Austin Booker
| No. 94 – Chicago Bears | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Defensive end | ||||||||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born | December 14, 2002 Greenwood, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||
| Listed weight | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school | Center Grove (Greenwood, Indiana) | ||||||||||
| College | Minnesota (2021–2022) Kansas (2023) | ||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2024: 5th round, 144th overall pick | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of 2025 | |||||||||||
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Austin Booker (born December 14, 2002) is an American professional football defensive end for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Kansas Jayhawks.
Early life
[edit]Booker attended Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Indiana. As a junior, he had 67 tackles and eight sacks. He committed to the University of Minnesota to play college football.[1]
College career
[edit]Booker played at Minnesota from 2021 to 2022. After redshirting his first year, he played in six games in 2022 and had two tackles. After the season, he entered the transfer portal and transferred to the University of Kansas.[2][3] In his lone season at Kansas, he played in 12 games and had 56 tackles and eight sacks.[4] After the season, he entered the 2024 NFL draft.[5] He sat out the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl in order to prepare for the draft.[6]
Professional career
[edit]| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Wingspan | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 4+1⁄2 in (1.94 m) | 240 lb (109 kg) | 33+7⁄8 in (0.86 m) | 9+1⁄4 in (0.23 m) | 6 ft 9+3⁄8 in (2.07 m) | 4.78 s | 1.69 s | 2.80 s | 4.47 s | 7.28 s | 32.5 in (0.83 m) | 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) | |
| All values from NFL Combine/Pro Day[7][8] | ||||||||||||
Booker was selected by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft.[9] He signed a four-year contract with the team on May 16.[10]
Booker began the 2025 season on injured reserve due to a knee injury suffered in the preseason. He was activated on October 28, 2025, ahead of the team's Week 9 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.[11] During the 2025 season, Booker was fined four separate fines from the NFL for unnecessary roughness. Three of them were in games against the Green Bay Packers, and one of those caused the Green Bay Packers quarterback, Jordan Love, to receive a concussion that caused him to miss two games.[12][13][14]
NFL career statistics
[edit]| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
[edit]| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PD | FF | Fmb | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2024 | CHI | 17 | 0 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | CHI | 10 | 9 | 35 | 19 | 16 | 4.5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 27 | 9 | 56 | 33 | 23 | 6.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Postseason
[edit]| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PD | FF | Fmb | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2025 | CHI | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
References
[edit]- ↑ Neddenriep, Kyle (May 31, 2020). "Football recruiting: Center Grove's Booker commits to Minnesota, Pike's Montgomery cuts list". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Greder, Andy (December 1, 2022). "Gophers defensive end Austin Booker plans to transfer out". St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Laddha, Shreyas (March 23, 2023). "Kansas took two D-line transfers from Minnesota. They think Jayhawks are 'hungrier'". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Beas, Mike (October 3, 2023). "Center Grove grad Booker excelling after transfer to Kansas". Daily Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Guskey, Jordan (January 5, 2024). "Kansas football defensive lineman Austin Booker declares for 2024 NFL draft". The Topeka-Capital Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Laddha, Shreyas (December 24, 2023). "Kansas Jayhawks football's Dominick Puni, Austin Booker opt out of Guaranteed Rate Bowl". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
- ↑ Reuter, Chad; Zierlein, Lance. "Austin Booker Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
- ↑ "2024 NFL Draft Scout Austin Booker College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
- ↑ Hajduk, Gabby (April 27, 2024). "Bears make trade with Bills, select Kansas DL Austin Booker in fifth round". ChicagoBears.com. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
- ↑ Mayer, Larry (May 16, 2024). "Roster Move: Bears sign rookie DE Austin Booker". ChicagoBears.com. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
- ↑ "Roster Moves: Chicago Bears activate Booker, place Turner on IR". chicagobears.com. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
- ↑ Ferreira, Wendell (January 18, 2026). "NFL admits mistake against the Packers in Bears game, but now it's too late for it to matter".
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Another Austin Booker hit on Jordan Love draws biggest Bears fine". Chicago Bears On SI. January 17, 2026. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
- ↑ Lodhi, Muskan (January 18, 2026). "NFL Makes Punishment Decision on Jordan Love Incident After Wild Card Loss to the Bears". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved January 19, 2026.