Despite acquiring Montez Sweat during the NFL Trade Deadline, the Chicago Bears had one of the worst pass rushes in the league. They ranked 31st in sacks and 25th in pass rush win rate last season.
The Bears entered the draft with the desperate need to find a reliable EDGE rusher who can line up on the opposite side of Sweat.
The Bears drafted an EDGE rusher in the 5th round, hoping to fix these issues.
The Chicago Bears drafted an EDGE rusher in the 5th round
The Bears drafted Austin Booker in the 5th round, 144th overall of the 2024 NFL Draft.
He signed his rookie contract.
Austin Booker signed his rookie contract
Booker signed a 4-year rookie contract worth $4.3 million with a $349,146 signing bonus.
He spent last season in Kansas.
Austin Booker spent last season with the Kansas Jayhawks
After spending the first two seasons of his career with the Golden Gophers and only playing six games, Booker transferred to the Jayhawks for the 2023 season.
Booker had a great 2023 season, playing in 12 games. He had 56 tackles, 12 TFLs, eight sacks, two forced fumbles, 27 hurries, 38 pressures, and an 82.2 PFF Grade. He also had a 78.5 run defense grade, a 58.0 tackling grade, an 80.6 pass rush grade, a 14.8% pass rush win rate, and a 10.2% run stop win rate per PFF. The Big 12 named him to their All-Big 12 First Team.
Lance Zierlein did a scouting report on Austin Booker
Lance Zierlein of NFL Network did a scouting report on Booker.
“Truly unique prospect combining tremendous upside with an extremely limited sample size. A more conservative approach on Booker’s grade might be prudent, but it becomes a difficult route to take when observing his length, explosive athleticism and rush talent.
“Booker needs to get bigger and stronger, but that will come. The diversity of his rush approach is unheard of for a player with so little playing time.
“He can stride and dip at the top of the rush or beat tackles back inside with a Euro step or spin counter. He can stab and long-arm tackles into the pocket or stay separated from them at the point of attack.
“He chases quarterbacks and running backs with agility and burst but can be inconsistent dealing with a downhill running game. His reps against talented Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. could be the springboard to push this gifted edge defender with monster traits up the draft board toward an exciting NFL career.”
Austin Booker joins a weak room of EDGE rushers
Outside Sweat, the Chicago Bears have a weak room of EDGE rushers, including DeMarcus Walker (3.5 sacks in 2023), Dominique Robinson (0.5 sacks in 2023), Jacob Martin (two sacks in 2023), Khalid Kareem (zero sacks in 2023), Daniel Hardy (zero sacks in 2023), and Jamree Kromah (UDFA).
Will Booker start in 2024?
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