Bears Were Reportedly Lucky To Get Tory Taylor When They Did

The Chicago Bears got a lot of heat from certain sections of the media and fandom when they took Tory Taylor in the 4th round. Some people are naturally predisposed to hate when punters get drafted at all. Good specialists can be found in undrafted free agency and veteran free agency all the time. It seems like such a wasted draft pick. Never mind the fact that four punters have been drafted in the 4th round or higher since 2010. One is a two-time Pro Bowler and the other three are still with the teams that drafted them. The truth is punters drafted that high tend to work out more often than bust.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune spoke to people around the league about Taylor. It was clear almost immediately that he was leagues above everybody else in this class. In fact, there was an undercurrent that if the board fell a certain way, he was good enough to go in the 3rd or even the 2nd round. One thing was clear. If the Bears hadn’t pounced on him when they did, there was no way Taylor was making it to the 5th round.

GM Ryan Poles felt the odds of hitting on the pick were far higher by taking him.

I think it was a wise move because Taylor, whom the Bears drafted with the 122nd pick, was head and shoulders above the rest of the class in the estimation of evaluators I spoke with, including scouts and — more important — special teams coaches…

…Back to using a fourth-round pick on a punter. When I chatted with a couple of scouts, they thought Taylor was a likely fourth-rounder and one said he could envision a team making a move for him in the third round or even at the back end of Round 2. His thinking was that while it would be unorthodox, if you have conviction that Taylor would transform your punting game and make you one of the better units in the league for five-plus seasons, it makes sense. You’ve passed on the opportunity to take a player at a position with greater significance for a punter you believe is more of a sure thing. Most personnel folks will tell you a fourth-round pick has maybe a 50% chance of panning out as a productive NFL player, and some might say the odds are a little less than that.

Tory Taylor can change games.

His ability to boom long punts and consistently drop them inside the 20 was a huge reason Iowa had winning records despite an atrocious offense the past two years. Poles said his goal was to find ways to make opposing teams uncomfortable. Few things do that better than being backed up against your own end zone. While the Bears may not have invested much into their defense this off-season, they still managed to find a weapon that can help them in a vital way. Defending longer fields will make life so much easier for them.

The fact that Chicago cut Trenton Gill mere days after the pick went down should tell you all you need to know. They didn’t even bother with a camp competition. Tory Taylor is their guy. They believe in him that much. It isn’t hard to see why. He has tons of college experience, loads of talent, and is already in his mid-20s. He’s a grown man. There shouldn’t be much of a transition period for him. He could have success right out of the gate. The Bears believe he will. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have taken him so early.