While nothing was done to add talent to the edge rusher room, Chicago Bears fans are still looking forward to seeing one of their young rising players, Austin Booker, take a big leap in Year 3.
After missing the first seven games of the season to injury, Booker came back and ended up playing well with 12 quarterback hits and 4.5 sacks to close out the season. The potential is there in Booker, and his teammate, Montez Sweat, knows he is about to reach it, as seen in his warning to the NFL.
"He is just scratching the surface," Sweat said via CHGO. "The sky's the limit for him."
Montez Sweat warns that Austin Booker is about to break out in 2026
Booker was the star of the preseason last year with his four sacks, but the momentum was broken up by his injury. He still came on strong late in the season and was one of the few solid pass rushers on the Bears outside of Sweat and Gervon Dexter.
During the offseason, a quiet buzz about Booker was growing, with the Bears excited about him. It might be part of why the team decided to steer away from adding an edge rusher and roll with Sweat, Booker, and Dayo Odeyingbo as the main guys.
Odeyingbo has more pressure on him since the Bears are giving him $48 million for three years, so that might set Booker back as they could roll with Odeyingbo in the starting lineup. Booker will be heavily in the rotation, though, as last year proved that he needs to play a big role on defense for the Bears.
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This is the year that the Bears really figure out where they are with the edge rushers and whether Booker and Odeyingbo are the future there. Sweat is certainly indicating that Booker will at least be a stud on this team in 2026.
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