The Chicago Bears are officially another step closer to having promising second-year defensive end Austin Booker back in the lineup following their bye week.
Before Tuesday’s practice, the Bears designated both Booker and veteran running back Travis Homer for return from the injured reserve list, allowing them to participate in practice for the first time since the start of the 2025 regular season.
The Bears will now have 21 days to activate them to the 53-man active roster or else they must leave them on IR and shut them down for the remainder of the season.
Booker, a 2024 fifth-round pick, had made waves for the Bears in this year’s preseason, leading the league with four sacks before suffering a knee injury in the team’s second exhibition game. While the Bears must make another move to bring him back to the active roster, he should help boost their struggling pass rush whenever he returns.
The Bears could provide clues as to whether they will activate either Booker or Homer before Week 6’s road game on Thursday when they release their first injury report for their next matchup with the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football.
Bears Eager to See if Austin Booker Can ‘Affect’ QB
The Bears have done a poor job of affecting opposing quarterbacks through the early parts of the 2025 season. Through five weeks, they are tied with the Carolina Panthers for the fewest sacks (five) and rank dead last in pass-rush win rate (26%), per ESPN.
That’s particularly bad, given that three of the Bears’ 12 biggest salary-cap numbers in 2025 belong to defensive line starters, including veteran defensive end Montez Sweat — who has their largest cap number at about $25.08 million and just one sack this year.
The Bears, however, are eager to see if Booker can become part of the solution when he returns to the field after seeing how disruptive he was for them in the preseason.
“You felt the pass rush there, particularly in the game setting,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Tuesday. “I saw it in practice and the joint practices as well. He was a guy that was able to affect the quarterback. That’s something that we talked about as a unit today: points of emphasis, where can we improve? Obviously, it’s the penalties, it’s the run game, but affecting the quarterback, we’re not doing a good enough job of it.
“That’s really where I saw Booker making the biggest impact in the preseason. We’ll have to see where he is now back on the practice field.”
Will Bears Acquire More DL Help at Trade Deadline?
The Bears won’t rush Booker back to the field sooner than he is able, but there is some urgency to figure out whether he can help them improve their league-worst pass rush.
Because if Booker does not help matters, then the Bears may have little choice but to scour the market for more help before the 2025 NFL trade deadline on November 4.
The Bears are paying good money to Sweat and free-agent acquisition Dayo Odeyingbo, whom they signed to a three-year, $48 million contract in March, but the two of them have pooled together for just 18 total pressures in four games. For comparison’s sake, Aidan Hutchinson has a league-leading 31 pressures on his own through five games.
While the financials of acquiring more pass-rushing help might tie the Bears‘ hands to their current personnel, it couldn’t hurt for them to explore options within the right price range.
Perhaps the winless New York Jets would listen to offers on star Jermaine Johnson II, who would cost less than $4 million against the cap for the rest of the season and is under contract through 2026 on his $13.41 million fifth-year option, per Over the Cap. The deflating Cincinnati Bengals could also change their minds about dealing away Trey Hendrickson, now that their season is on life support — or, well, in Joe Flacco’s hands.
The Bears will have until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 4, to make trades.
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