RADIO
Welcome to Coach Knows Ball, an NFL Draft series analyzing the top prospects in the 2024 class. I'm a college football coach with nine years of NCAA experience and have been scouting NFL Draft prospects for over 15 years. This series will give a deep dive into the film of some of the top players in this draft class, with detailed insight into future NFL standouts' strengths, weaknesses, and projections.
Scouting NFL draft prospects is about projecting translatable traits. There is often overlap between translatable traits and college performance, but there's a reason many top college players are not considered legitimate professionals. For example, a wide receiver being able to get in and out of breaks efficiently will not change from college to pro. Conversely, an edge rusher who got most of his sacks due to hustle or missed offensive line assignments may not have shown translatable traits on film.
The film clips in this series show each pro prospect's positive and negative traits. Reading this article will give you a more in-depth look into each player with actual in-game visual evidence. We will continue our Coach Knows Ball series with Washington WR Rome Odunze.
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Rome Odunze Rookie Profile
Rome Odunze is a 21-year-old wide receiver prospect who just enjoyed a terrific season at both the individual and team levels. Odunze projects to be the highest-drafted player from his loaded Washington team, which lost to Michigan in the National Championship game this season. Odunze's stock really took off when Michael Penix Jr. arrived on Campus in 2022. As the clear WR1 on his team this past year, Odunze put up 92 catches for 1640 yards and 13 touchdowns. Let's dive into the film.
Body Control and Ball Skills
Odunze has everything NFL teams look for in an Alpha wide receiver. His athletic ability at 6-3, 212 shines all over his film, and his WR-specific traits are special. The most impressive aspect of Odunze's game is his body control in how he's able to contort to make all types of catches.
One of the hidden things I look for when scouting players is how they fall down to the ground. Players who dictate falling on their own terms and how their bodies handle an incredibly physical sport are generally better at staying in uncompromised athletic positions, in addition to staying healthy. Odunze has the type of balance and spatial awareness to fall on his own terms. He's a bouncy athlete and will generally only fall to the turf if that action is necessary to complete a catch or gain important yardage.
The X post below includes a lofty comparison and an example of Odunze winning with subtle hands to gain separation and a strong grip to complete the play. Notice how he's able to rip the ball quickly away from the defender, ensuring that he can't knock it out.
The clip below displays Odunze's strong hands. He attacks the ball at its highest point and does a brilliant job of tucking it away while in midair. This is how you survive the ground to complete tough catches.
Odunze is highly skilled in terms of tracking the ball and completing catches - especially as it pertains to fades in the red zone. In the clip below, Odunze works a "hesi-split" release and quick wiper to set up the fade. He actually doesn't win at all, but his body control and subtle hand-fighting get him a slight separation at the catch point. The spectacular part of his game is how he's able to track and rip the underthrown ball in, working through the defender, who is in a great position himself. Odunze has enough bounce and strong, creative hands.
The clip below is another fade, but this time coming from the slot. Odunze attacks off the ball without going full speed, lulling the defender into thinking his cushion is enough. From there, you can see the acceleration. He has no business getting past the pedaling DB. The special part of the rep is how Odunze moves full speed to the catch point while engaging the defender with his hands. The defender feels the left arm and thinks it's a late push-off to go attack the ball, so he turns his head. Instead, Odunze keeps moving at full speed to the catch point and finishes with late hands and a seamless tuck.
The clip below shows Odunze's ability to use his above-average play speed on speed releases and stack DBs on vertical routes. With his explosion and speed advantage, there's no reason to dance at the line of scrimmage. You can see the burst and the advanced ability to get vertical and on top of the DB, cutting his path off. Odunze drew a lot of defensive pass interference penalties and should continue to do so in the NFL.
In the clip below, you can see Odunze at his best from a breakpoint perspective. He has the athleticism and play speed to threaten defenders and the flexibility to win all types of routes. With a running start, Odunze threatens the cornerback vertically, breaks fluidly with speed off his outside foot, and makes an impressive pluck to finish along the sideline.
In the clip below, you can see advanced route-running from a special player. Odunze is running a hinge/fall-out and does an excellent job selling the fade. Odunze attacks off the line and begins to change his path towards the outside - typical movement on a fade. That makes the corner open his hips, at which point Odunze sinks his hips, gets both of his entire cleats in the turf and opens to the outside. Notice how his head does not pop up before the break.
Details Make the Difference
Contested catch merchants can be sketchy prospects because sometimes they struggle to get separation in the pros. 50/50 balls that go their way in college are not as easy in the NFL. It would be more of a concern with a player like Odunze if he didn't possess above-average natural movement skills and speed.
Odunze doesn't have any obvious flaws in his game. He can win at all levels of the field and has enough athleticism to make some plays after the catch. His hand-eye coordination and body control is fantastic. However, there are details he can work on. Sometimes, those details are what separates good players from great players at the next level.
In the clip below, Odunze is running a speed out from his bunch alignment. In a previous clip, you saw him sell vertically, and speed cut off his left foot, gaining separation. In this clip, however, his speed cut is inefficient, as an exaggerated reach and then break off the inside foot leads to a lack of speed out of the break. The defender sees the indicator and breaks up the pass.
Keep in mind that nitpicking wide receiver breakpoints in the context of college performance is what I do as a job. It negatively impacted my ability to properly evaluate Justin Jefferson. I didn't like some of his breakpoint footwork, and it impacted me, ranking him lower than I should have. The important lesson is to separate college performance from traits that translate. Jefferson didn't execute flawless technique on every play, but that should have been a minor note, considering he was oozing with traits that would translate.
The clip below is another route I would grade as poor. Odunze completes the catch, but the stem of the ball does not sell vertically at all. It is possible that he was coached to simply find the soft spot and get open, in which case a slower tempo off the ball would be acceptable. However, if this route were against man coverage, he likely wouldn't have gotten much separation at all. At the breakpoint, notice how Odunze has clear "I'm stopping" body language, popping up and taking pitter-patter steps outside the framework of his body. The coaching point here would be nose-over-toes. He also turns his head too early.
If Odunze were to underwhelm as a pro, one possible reason would be having difficulty adjusting to a more physical game. Odunze played a lot from the slot and bunch sets and saw most press coverage down in the red zone. He also faced Pac-12 corners primarily, most of whom don't project to be NFL starters.
In the clip below, Washington is running a mesh concept against man coverage. This is the coverage the offensive coaches want for this play call. Odunze is supposed to set the pick for the under runner, and become an option by running away from his man defender as well. He does neither. The defender getting hands on clearly slows him down and he's unable to run away.
One concern about Odunze's translation to the pro game is the lack of a release package I saw on film. For someone who caught so many fades for touchdowns, you would think he had a versatile toolbox of releases. Instead, it was mostly speed and split releases and his real secret sauce was simply being better at the catch point.
Even on some touchdowns, Odunze scored because of awesome ball skills and body control, but actually did not win the release at all. In the clip below, Odunze attempts a "hesi-split" release but seemingly doesn't care to win the actual route. He's content to use subtle hands and make the play while covered.
To be clear, there were times when his split or speed release overmatched the DB, and Odunze gained plenty of separation. However, I do think he can add to his toolbox at the line of scrimmage and not rely so much on being better at the catch point.
NFL Outlook
Rome Odunze is a blue-chip wide receiver prospect with NFL WR1 potential. In this loaded WR class, he may not be the first or even second WR off the board, but his upside is All-Pro. He possesses the prototype "X" size and athleticism, in addition to outstanding ball skills and body control. Football is the ultimate team sport and much of a prospect's success can be in part attributed to external factors. If Odunze finds himself in a good offense with a good QB, he could be one of the best statistical producers in the entire league.
If you want to read and watch some of my past film breakdowns, click the links below.
- Brock Bowers - TE, Georgia
- Caleb Williams - QB, USC
- Drake Maye - QB, North Carolina
- Jayden Daniels - QB, LSU
- C.J. Stroud - QB, Ohio State
- Anthony Richardson - QB, Florida
- Bijan Robinson - RB, Texas
- Jahmyr Gibbs - RB, Alabama
- Breece Hall - RB, Iowa State (2022)
- Garrett Wilson - WR, Ohio State (2022)
- Ja'Marr Chase - WR, LSU (2021)
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more draft content in the coming days.
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