Bear Digest

Bears Create Extra Pick to Draft Edge Rusher Austin Booker

After the Bears used their picks up for this year, GM Ryan Poles gave up a pick from next year to get back into Round 5 and draft Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker.

Gene Chamberlain

Austin Booker is young and very raw but talented and the Bears have a need for someone on the edge like this.
Austin Booker is young and very raw but talented and the Bears have a need for someone on the edge like this. / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
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Just when the Bears seemed out of the draft for this year, the need for defense pulled them back.

After ignoring defensive help and drafting punter Tory Taylor in Round 4 with his final pick, GM Ryan Poles traded back into the draft using next year's draft class and selected Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker in Round 5 at No. 144 overall.

The Bears had the 144th pick earlier this offseason but had traded it to Buffalo for guard Ryan Bates. On Saturday, they traded a fourth-round pick from next year to the Bills for that same 144th pick in Round 5, which they used to draft Booker, a player who had a top-30 visit to Halas Hall before the draft.

"I've got speed, I've got length, I've got strength and being able to use all those at once is a gift that I have and I'm going to use at the next level," Booker said.

Very athletic at 6-foot-4 1/2 and 240 pounds, Booker played only six games in two years at Minnesota before transferring to Kansas. Then he produced eight sacks last season with 12 tackles for loss. He made 56 total tackles in his only season starting in college football.

He ran a 4.79 in the 40 at the combine.

"Oh he's 21 years old," pointed out Bears area scout John Syty. "So, I mean, he's still becoming a man and growing into his body. So for us that's probably the biggest thing. You talk about a kid who's still 21, gonna be 22 in December, has all the tools that you look for in pass rushers.

"So for us it's just getting him into the system, developing him and allowing him to just to continue to grow into this frame, continue to fill out."

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With another year left to impress after just one effective college season, Booker decided it was time to turn pro.

"I feel like I was mentally and physically ready to be at the higher level," Booker said. "But also it's good to strike while the iron's hot. You never know what's going to happen next year."

The Bears have DeMarcus Walker at right end and Montez Sweat at left end, backed up by 2022 fifth-round pick Dominique Robinson and free agent acquisition Jacob Martin. Walker made 4 1/2 sacks last year.

Free agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue is a free agent who they have not signed back.

While Booker isn't a big player, he does see himself as a fit in the 4-3 and not necessarily as 3-4 outside linebacker.

"I've played a four-down my whole career, college and high school," Booker said. "But I also know I have the athleticism to play on that three-down. Just having the versatility is only a plus for me moving forward.

"I'm excited to run in the 4-3, get my hand in the dirt again. Just looking forward towards that."

The other part about joining the Bears Booker finds attractive is being coached by line coach Travis Smith. The two got to know each other at the Halas Hall visit.

"It was great," he said. "I had an amazing visit and just knowing he was at Oakland five years ago and took that chance on Maxx Crosby really excites me and interests me. I know I'll be in good hands going forward."

Syty said the main numbers don't tell the full story on Booker, and in his case it's more about pressures.

"I think he had nine sacks or something like that, but when you look at his pressure rate, this kid was one of the top in the class in terms of being able to consistently get to the quarterback," Syty said. "So that would be one of the things.

"And then the length. When you talk about metrics, we’re talking about he’s 6-4 1/2. He’s almost got 34-inch arms."

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.