We have talked about how the Chicago Bears have a lot of work to do for their defensive line for 2027 and moving forward. There are players with large contracts that are underperforming and almost certainly won’t return (Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett); there are players like Gervon Dexter that has his contract expiring. But there is Austin Booker, who is developing, but just how good can he be and what does that mean for an extension?
The question about how good Booker can be is a serious question that
the Bears don’t have the answer to yet. They need to be confident in that answer before they can even flirt with a contract extension for him. This year is going to be a huge one for Booker to determine what kind of earnings he might be headed towards for his second NFL contract.
Austin Booker: Stash
At this point, you almost need to sit on Austin Booker, not just for 2026, but probably for 2027 as well. Booker has 6 career sacks after two seasons in Chicago. If Booker doesn’t improve much more from his 2025 season, he’s going to settle in as a DE3, and he will be paid like a rotational player in Chicago or somewhere else.
But what if Booker leaps this year? What if Booker jumps to 8 to 10 sacks? What if he presents consistent pressure from the edge, and what if he improves in run defense enough to where he is just an average defender?
If that happens in 2026, and it is certainly in the realm of possible outcomes, suddenly Booker is going to be looking for starting Edge money, and that’s certainly a significant raise from a rotational player. Then the question becomes, what do the Bears think? Do the Bears think he’s going to continue on an upward trajectory, will they be concerned that 2026 was a peak for him and that’s the player moving forward, or perhaps do they think it’s an anomaly and he will regress moving forward?
There are simply too many variables at play right now to determine if Booker is going to be a part of this defensive line moving forward, and exactly what his role is going to be within that unit.
I think the Bears need to see how this season plays out. If Booker performs similarly to what he did in 2025, that’s a rotational player that doesn’t need an early extension. But if he does take a step forward this season, I think the Bears still should wait and see what Booker looks like in 2027 as well, and if he’s looking sharp and as good or improving again from 2026, I could see Booker as a November extension candidate, as they did with Andrew Billings a few years ago.
Booker has such a wide range of outcomes at this point after two seasons, so the Bears should just place him in the “Stash” category and see what direction his career heads.
