Tory Taylor pick leaves teams kicking themselves in ‘angry texts,’ coach says

Tory Taylor pick leaves teams kicking themselves in ‘angry texts,’ coach says originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Ryan Poles and the Bears took a leap in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, selecting Iowa punter Tory Taylor to become the new leg of the team.

It’s a daring pick to draft a punter that early. Usually, special teams players go late in the draft, if at all. But, with their last pick in the draft, they took a chance on the draft’s best punter

Seeing as the Bears’ roster isn’t perfect (whose is?) they caught skepticism from fans about the pick. But special teams coach Richard Hightower told CHGO the Bears feel strongly about the pick and have been vindicated by other teams, too.

“For those that thought that ‘Oh my goodness, a punter in the fourth round,'” Hightower started. “Now that the dust has settled, and the text messages have started between special teams coaches and coordinators, Ryan Poles and his staff did a hell of a job with those mock drafts and being on top of all that stuff.

“There was no way he was getting to the fifth round. We got angry coaches on other teams saying ‘I can’t believe you guys took him’ … in a good way. … ‘We got it wrong and you guys got it right.’ So that’s cool when you hear your peers say stuff like that. And kudos to Ryan and his staff because he wouldn’t have lasted to the backend of the fourth and [he] definitely would’ve been gone in the fifth. I got that confirmation from three teams already.”

So whether you like it or not, Taylor was a known hot commodity come Day 3 of the draft. That’s why the Bears jumped at him. And that’s why coaches from three other teams, as Hightower mentioned, are kicking themselves (no pun intended) for not taking him, either.