Rome Odunze 2024 NFL Draft Profile: Everything you need to know about Giants' potential target
With the Giants holding the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, let's take a look at one prospect who may be a target: Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze.
By The Numbers
- Height: 6-foot-3
- Weight: 212 pounds
- 40-Yard Dash: 4.45
- Vertical: 39 inches
- Bench: DNP
- Broad Jump: 10-foot-4
- 2023 Stats (15 games played): 92 catches, 1,640 receiving yards, 13 touchdown catches, plus 37 rushing yards and one touchdown run
Prospect Overview
Bleacher Report: Odunze is a quarterback's best friend. He's a reliable route-runner with good size and an accuracy-erasing catch radius. Odunze can be a classic X receiver who moonlights as a slot receiver from time to time thanks to his awareness and ability to play in traffic.
NFL.com: A team captain with good size and elite ball skills, Odunze consistently dominated his competition. While most receivers look to open separation windows with speed or route running, Odunze seems to relish jump balls and contested catches. He shines in all aspects of ball skills, including positioning, body control, hand strength, timing and mid-air adjustments. He has a tendency to cruise through routes rather than working with attention to detail and pacing. He was a decorated high school sprinter, so speed should not be an issue in the pros. He’s a high-volume target on the next level that play-callers can utilize to mismatch finesse cornerbacks. Elite ball skills are often the secret sauce for top NFL receivers, so it should not surprise if Odunze is a Day 1 starter who becomes a top-flight WR1.
Why Odunze makes sense for the Giants
The wide receiver position has been widely recognized as a major priority for the Giants this offseason. However, they haven’t made any big free agency splashes at the position, so using a high draft pick on one would seem logical. The Giants’ offense has lacked a true No. 1 receiver for some time, and introducing such a player to their roster is imperative if New York hopes to get the best out of Daniel Jones as he makes his return from a torn ACL.
Odunze is one of three receivers expected to be selected in the top half of the first round and is likely to be one of the players the Giants will consider taking with the sixth overall pick. His size would make him an ideal addition to a roster that has some talented smaller receivers but lacks a true jump ball threat who can make contested catches and produce in the red zone.
Over the course of his college career, Odunze showed consistent development each year, and he led the nation in receiving yards in 2023 as he helped lead the Huskies to the national title game. He also showcased his big play abilities by averaging nearly 18 yards per catch and scoring 14 total touchdowns.
The main knock on Odunze has been that he isn’t necessarily considered an elite athlete, but he dispelled some of those concerns with his Combine workouts. His 40-yard dash was 4.45 seconds, which demonstrated that he has more than enough speed to produce at the NFL level for a player with his size and strength.
It seems unlikely that Odunze will be off the board in the first five picks, but if that happens, the Giants should have their pick of the top remaining wide receiver and offensive tackle prospects instead, so that wouldn’t be the end of the world.
NFL Comparison
NFL.com: Larry Fitzgerald
