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Fox Sports' David Helman, instead, is labeling Robinson's competition as the top Bears breakout candidate in an article naming a breakout candidate for every team. He says second-year edge player Austin Booker is their top breakout candidate.

With so many younger players who could make contributions, this is a lofty expectation for Booker to be their top one. Also, his lack of impact as a rookie hasn't shown he can be the unexpected young player who steps up and makes a large impact.

"Booker looked how you might expect a fifth-round rookie defensive end to look in 2024," Helman wrote. "He played just 27% of the Bears’ snaps and didn’t make a consistent impact with just 10 pressures on the season—though it’s worth noting he did convert two of those 10 pressures into sacks."

Helman is using Pro Football Focus statistics but Stathead/Pro Football Reference gave Booker only six pressures for 283 total defensive snaps. He contributed 21 combined tackles.

It was a quiet debut for a player the Bears acquired by trading away a 2025 fourth-round pick to make a 2024 Round 5 selection.

Helman gave a few good reasons for expecting this breakout. They're good reasons because they focus on the team dynamic up front and this is what makes or breaks pass rushes, anyway. It's not an individual sport.

"The Bears signed Dayo Odeyingbo to pair with Montez Sweat, so Booker can settle comfortably into a rotational role," Helman wrote.

A contention the Bears have made both under Matt Eberflus and now under defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is the interior pass rush will improve and thereby improve the edges. Helman sees this happening.

"The overall talent of the defensive line is also better, with Grady Jarrett and second-round pick Shemar Turner in the mix to hopefully make life easier on the edge rushers," he wrote.

A reason exists to doubt this expectation and that's Booker's size. At his 2024 playing weight of 245 pounds he is not a fit for the Allen defensive scheme.

From the time Allen's Saints defenses ratcheted things up in 2018 until he was fired last year, New Orleans had no defensive ends lighter than 260. They've followed this scheme with Sweat at 262 and Odeyingbo at 286. The emphasis on edge players keeping containment in the running attack make this size requirement critical.

Several Bears players were told to reshape their bodies over the offseason, Gervon Dexter being one on the defensive line. Booker's roster weight for 2025 will interesting to note because he needed to add on in order to break out in this defensive scheme.

If Robinson really is the player they see improvement in now, then it could limit Booker's reps and further cut back his chances to make an impact in Year 2.