Bears receiver Rome Odunze caused a bit of a stir in June when he noted that the foot injuries, including a stress fracture, that cost him five regular-season games last season had presented him with “a new normal” to work with physically. From the outside, there were concerns Odunze was hinting that, perhaps, he would never be quite the same with his foot. But after the second practice of training camp Thursday morning, Odunze took a stab at clarifying what he was saying with the “new normal” comments.
“I just set up a fastball for y’all on that one,” Odunze said with a laugh. “That one kind of just went with the wind. I really didn’t articulate that well, honestly. That’s really not what I meant.”
So what did Odunze mean?
“I had an injury. That’s it. That’s football,” he said. “My foot feels great. My foot feels amazing. Through our training staff here, the training staff I work with in the offseason and all the work I put in to get it right, honestly it’s not even something I think about anymore. Which I think is the best feeling you can have after an injury. So I know ‘new normal’ has a bunch of connotations of chronic and severe and like it’s never going to be the same. It’s not like that at all. I’m completely fine.”
Yesterday, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams noted that Odunze looked the same on the field as he always has. Odunze’s next step will be stacking together a healthy and productive camp.
