The Chicago Bears are quite familiar with the HBO "Hard Knocks" crew after appearing on the show during last year's training camp and welcomed the team back to Halas Hall and Soldier Field last week along with the Buffalo Bills, this year's focus on the show.
As we learned last year, "Hard Knocks" is always a unique way to get more filtered access to the team, coaches, and players with each episode.
The latest "Hard Knocks" episode recently aired showing the Bills' trip to Chicago, which didn't turn out to be as fruitful as Buffalo would have hoped, both in the joint practice and in the preseason.
Outside of seeing some of the plays Chicago made against the top AFC contender, there was one other key moment that Bears fans should pay close attention to while watching.
During the episode, Bills' standout left tackle Dion Dawkins was seen coaching up Bears' edge rusher Austin Booker at the joint practice and had quite the praise for the young defender.
"Bro, you drastically look different than everybody out here," Dawkins said to Booker. "So you have to play different than everybody out here. If they ain't doing all that acrobatic [expletive], you got to be the one to do it. Because you're their spark."
"Bro, you drastically look different than everybody out here. So you have to play different...you're their spark."
— Brendan Sugrue (@BrendanSugrue) August 20, 2025
Dion Dawkins to Austin Booker during the Bears-Bills joint practice on Hard Knocks. Dawkins was coaching up Booker.
That's the kind of validation fans would want to hear about Booker coming from someone who's gone up against some of the top pass rushers in the league over the course of eight years and it speaks volumes to the development he has made over the last calendar year.
Through two preseason games, Booker has looked more than impressive and certainly been the spark for the new defense under Dennis Allen, totaling five sacks and nine pressures. Following the first preseason game against the Miami Dolphins where he racked up three sacks, head coach Ben Johnson noted the second-year pass rusher was a " menace" and someone the rest of team was feeding off of.
Going into his second season in Chicago, Booker is set to be a rotational edge player again mixing in behind Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. So far, he's been turning heads in a big way while proving the kind of juice he can add to the pass rush when his number is called.
On Friday, Booker and the Bears will face quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the preseason finale. You can be sure he'll be chomping at the bit to bring down one of the best quarterbacks in the league and continue adding to his league-leading sack total before the preseason wraps up.
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