Hot Takes, Predictions for Bears Rookies After 2024 NFL Draft

The Chicago Bears should compete for a playoff spot with the roster they have built around Caleb Williams.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft enters a situation that few top picks have come into in the history of the draft.

Williams has two veteran wide receivers, a fellow first-round pick at wide receiver, a top 10 tight end and a solid rushing game to work with from his first start in the NFL.

The expectations will be sky high for the USC product, but he has the personnel around him that should make him the Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite after September.

Rome Odunze could be in competition with Williams for that award if he matches Keenan Allen's level from the start of training camp.

The success of the draft class hinges on Williams and Odunze's performances. Any production from the other three draft picks is great, but it will not matter to the draft grade when we look back on the selections in a few years.

Expectations are sky high for Williams for good reason.

The offensive group around him is one of the best assembled for a No. 1 overall pick in his rookie season.

Usually, the top pick goes to a team in rebuilding stages, but Williams is the final piece to a multi-year project led by general manager Ryan Poles.

Williams could easily throw for around 3,500 to 4,000 yards in his rookie season because he has two perennial 1,000-yard wideouts in D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen.

Cole Kmet's continued development at tight end should help Williams settle into his position even more.

If Odunze takes off as well, the Bears will have one of the deepest pass-catching corps in the NFC and put Williams at the top of the Offensive Rookie of the Year balloting.

Odunze has the potential to be Chicago's top pass-catcher in the future, but the expectation in 2024 should be for him to overtake Allen on the depth chart.

Odunze comes to Chicago off a 1,640-yard season in an offense that produced six picks in the first three rounds of the draft.

The Bears' rookie wide out was the best pass-catcher by far in the Huskies' offense and that talent should translate to the NFL level immediately.

The opportunity to learn under Moore and Allen for a preseason should accelerate Odunze's on-field growth.

Allen still has the potential to record another 1,000-yard season, but he is 32 and could slide into the No. 3 spot on the depth chart if Odunze is as explosive with the Bears as he was at Washington.

Tory Taylor's drop in production from Iowa to the Bears may not be too bold of a prediction, but the fall off in numbers could be staggering because Chicago may actually may something that resembles an offense.

Taylor was arguably Iowa's best player for large parts of the 2023 season because he averaged 48.2 yards per punt and neutralized opposing offenses while Iowa's unit was stuck in neutral.

Taylor punted over 80 times in each of his last three seasons at Iowa. His average remained over 45 yards per punt in every campaign.

He could produce similar averages in the NFL, but he certainly will not punt 93 times in a season, like he did at Iowa in 2023.

The Williams-led offense should make the fourth-round pick punt maybe three or four times per contest if they live up to expectations.

Taylor's leg could still be a weapon for the Bears, but the hope is that he wields his powerful punting foot far less often than he did in college.