The Chicago Bears are putting a temporary pause on their promising season to enjoy a bye this week, with the team using the extra time to get healthy and tweak some gameplans for the gauntlet of games that lie ahead.

The pause in activity provides a great opportunity for us at Bears Wire to look back on what’s already been a wild season of football and deliver some more retrospective content. One interesting aspect of looking back on the year is evaluating how Chicago’s 2024 rookies have fared to this point.

All of the rookies have hit individual highs and lows as they continue to progress through their inaugural season, so we’re taking advantage of the bye week by analyzing their play through six games and giving an overall grade based on their performance.

The 2024 rookies range from players who hold the future of the franchise in their hands to raw, but skilled players who may develop into impact players down the line. Let’s turn our attention to the rookies and give our rookie report card through Week 6.

QB Caleb Williams: B+

It’s only right to set things off by stepping right into the fiery heart of the matter and measure up Chicago’s new franchise quarterback. Generally, evaluation of a player involves summing up his overall on-the-field performance through the eye test, while still factoring in his stats. Williams proves to be a bit of an anomaly when attempting to get a feel for his play through the first six games of his rookie year, and that’s because of the very circumstances that brought him here in the first place.

He’s not just any player; he’s the player, the anointed savior of the franchise who is tasked with leading the Bears out of the football purgatory they’ve called home for decades and into a new era that sees the team competing for a championship year in and year out. So, an assigned grade can’t just be the result of how good or bad he’s played; whether he’s progressing toward that stratospheric expectation needs to be thrown in the mix.

I know that I’ve drummed up some palpable suspense with that tangent of Williams’ destiny, but you can breathe a sigh of relief, because Chicago’s rookie signal-caller has fast-tracked his development and has begun to establish himself as a legitimate QB. He’s thrown nine touchdowns with five interceptions, compiled 1,317 yards passing with a 65.3 completion percentage in his first six games as a Bear, going 4-2 in that span. That stat line doesn’t exactly emphasize his drastic climb into NFL competency, but that’s because we’re not looking at how he’s played in recent weeks.

Over the team’s unbroken three-game win streak, Williams has gone 60 of 81 for 687 yards, throwing seven touchdowns and one interception. His current uptick in passing efficiency demonstrates his ability to lead the offense over the bumps in the road and his willingness to learn his mistakes and improve with each contest.

Honestly, it took restraint to not award him an even higher grade. I tempered my growing excitement for the rookie by keeping in mind that his recent success came against teams with losing records, and he still hasn’t been given a chance to test himself against a surprisingly fierce NFC North. His exponential progress cannot be ignored, however, and his success cannot be entirely attributed to lesser opponents. He’s undeniably taking strides, and it’ll be intriguing to see how he fares against tougher opponents later in the year.

WR Rome Odunze: B-

The rookie wideout from Washington encompassed one half of the quarterback-receiver duo the Bears brought in with their two first round picks, with Odunze becoming fast friends with Williams in their short time together in Chicago. It didn’t take long for Odunze to show his tremendous talent on the field, making a couple highlight plays in the preseason. The fans collectively hoped that his talent and bond with his quarterback would culminate in immediate results on the field, but that’s now how things turned out. The rookie receiver needed some time to get a feel for the NFL level and ingratiate himself into a new offense, but he’s begun to pick up some traction during the team’s three-game win streak.

The wideout has 17 catches for 246 and one touchdown through six games of his rookie campaign – far from the show-stopping start many thought he’d have. His best performance came in a Week 3 loss to the Colts, a game where he hit a couple of career milestones despite the defeat. He had over 100 yards receiving and brought in the first TD catch of his career, with his first score coinciding with Williams’ first TD throw, resulting in the two friends playfully fighting over who gets the game ball.

Odunze never reached that peak in production since then, only having 90 yards receiving and no touchdowns in the last three games. Still, anyone watching the offense operate on game day can see he’s improving. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s scheme doesn’t have Odunze in a featured role, providing a reason for why his target volume is low. The rookie wideout will almost certainly be more of a factor as Chicago faces off with tougher opponents.

Overall, Odunze just hasn’t really had much of an opportunity to demonstrate the talent that made him a first-round pick. His season-best performance in Week 3 weighs heavily in his grade, and he hasn’t shown any negative qualities that would detract from it. Odunze will get his chance to have a more prominent role on the team later in the year.

OT Kiran Amegadjie: INCOMPLETE

Chicago’s decision to draft Amegadjie in the third round of this year’s draft was one that warmed the hearts of their fanbase, as the six-foot-five, 300-plus pound prospect from Harvard is a local product from Hinsdale, which is just about a half hour out of the city. His recovery from a serious injury suffered in school resulted in many overlooking the intriguing tackle, but the Bears’ offensive line struggles had fans clamoring for Amegadjie to get some reps.

Amegadjie has not seen the field in significant action through the first six games of the 2024 season, so it’s only right to assign him a grade of “incomplete.” His patience waiting in the rafters may be rewarded down the line, however, should the team’s blocking issues flare up again.

P Tory Taylor: A+

Next up: Tory Taylor, otherwise known as the “punter from down under”. As the nickname may suggest, he was a top prospect from Australia who made his way across the world to try his hand – or foot – at kicking a football, and he’s been reaping the benefits ever since. He was awarded the Ray Guy Award following his final year at Iowa, which is given to the nation’s best punter, and that was all Poles needed to use a coveted fourth-round draft pick to bring him to Chicago.

It came as an initial shock to use such a high draft pick on a special teams player, but Taylor’s immediate success made the decision one of Poles’ best. The rookie punter was the team’s unsung hero in the first few weeks of the year, routinely pinning opponents deep inside their own territory.

His magnum opus came in Week 4, where he launched several key punts well out of the Bears’ side of the field and having them settle right next to the Rams’ own endzone, forcing them to have to go the length of the field against a ravenous Chicago defense. Those coffin corner kicks were crucial to the Bears victory, and it even garnered the attention of the wider NFL world, as they all came to appreciate how game-changing a good punter can be. Taylor is everything he advertised plus some, and his elite punting skills will be of use to the Bears for years to come.

DE Austin Booker: C

Every year, the faithful supporters of the Bears come out in droves to support the team at their yearly training camp, where both the coaches and players work hard at sharpening their skills in preparation for the upcoming season. During those dog days of the summer, one under-the-radar player continually pops off the field with their hustle and talent, often making big plays. That player this year was Chicago’s fifth-round draft pick Booker, who captivated both media and fans at Halas Hall this summer with his relentless style of play, working extremely hard to better himself. The rookie pass rusher had a pedigree coming out of Kansas the previous year, totaling 40 tackles and eight sacks with the Jayhawks in 2023.

That level of production hasn’t immediately translated to the NFL level. Booker has nine tackles with two tackles-for-loss, two QB hits and one sack in six games, factoring into the Bears’ defense as a rotational piece at defensive end. Considering his limited snaps, it’s fair to say that he’s made the most of his playing time, and he does make an impact when he’s in the game. With star DE Montez Sweat and veteran DeMarcus Walker manning the two starting defensive end spots, it may be a long while until his opportunity presents itself. Still, defensive coordinator Eric Washington and head coach Matt Eberflus have to be encouraged with the physical tools he’s flashed thus far.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Grading the 2024 Bears draft class at the bye