Chicago Bears pick Iowa’s Tory Taylor in fourth round of 2024 NFL Draft

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s fan-favorite punter is headed to the Windy City.

The Chicago Bears drafted Tory Taylor with the No. 122 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft on Saturday.

Taylor is the first Hawkeye specialist drafted since kicker Nate Kaeding was a third-round selection in 2004. The only other Hawkeye punter to be drafted was Reggie Roby in 1983.

As the 122nd overall pick, Taylor is the highest-drafted punter since 2019 (when Mitch Wishnowsky was the 110th overall pick) and the second-highest-drafted punter since 2012.

He joins a Chicago team that ranked dead-last in the NFL last year with 38 net yards per punt. The Bears’ incumbent punter Trenton Gill was a seventh-round pick in 2022.

Taylor had the best season of his college career in 2023, averaging 48.2 yards per punt on his way to becoming the first Hawkeye to win the Ray Guy Award. He had 32 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line versus seven touchbacks.

The Australian punter finished his career with the NCAA records for all-time punting yardage, career punting average and single-season punting average. He also was a first-team All-American in 2022 and the Big Ten Punter of the Year in 2020.

He is the third Hawkeye drafted this week, following second-rounder Cooper DeJean and fellow fourth-rounder Erick All.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.