The Chicago Bears wrapped up NFL Draft weekend by making 5 picks. They didn’t check every box on their to-do list, but General Manager Ryan Poles looks to have solidified a busy offseason with immediate impact starters and depth. We’ll meet the Bears’ draft picks, get to know a bit about their past, and where they project to go moving forward.
Previous: QB Caleb Williams, WR Rome Odunze, OL Kiran Amegadjie
TORY TAYLOR (ROUND 4, PICK 122)
If you are going to insist on drafting a punter, at least make sure you get the best one. That appears to be what the Chicago Bears did in selecting Iowa’s Tory Taylor with pick No. 122 in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bears got that pick as part of their 2023 draft-day swap with the Philadelphia Eagles. What a pleasant gift that turned out to be from our friends in Philly. Cheesesteaks all around!
HIGHLIGHTS
CHECK IT OUT: How Tory Taylor and Kiran Amegadjie Manifested Going to the Bears
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
Tory Taylor has earned so many accolades in his college punting career. But landing punts inside-the-20 at nearly a 50 percent clip is an eye-opening stat. That stands out more than the 4,479 punting yards, which is also such a ridiculous number in its own right. You’d think Iowa football was some sort of bottom-feeding college team. But the Hawkeyes successfully leveraged having an All-American punter into a weapon that the defense (and sometimes, offense) could appreciate.
WEAKNESSES
OK, so this is something for us to watch out for when camp, preseason, and (eventually) regular-season games. Will the Bears try to tweak Tory Taylor’s style? Or will the team decide it can live with a blocked punt every now and again? Please don’t try to fix what’s not broken.
RELATIVE ATHLETIC SCORE
Relative Athletic Score grades player measurements on a 0-10 scale and compares them to their contemporaries. It is a unique way to give some of these prospects some more depth and perspective.
Unfortunately, there is not enough info on Tory Taylor to cook up a Relat🀅ive Athletic Score. What a bummer. I was looking forward to seeing how Taylor measured up historically against other punters.
MORE: Caleb William🐻s Had a Hilarious Welcome Message For Tory Taylor
WHERE HE FITS
Field-flipping asset that members of the offense and defense can be proud to have as a teammate.
By picking Tory Taylor in Round 4, Bears General Manager Ryan 💖Poles did two things.
Firstly, he addressed a high-priority need. Watching the Bears punt is bad enough. But watching them trot out one of the league’s worst punters to do it was tough to stomach. Trenton Gill had a down 2023 in which he finished dead last in net yards, and 26th in average yards per punt while logging the fourth-most touchbacks. Things were so bad in the punting department last year that one of the first offseason moves the Bears made was signing Corliss Waitman to a reserve/future contract.
Secondly, and perhaps the most telling thing, drafting a punter essentially acts as Poles’ mea culpa for the Trenton Gill pick. Using two draft picks in three years on a punter isn’t ideal. However, I would rather have a general manager correct course and rectify their mistake instead of letting something play out hoping it’ll be better when there isn’t much suggesting that it will.
This isn’t the first time Poles has gone this route. And while it isn’t the biggest thing, it represents a refreshing change of pace from the previous regime.
Again, I understand that drafting a punter in the fourth round isn’t an ideal use of a draft pick in the eyes of the analytically driven. Even after taking the number-crunching into consideration, it isn’t enough to move me off my stance of liking this pick for the Bears. Look … I’m a simple man who enjoys when his inner child gets nourished by the most random things. My approval of the pick is the draft version of my approval of the fight scenes in the Kenobi series. Some like the cool punter pick, just like some simply enjoy watching Obi-Wan and Anakin go at it for old time’s sake. Make that punt go boom. Make those laser swords hum.
Wait, does this make Tory Taylor a new hope for Bears special teams?
Also, it’s not as if they drafted just any old punter — Tory Taylor was college football’s best punter last year and projects to be one of the best in the league upon his arrival to The Show. Having good players at every position helps build winning football teams. Yes, even punters. Besides, someone has to hold the extra-point tries after Caleb Williams, D’Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, Roschon Johnson, Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Gerald Everett, and Cole Kmet score touchdowns!
Don’t get me wrong. Getting the punter right in the first place would have been ideal. But whiffing on a punter during the early stages of a rebuild isn’t the worst thing that can happen for a team trying to bottom out. And if the end result of a miss in 2022 is getting a clear and undeniable upgrade in 2024, then so be it. Hopefully, Tory Taylor makes us forget all about the Trenton Gill miss.
