Although the Chicago Bears had just five picks at NFL Draft this year, they addressed nearly every major need in their roster. The organization had arguably the best drafts in the league (Bleacher Report gave them an overall A grade), with a handful of impact players joining and already star-studded roster.
USC’s quarterback Caleb Williams will take the headlines as the first overall pick, but Ryan Poles found value in the later rounds as well.
Perhaps the most surprising pickup, was punter Tory Taylor in the fourth round. The Bears selected Taylor with the 122 overall pick which is the highest a punter has been selected with the San Francisco 49ers drafted Mitch Wishnowsky with the 110th pick in 2019. Poles even traded up to get his man.
New Bears punter Tory Taylor said he got this text from Caleb Williams: "Hey, you're not going to punt too much here."
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) April 27, 2024
The Australian kicker has an impressive resume from his time with the Iowa Hawkeyes. In 2023, he won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top and was named Big Ten Conference Punter of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten Conference.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) for the Bears, all that likely wont matter according to rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
After Taylor was selected, Williams texted him a message that stated: “Hey, you’re not going to punt too much here.” Williams is known for his confidence and hopefully he is accurate about this. If Williams and the offense are doing their job right, Taylor will see very little time on the field.
