Booker and Odeyingbo Now Have the Stage — Neither Has Earned It Yet

The Bears placed Montez Sweat on the NFI list on July 28, and as I noted here recently, the immediate problem is that there's no proven pass rusher behind him. What's become clearer since then is what the internal competition actually looks like: Austin Booker and Dayo Odeyingbo are the candidates, and neither arrived at camp with a résumé that makes this an easy call. Odeyingbo is currently listed as questionable, which makes even that competition uncertain.

The depth chart tells the story plainly. Sweat handled every meaningful defensive end snap in 2025 — no one else logged significant time behind him. Shemar Turner is out. So is Ozzy Trapilo. The Bears are essentially asking two players with no established production at this level to audition for a role that matters enormously, with the roster behind them thinned out by injury before camp has barely started.

The contract situation adds another layer. Sweat is on an expiring deal, and the NFI designation complicates the re-signing conversation in ways that aren't yet resolved. The Bears don't have the luxury of treating this as a quiet position battle — if Booker or Odeyingbo doesn't show something real in the next few weeks, the front office will face a harder set of choices before the season opens.