All offseason, Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker has been a popular name to be the team's 2025 breakout star, but one other backup end could be at his level of potential sleeper pick.
Dominique Robinson has been making waves at offseason workouts with his play, and nothing has changed at training camp. FOX 32 Chicago reporter Chris Kwiecinski listed Robinson as one of the standouts from the Bears' first week of training camp.
"One of Ben Johnson's standouts from mandatory minicamp and OTAs, Robinson has continued that into training camp.
He had a fantastic sequence on Day 3, where he recorded a sack and followed that up with a tackle for loss on the very next play.
There's plenty of discussion about what the Bears should do about depth at edge rusher. If Robinson continues to show improvement and production as an edge, then it could answer the Bears' depth questions before the preseason games even begin."
Year four for Robinson could be the one that puts him on the map
It's been quite a turnaround for Robinson, who many thought would not be long for the team after appearing in just six games last year. The former 2022 fifth-round pick hasn't had more than 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hits in three NFL seasons.
If there was any backup on the fence and needed a strong offseason, it was Robinson. He's starting to make an impression on the team and the Chicago media as he could very much be playing into the rotation on the defnesive line.
Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo will hold down the starting lineup with Booker and Robinson as the backups. The Bears must have Robinson step up after the defense had Sweat as the leading sacker in 2024 with just 5.5.
There were multiple defenders getting sacks last year, but Robinson didn't contribute any on the stat line. That can't happen again in 2025, and it appears Robinson understood that fact.
Read more: It took four days at Bears training camp for offense to finally get on track
With still a month to go with training camp, Robinson has a chance to keep working his way into Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's good graces with more reps.