Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze caused quite a stir among the media and the fanbase earlier this offseason when he mentioned he was still dealing with his “new normal” coming off a stress fracture in his foot.

Odunze dealt with the injury for the majority of the 2025 season and it was a frustrating process. It’s still unknown when the injury first started, but it was clear as the weeks went on that Odunze’s production and snap count was on a downward trend after having a strong start to his sophomore season.

Odunze ultimately missed five games late in the regular season to try and get off the foot and be ready for the start of the playoffs. After the season, Odunze mentioned that he didn’t plan to undergo surgery to repair the injury. Which explains why everyone was so worried about his “new normal” comments surfacing in the spring despite seeing him run around like normal during the offseason program.

Rome Odunze clarifies his ‘new normal’ comments with training camp underway

With the way Odunze addressed the lingering effects of the injury, the concern was warranted that it could be something that resurfaces again down the road. Not hearing from Odunze again added even more negative speculation until Thursday when Odunze finally met with the media again at training camp to clear up the air on his comments.

“I really didn’t articulate it well, honestly. That’s not really what I meant,” Odunze told reporters after Thursday’s practice. “I just meant that I had an injury. That’s it, that’s football. My foot feels great. My foot feels amazing through the training staff here and the training staff that worked with me through the offseason and all the work I put in to get it right. Honestly, it’s not even something I think about anymore.”

That pretty much should kill any concerns that were still lingering about Odunze’s status coming off the foot injury going into the start of training camp. Odunze is full-go without any restrictions and by all accounts continues to look like the healthy player the staff remembers from the start of last season.

“He looks like he’s moving around really well,” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said ahead of Thursday’s practice. “I think if he hadn’t said anything, you wouldn’t necessarily would have noticed through the spring the way he was moving because he looks like he’s moving really well. We’re excited to see what Rome does through this training camp.”

Rome Odunze is ready to rebound with high goals for the 2026 season

With the way Odunze started the season prior to his injury, expectations are high for Year 3 now that he’s fully healthy again. Odunze admitted his lofty goals are to eclipse 100 receptions, 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns but mostly just putting it all together for 17 games this upcoming season while competing for targets alongside Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland, and the rest of the offensive weapons.

“I think that’s the duality of playing wide receiver in this league nowadays, especially on a team with so many weapons,” Odunze explained. “I want the ball every single play, I want to go get my 1,000, I want to make plays all over the field. But, I understand when the ball doesn’t come my way it’s going to another guy that’s trying to go get it just like me It’s that competition, but at the same time, these are all my brothers.”

The big thing to remember is the connection Odunze has with quarterback Caleb Williams and the confidence the two have established with each other that will lead to plenty of opportunities for a healthy Odunze to flourish this upcoming season.

“Ensure confidence that the ball is going to come to him,” Williams explained. “He’s one-on-one, the ball’s going to come to him. Runs a nice route, gets open for us, creates a little separation, ball’s going to be there. We talk about the routes, we talk about how to run them. His new normal is the new normal and that’s okay. He doesn’t look any different. He looks like normal Rome Odunze.”