Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze is a player that the Las Vegas Raiders‘ defense will need to keep quiet. The 23-year-old is a go-to target for quarterback Caleb Williams, and one Raiders secondary player knows the receiver well to help his teammates take Odunze away.
Through the first three weeks of the season, Williams has targeted Odunze 27 times, recording 16 receptions for 227 receiving yards, and he has at least one touchdown in each of the games that Chicago has played, per Pro Football Reference.
As a result, Williams will be looking for him often, and no one on the Raiders secondary knows Odunze better than Kyu Blu Kelly, as the two players were teammates in high school at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.
“Oh yeah, adds to the excitement,” Kelly said on September 26 when asked about facing his high school teammate. “Like I said, we’ve been working for this moment, both of us, for our whole lives. Now we get a chance to showcase against each other on the biggest stage. So it’s honestly super cool.”
Kyu Blu Kelly Talks Facing Rome Odunze
While he probably knows Odunze’s characteristics, the Raiders cornerback won’t be relying on anything he learned from their high school days to get him an edge over his former teammate. However, these two players have gone head-to-head in the past.
“I’m a whole different corner,” Kelly added. “He’s a whole different receiver. You know, we’re much older. We’re much smarter. But at the same time, I feel like we know each other’s nuances. We know how we play. We know how we get down. So, it should be a good battle for sure…
“I mean, playing him in college was the same way. I went to Stanford, he went to Washington. Same thing. We’re always best friends off the field, so it’s always forever.”
Raiders’ Defense Need to Be on Alert
Kelly and the rest of the Raiders defense will need to stay sharp. As they head into the Week 4 matchup, Bears head coach Ben Johnson warned that Chicago’s quarterback has the ability to challenge any NFL defense in multiple ways.
“When the offensive line protects like that, it’s a lot easier to play from the pocket,” Johnson told the media on September 22 (h/t Marquee Sports Network). “I thought zero sacks. We had a very clean pocket for the most part. That’s a starting point. He’s got the ability to escape and extend and all that. But, man, if we can keep him in there, our playmakers are some dynamic route runners that we can get the ball to in space.
“I think he saw when he plays on time, he’s trusting the hitches, and we can be an explosive offense that way. There’s a lot of ways that Caleb Williams can hurt you. Like I said, when we have pass protection like we had against the Cowboys, that certainly helps.”
Williams completed 19 of 28 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys in Week. This performance should put the Las Vegas defense on notice to play better than they did against the Washington Commanders, or else the USC product could have a field day against them.
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