Booker and Odeyingbo Are Competing for a Job Neither Has Claimed

The Bears have now written two notes on this subject in as many days, which tells you something about how unsettled the situation actually is. Montez Sweat goes on the NFI list July 28, and suddenly a position that had no proven depth behind him needs an answer before camp gets much further along. Austin Booker and Dayo Odeyingbo are the candidates. Neither has logged meaningful snaps at the NFL level in this role.

The wrinkle is that Odeyingbo is listed as questionable, which means the competition Chicago needs to be running right now may be operating at half-strength. Shemar Turner, who sits third on the depth chart, is also out. So the Bears are trying to evaluate an edge-rush depth chart that can't fully practice at the moment, which is a strange way to hold a competition.

The broader context hasn't changed from what I wrote yesterday: the team carried only one defensive end with real playing time all of last season, and that was Sweat. There is no safety net here. Booker and Odeyingbo aren't competing for a backup role — they're competing to be the answer if Sweat misses regular-season time, and neither has done anything yet to suggest they're ready for that weight.

Camp will sort some of this out. But the Bears don't have the luxury of a slow evaluation. My read is that if Odeyingbo can't get healthy and practice consistently in the next week or so, Chicago will need to look outside the building — because what's currently on the depth chart isn't enough.