Ben Johnson’s comments on Austin Booker help explain Bears recent roster decisions and offer optimism for his eventual return
The team is still expecting big things out of the second-year pass rusher.
Coming out of the bye week, it’s remarkable how improved the Chicago Bears have been at cleaning up some of the major week-to-week issues the team faced in the first four games of the season.
The run game on both sides of the ball have been outstanding and the up-tick on the quarterback pressure defensively has led to more takeaways on the backend. Granted, there’s still some minor things to clean up, but addressing those things will be the focus going forward.
Going back to the quarterback pressure, that’s been an underrated improvement for Chicago. After having just three sacks and 13 total pressures in the first four games, the Bears have totaled seven sacks and 32 pressures over the last two games combined. And that’s without a player the Bears are hoping will bring even more impact off the edge sooner than later.
Bears still have high hopes for DE Austin Booker
On October 7th, the Bears opened the 21-day practice window for second-year defensive end Austin Booker to return from the injured reserve following a preseason knee injury. Despite being a full participant in practice each of the last two weeks, Booker still has yet to be added back to the 53-man roster. On Monday, head coach Ben Johnson finally explained the decision making behind that.
“More than anything, I think we felt completely good about the guys we had up,” Johnson explained. “I think he is progressing along nicely and I think he’s going to be able to help us.”
Leading up to the Week 7 game against the New Orleans Saints, the Bears released defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon and used the open spot to add running back and special teamer Travis Homer back to the active roster off the injured reserve. Homer’s 21-day practice window opened the same day as Booker’s practice window.
After that roster move, many questioned what was going on with Booker, so it was nice to hear Johnson speak on his injury progression and reinforce the belief that he’s going to help the team once he’s fully back into game shape. It sounds like the team didn’t want to feel forced to rush him back.
If Booker isn’t activated to the roster by the end of those 21 days, he would revert back to the injured reserve for the remainder of the season. But, it sounds like the team will make that move sooner than later and will have to make a corresponding move to open up the roster spot.
Having Booker back on the field, and healthy, down the stretch will be huge for the depth off the edge in Chicago. He’s still an integral piece of this defense and hopefully we can see him back in action as soon as this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
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