Chicago Bears third-year pass rusher Austin Booker recorded a season-high two sacks in the team's Week 5 loss to the Green Bay Packers. It also happened to be his highest snap count of the season. According to Austin Booker, that is not a coincidence.
Chicago Bears Edge Rusher Austin Booker Demands More Playing Time
Booker told Herb Howard of the Score before the Bears' Week 4 win over the New York Jets that he felt he needed more playing time.
Booker had five pressures and one sack in the first three weeks of the season on 89 snaps. In the two games since, he has four pressures and two sacks on 64 snaps. He told Howard it was not a coincidence.
Two days before the #Jets game, #Bears DE Austin Booker expressed to Me that he wasn’t happy with his role on the team. He wanted more playing time. In the two games since then Booker has 3 sacks and 4TFLs.
— Herb Howard (@HerbHoward411) October 12, 2026
Today, I asked him if he’d changed his approach in the past couple…
“When the snap count goes up, the production goes up,” Howard tweeted.
Booker went from averaging just under 30 snaps per game to 32 snaps per game. However, it is more about the rate of snaps.
Booker played 58% of the snaps in Week 1. However, he dipped to 36% in Week 2. Then, Booker shot back up to 60% in Week 3. After he asked for more work, he played a season-high 62% of the snaps at the time. In Week 5, an injury to Dayo Odeyingbo allowed him to play another season-high in snaps played and rate of snaps. He played just over 72% of the defensive snaps. It led to his best game of the season.
What is interesting to note is that he played more than that amount of snaps in eight of the Bears' ten games last season. So, he was used to playing much more last season than he currently is.
It is not surprising that he was not quite as impactful as he was getting used to a new role. Once he got back into more of an every-down flow, he played better. Booker was asking for that and got it.
The question is whether he will continue to get it. As things stand, it looks like he will. Odeyingbo might not be out long-term, but there is a chance he could miss some time. James Lynch is fourth on the team in edge rusher snaps behind those two and Montez Sweat. He started the year as an interior rusher.
The player who is fifth in edge rusher snaps is linebacker D’Marco Jackson. They get thin without Odeyingbo. Booker could get his wish in the next few weeks.
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