary adjustments to the ball. In other words, his elite ball skills and sticky hands allow him to pluck the ball out of the air and go up to attack it. Notably, he succeeded on 21 out of 28 contested catches this past season.

Physicality

On top of his soft hands and crisp routes, another trait that stands out to me on tape is the active engagement for extra yards. Routinely, he’ll lower his head or contort his body to drive himself forward through the typically smaller defensive back. This tenacity draws my eye in an age of wide receivers who are all too pleased with avoiding contact wherever they can. Finally, I know we don’t get points for blocking in fantasy, but reps like this will earn playing time in any personnel grouping, not just three wide receiver sets.

Rome Odunze moving a DB to the bench pic.twitter.com/mJnyopahTo

— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) January 2, 2024

Weaknesses

Late Declare(ish)

While he did not declare as a redshirt Sophomore, it should be noted that his redshirt year was a 4 game season amid a pandemic. Personally, I will not hold this blemish against him, but I know some of you out there will not be as forgiving.

Unimpressive Athlete

I’ll keep this one short. He is not an uber-athlete like Malik Nabers. Despite this, he has more than enough natural ability to win at any level of the field between his technique and long speed from his track days back in high school.

Rome Odunze NFL Fit and Draft Capital

No matter where he goes, Odunze will be a welcome addition to any receiver room or offensive scheme. He has the versatility to run as an X, Z, or Y receiver. At this point in the pre-draft process, Rome is projected to go 8th overall according to the NFL mock draft database. This range of the draft includes teams in need of a receiver, such as Tennessee, Chicago, and New York (both teams).

While these teams don’t exactly spark excitement, Odunze’s talent should shine through. Chris Olave is a prime example of a smooth operator producing for our teams despite subpar QB play.

Rome Odunze Dynasty Outlook

From my boots-on-the-ground interactions in the dynasty community, Odunze is being soured on. This is an annual phenomenon where the community at large picks a guy, for better or worse, and decides that he is overrated. Despite this sentiment, he is seldom dragged down to the tier with Brian Thomas Jr and Troy Franklin.

Our community-sourced Superflex dynasty rookie ADP is prime evidence of this. In these drafts, he has been taken as high as 5th, but never lower than 8th. I will happily pay this price for an asset that I believe will quickly ascend the ranks of public opinion and overall fantasy finish. His value can easily settle to the top 10 dynasty ranks by 2025, as the old heads age out of relevance and yearly variance drags other mainstays back down the ladder.