Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
When he was the Lions’ receivers coach a year ago, Antwaan Randle El thought Rome Odunze — and not Marvin Harrison or Malik Nabers — was the best wideout in the 2024 draft. He called Odunze’s receivers coach at Washington before the draft and asked, half-serious, if there was any chance his college pupil would fall to the Lions.
Odunze didn’t, in part because the Bears felt the same way about him. They drafted him ninth overall.
A year later, Randle El followed head coach Ben Johnson to Chicago.
“It didn’t work out in Detroit,” Randle El said, “but I’m glad that he’s here.