WR coach Antwaan Randle El on DJ Moore and Rome Odunze

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 17 hours ago

CHICAGO - Antwaan Randle El played in the NFL for nine years as a wide receiver recording 370 receptions for 4,467 yards. However, the Riverdale native never got to play for the Chicago Bears. That is why coaching for them now is such an amazing opportunity for him.

He grew up a Bears fan and has fond memories of their Super Bowl days and saw himself as similar to wide receiver Willie Gault who was on the 1985 Super Bowl-winning team.

“It is pretty cool. I can’t express enough just being back and being in the Bears hoodie is pretty cool. Just, growing up and watching the Bears and rooting for them when we’re not playing them type deal. So, it’s always been a thing for me to get back here and the way it happened was pretty good. So, I’m excited and I’m thankful more than anything,” Randle El said. “I always remember the Super Bowl Shuffle. I remember that and I remember The Fridge and for me, it’s like, I was (like) Willie Gault … Even coming up, because I always wanted to go pro (and I thought), ‘Man, could I ever play for the Bears?’ That was always a deal. Now, that didn’t happen. It almost happened somewhere between there, but I ended up going to Washington.”

Randle El will be Chicago’s newest wide receivers coach and serves as an assistant head coach.

However, this will be his fifth season working with head coach Ben Johnson as the two previously worked together from 2021 to 2024 back with the Detroit Lions.

“We expect the same things in terms of the hard work, the details of different things,” Randle El said. “The last four years that we had together (were) pretty big in terms of us building something and that’s what he did and it was time to move on.”

Detroit was a struggling team prior to Randle El’s arrival. In 2019 and 2021, the team only won three games. However in 2022, Johnson’s first season as the offensive coordinator, the team had their first winning record since 2017 and in 2023, they went to the conference championship game.

That seems like a rather promising track record as the Bears arguably have a little more to work with than the Lions did back then.

“We got guys that are hungry and guys that can play right off the bat. So, it’s up to us as coaches to get these guys going and put them in a place where they can be successful and that’s our goal,” Randle El said. “It’s not going to be easy for the coaches and we’re not going to make it easy on our players by any means. We got to get after it so when September comes, we have a group that is ready to roll and not just a game here or a game there. It’s got to be sustainable.”

Chicago’s wide receiver room already has their top two receivers in DJ Moore and Rome Odunze. Moore is an established veteran who has recorded at least 850 receiving yards every season since 2019. Last season, he had 98 receptions which was a career-high for him. He also recorded six receiving touchdowns, making it his third consecutive season with at least six touchdown receptions. Odunze, on the other hand, is just coming off his rookie season. While he had two 100-yard games last season, Odunze lacked consistency which could also be because he was No. 3 on the depth chart last season.

With the departure of receiver Keenan Allen, that is no longer the case.

“DJ, he’s done it. (He’s) played the position over and over again. He’s a veteran and he is the guy, we can get him the ball in a lot of different ways. I (just) see him in a lot of ways. You see him, he’s catching these screens. But, he can run routes. He can come inside and do some things too. So, I’m excited about that,” Randle El said. “And then with Rome, the biggest thing with Rome is he has the height and as tall as he is, the length that he has, he can drop his weight and get in and out of his routes. So, that was good to see and he was one of my top guys the previous year … Excited about those two guys.”