Austin Booker Expressed Frustration Over Role With Bears Before Week 4 Game vs. Jets

Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker is apparently not happy with his role over five games of the 2026 season.

A few days before the Week 4 game against the New York Jets, Booker spoke to Bears beat writer, The Score's Herb Howard, and expressed frustration with his role.

Booker told Howard that he wanted more snaps on defense.

"Two days before the Jets game, Bears DE Austin Booker expressed to me that he wasn’t happy with his role on the team," Howard wrote. "He wanted more playing time. In the two games since then Booker has 3 sacks and 4 (tackles for loss)."

Howard said he asked Booker on Monday if he had changed his approach prior to the past two games, when Booker has notched three sacks and four tackles for loss, and Booker responded:

“No. When the snap count goes up, the production goes up," Booker said.

Well, Booker's desire for more snaps was met on Sunday, as the third-year edge rusher played a season-high 44. In the game against the Jets, he only played 20, although that did equate to 62.5% of the defensive snaps in the game.

It isn't clear if the increase in snaps was Booker getting the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" treatment or a result of the injury to Dayo Odeyingbo, who left after 23 snaps with a quad injury.

Booker played 40 (58.8%) in Week 1, but then saw his playing time dip to 19 snaps (36.5%) the next week, and then he played 30 (60%) and 20 snaps, respectively, over the next two games. The 44 snaps in Week 5 amounted to 72.1% of the total plays on defense for Chicago.

Austin Booker's career-best game

Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker. — Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) is sacked by Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker (94) at the end of the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers USAToday Network via IMAGN images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Booker was an absolute menace against Green Bay. Along with his two sacks and three tackles for loss, Booker also added four run stops and his 85.3 overall grade was third-best among the Bears defensive players, per Pro Football Focus.

It was the second time in his career Booker has tallied two sacks in a game. The other time came in Week 15 of last season, when he had two sacks and two tackles for loss in the win over the Cleveland Browns.

With those two sacks, Booker is now up to four on the season and is just 0.5 shy of his career-high, which he achieved in eight games last season. He ultimately played in nine but did not tally a sack in the Bears' regular season finale. He did, however, post another sack in the playoff win over the Green Bay Packers.

It isn't clear if Odeyingbo is going to miss any time with his injury, but if he does, Booker will almost certainly be locked into more snaps until the veteran returns.

Even if Odeyingbo plays, it's clear after Sunday that the Bears need to figure out a way to get Booker more involved.

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