Austin Booker's late-season surge hints at a homegrown pass rush answer. Can he make the leap and fill the sack void for Chicago?
The Chicago Bears had an interesting year on the defensive side of the ball.
The team led the league with 33 forced turnovers, but that was about the only good thing they did.
The Bears allowed the 11th-most passing yards (239.2), sixth-most rushing yards (134.5) and 10th-most points per game (24.4).
Then, the sack troubles followed Chicago throughout last season.
Montez Sweat led the team with 10, but everyone else struggled to pick up the slack. After Dayo Odeyingbo went down with a season-ending injury, the sack leaders outside of Sweat were Gervin Dexter (5) and Austin Booker (4.5).
The Bears finished the regular season ranked 22nd in the league with 35 sacks. It's definitely time for a change.
There have been talks about whether the Bears should take a defensive player in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft to help with the pass rush. General Manager Ryan Poles has spoken about how deep the edge rusher class is, leaving the Bears with a decision to make.
At the same time, with how deep the edge rusher class is, the Bears could afford to take a defensive tackle in the first round.
Taking a defensive player in the first round would be something that Poles has never done throughout his Bears tenure.
The Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs believes there may already be an answer on the roster in the form of Booker.
“If Austin Booker can pick up where he left off at the end of last season, that’s one way for the Bears to be better rushing the passer," Biggs said. "We saw him playing at a pretty high level for a little less than half a season. If Booker is healthy and can make a jump from Year 2 to Year 3, like he did from his rookie season to 2025, they’ll have an interesting player. Is that a lock to happen? Of course not. But I believe the Bears are optimistic about his career arc.”
Chicago took Booker in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Kansas. He played a full season as a rookie, finishing with 1.5 sacks, 21 total tackles, and three TFLs.
He played in only 10 games in 2025 but showed plenty of promise. He had a slow start, recording one sack in Weeks 9-13. However, he ended the regular season on a strong note, having 3.5 sacks combined in his last four regular-season games.
If Booker keeps progressing, there's no reason that he couldn't be the solution at pass rush this team has been desperately looking for.
Per OurLads.com, Booker is projected to be a reserve edge rusher behind Odeyingbo still. With how Odeyingbo's tenure with the Bears started, he may not be around for very long.
Odeyingbo was brought in as a free agent after spending the majority of his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts. He played in eight games for the Bears before a season-ending Achilles injury cut his year short. He recorded 21 total tackles, one sack and two TFLs.
Having a player like Booker is a luxury that not every team has, and the Bears are lucky to have him.
Poles will have quite a decision to make in April.
Does he wait to take an edge rusher, considering the Bears already have a promising talent like Booker, who continues to get better each season? Or does he decide to take an edge rusher in the first round?
Chicago also needs an interior defensive lineman, given how unreliable the rush defense was last season. This could motivate Poles to wait until the later rounds to draft an edge rusher.
Even more so with Booker on the roster.
If Booker continues the trajectory he's on, he could definitely be part of the solution to a lack of a pass rush that has hindered Chicago for many years.