Despite the 2024 NFL Draft being nearly one week away, the Chicago Bears are still continuing to do their homework on some of the top prospects in the class.
On Wednesday, the Bears hosted Kansas pass rusher Austin Booker for an official visit, as confirmed by Booker himself on social media.
Today is the final day teams are allowed to bring in prospects for official visits ahead of next week's draft. Booker is projected to be a Day 2 selection.
The Bears have now officially met with nearly all of the top prospects at the defensive end position ahead of the draft as the team works to narrow down which player they will target to play alongside Montez Sweat on head coach Matt Eberflus' defense.
Booker had 8 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in each of his last two seasons in college along with having 12+ tackles for a loss. After starting his career at Minnesota, Booker transferred to Kansas in 2023 and was named First Team All-Big 12.
Booker's size (6'4, 253 pounds at his pro day) and experience playing on defense (505 career defensive snaps) are definitely concerns coming into the draft, but also exciting to consider when understanding the ceiling he can eventually grow into.
"You just gotta embrace it," Booker said to CBS Sports while at the NFL Scouting Combine. "I have nothing but confidence in my game and I feel like I have done a lot at the college level. I'm just learning new stuff from the NFL guys and learning stuff from the NFL coaches to do nothing but improve my game."
His visit with the Bears in Chicago today likely will help answer all of those concerns while giving him the opportunity to learn more about Eberflus' mindset as a coach and taking away all he can learn through the process. Perhaps he could even be a target for the Bears with the 75th overall pick if the team elects to pass on drafting a pass rusher with their second pick on opening night next Thursday.
More must-reads: