Bears willing to wait on Booker
The Bears know their new rookie defensive end is going to be a work in progress. Fifth-round draft pick Austin Booker saw playing time during only one full season of college football, but the Bears believe the traits of a high-level pass rusher are there.
Booker’s 6-foot-4, 240-pound frame will help him disrupt opposing offensive tackles with his arms that are 33 7/8-inches long. He could probably stand to put on 10 or 15 pounds of muscle and his game has a ways to go, but there’s a reason the Bears traded back into the draft to select him last month.
The Bears traded a 2025 fourth-round draft pick to Buffalo in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick, which they used to select Booker at No. 144 overall.
“I’m not sure I met a rookie that wasn’t raw,” Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington said during rookie minicamp this month. “So what we want to do is take what he can do and really hone and shape that, develop him, inform him of all the things that will allow him to play as fast and as physical as he possibly can play. Just build a player. Build a person and build a player.”
Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus knew they needed to add a defensive lineman in the draft. Their 4-3 defensive front lost starters in defensive tackle Justin Jones, who signed with the Arizona Cardinals, and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who remains a free agent. The team selected three offensive players and a punter with its four draft picks.
That’s when Poles called the Bills and made a trade.
Booker, who grew up near Indianapolis, began his college career at Minnesota but played sparingly during his first two college seasons. He appeared in only six games over two seasons in 2021 and 2022. He transferred to Kansas ahead of the 2023 season.
With the Jayhawks, Booker started only one game but appeared in 12 and led the team with eight sacks. He also had 12 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
Booker, who is only 21 years old, probably could’ve been a higher draft pick if he had waited another year and had a good 2024 season, but he wasn’t willing to wait.
“I feel like I was mentally and physically ready to compete at the higher level,” Booker said. “But also it’s good to strike while the iron’s hot. Never know what’s going to happen next year, and I felt like I was ready, so I left.”
The Bears believed they could be drafting a diamond in the rough with Booker. They won’t necessarily rely heavily upon him in 2024. Right now, veterans Montez Sweat and DeMarcus Walker project to start at the two defensive end spots.
Booker can learn while coming off the bench as a rookie.
“He has a tremendous amount of energy,” Washington said. “He never seems to be out of the play, either early or as the play extends with the quarterback, especially as a rusher. And when you talk about slippery, (he’s) just hard for the protection.”
Booker looks up to Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby, who also was a Day 3 draft pick in 2019. Crosby and Booker worked out with the same trainer during the offseason. Booker said Crosby offered to help Booker with any rookie advice he needs.
Bears defensive line coach Travis Smith previously spent a decade coaching with the Raiders. He coached Crosby as the team’s assistant defensive line coach before heading to Chicago. But Smith said the Bears aren’t necessarily trying to build the next Crosby.
“What he has to understand, too, no matter what the similarities are, the style they play, the effort they play with, some of the movement skills that they have, it really comes down to he’s got to be Austin Booker,” Smith said. “Because Maxx Crosby, the heart of Maxx Crosby is Maxx Crosby. Austin Booker has got to make his own name to be himself.”
The Bears believe they can help Booker do just that.