Austin Booker is making a case for more playing time on the Bears’ defensive line

As the 2024 season progresses, the Chicago Bears have no problem increasing rookie Austin Booker’s role on defense. The fifth-round pick played just 34 snaps in the first three weeks of the season, but he has played 55 in the last three weeks.

Booker played 9.4% of snaps in Week 1 and 14.3% in Week 3. While he played 32.3% in Week 2, he has been over 23% in each of the last three weeks, finishing at 35.5% of snaps his career high against the Jaguars.

The trend is increasing, and his play has been so good that he should be in at least 23% of the snaps in each game. However, it can’t go beyond the 35.5% he shot too often against Jacksonville.

Booker plays more because the team is winning and getting into more obvious passing situations. Over the last three weeks, he has 40 pass-rush snaps compared to 12 run-defense snaps. He had 13 rushes and 19 run defense snaps through the first three weeks. There is a notable shift here.

When the Bears drafted Booker, it wasn’t a coincidence. He was considered a potential situational pass rusher because he is somewhat lightweight and has difficulty holding up against larger blockers in the run game.

While Booker hasn’t been a problem in run defense this year, that’s because Chicago has been careful about when they play him there.

The answer to whether or not Booker will play more after the bye week is that it depends. If the Bears continue to lead by several points in the second half, you can bet he’ll play more.

If the Bears are down and the opponent is trying to run the ball, Austin Booker won’t be seen. It will be worth paying attention to how much run defense he plays this week to see if he gains confidence or if this trend continues.