We have just a couple more training camp battles to look at before the Bears report to training camp next week. Let’s pivot back to the defense and focus on the line, which has a lot of questions and potentially not a lot of answers.
Even though there may not be answers, there may not be many battles either. Grady Jarrett and Gervon Dexter seem set as the team’s top two DTs. Neville Gallimore seems like the team’s DT3. Sure, Bears fans would like to see Jordan van den Berg emerge as the team’s DT4
over Kentavius Street, but that’s not really worth column inches.
At Edge, we know Montez Sweat holds down the top spot. Daniel Hardy will be the team’s EDGE5, who will largely play special teams. Shemar Turner is one big question mark. At this point, it’s tough to know who he is even in competition with, but who is starting opposite Sweat? The answer is probably Austin Booker, but you can’t really eliminate Dayo Odeyingbo, especially if he’s motivated (when does the joke get old? Are we there yet?)
Last year, Booker and Odeyingbo were like two ships passing in the night. Booker was injured to start the year and didn’t work his way back to the active roster until November 2nd. November 2nd was the game when Odeyingbo tore his Achilles and went down for the year.
Booker tallied 35 tackles and 4.5 sacks in 10 games. He also added 18 pressures. In 8 games, Odeyingbo had just 21 tackles and 1 sack with just 6 total pressures.
Booker’s play in 2025 clearly was better than Odeyingbo’s. But sometimes in the NFL, money talks. Why is Deshaun Watson in the driver’s seat to start at quarterback in Cleveland? It’s certainly not his play on the field. It’s money.
The Bears guaranteed Odeyingbo $31 million when they signed him to a 3-year, $48 million contract. Yes, they can and almost certainly will get out of his contract after this season, but Odeyingbo has the 4th highest cap hit on the team this year. They are going to allow him to earn his money. You may not like it, but it’s going to happen.
But Odeyingbo’s situation is complicated. He wasn’t productive last year, and this year he is coming in rehabbing his Achilles tendon. Most players aren’t the same players they were before the injury, at least for a year, and if Odeyingbo is less of what he was last year, that’s an unplayable player.
On top of that, this is Odeyingbo’s second career Achilles tendon tear. Was it the same leg or one in each leg? Nobody in the media can seem to get a straight answer, but regardless, that can’t be a good thing for any player, regardless of which one is true.
Booker is young, he’s hungry, and he’s definitely on the upswing. If all things were equal, it feels like a virtual certainty that Booker is the starter and perhaps he will be, but Odeyingbo will get the opportunities in training camp to show that he is far more the player that they thought would be worthy of $17 million per year and not the player that looked like a vet-minimum type player (and hoenstly, that might be an insult to vet-minimum guys).
Odeyingbo is looking to rebound, Booker is looking to take a big step forward in year three and cement himself as one of the Bears’ starting Edges and earn himself a second contract in Chicago.
The Bears need to squeeze every drop of talent out of their defensive line this year if they want to contend, and it’s going to be critical that the Edge position opposite Sweat gives Chicago some type of production.
I think that Booker does earn this job and that Odeyingbo ends up competing with Shemar Turner for the team’s third edge. But that’s something we will have to see play out in August.
