Bears WR coach believes Allen, Moore, Odunze complement each other

David Banks - USA Today Sports

by Tony Crumpton - Senior Editor - Thu May 23 09:01:56 GMT-05:00 2024

The Chicago Bears have significantly upgraded their wide receiver core from one of the worst in the league only a few years ago to arguably one of the best.

Now, the Bears will have veteran standouts Keenan Allen and DJ Moore with first-round pick Rome Odunze on the field at one time.

New wide receivers coach Chris Beatty recently spoke to the media at Halas Hall about how the trio complements each other well.

“You start with DJ; he’s one of the best in the world with the ball in his hands,” Beatty said. “As far as his ability for in-breakers and creating opportunities after the catch, he’s as good as it gets in any league."

Moore had 96 receptions for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

"Keenan, having worked with him the last (couple of years), does a little bit of everything," Beatty said. He works third downs like nobody in the business. He’s able to work the middle of the field, so that he can do a lot of things in that regard. Rome can complement them by being a contested catcher outside the numbers. He can do some things outside on the deep part of the field to complement those guys and their games.”

Allen had 108 receptions for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023.

“He’s got complementary skills to the guys we have now,” Beatty said of Odunze. “So, I think he can bring some things to the room that we don’t currently have in there as far as his length. He’s still got the speed to take the top off, and he’s smart. We wanted to make sure we had the right type of people in the room.”

At Washington, Odunze had 92 catches for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

The Bears will kick off OTAs on Monday at Halas Hall, and it should be fun to watch this season unfold.