Iowa punter Tory Taylor picked by Chicago Bears in fourth round of NFL Draft
Second Iowa punter to be selected in NFL draft, joining Reggie Roby
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Former Iowa All-America punter Tory Taylor was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears on Saturday, and with the 122nd pick overall.
Taylor was selected just seven picks after former Iowa tight end Erick All was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 115th pick overall.
It isn’t often that a punter gets picked this high in the NFL draft, but Taylor is coming off a record-breaking career as Iowa’s starting punter for four seasons.
The Melbourne, Australia native was the 2023 Ray Guy Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate punter.
Taylor’s ability to flip field position was crucial to Iowa’s success, especially in each of the past two seasons when the offense struggled.
He broke an NCAA all-time punting yardage record, that was set in 1938, in the Citrus Bowl. He finished the season with 93 punts for a record 4,479 yards in 2023. He also had the best career punting average (46.3), single-season punting average (48.2) and most career games averaging 40 or more yards (43) in NCAA history.
Taylor, a four-year starter, had 40 punts of 50+ yards (seven punts of 60-plus) and 32 downed inside the 20, 11 inside the 10 and six inside the 5 last year. He finished his career with 295 punts for 13,657 yards — both Iowa career records.
Taylor never had punted in a game before joining the Iowa program in 2020.
Taylor punted a whopping 295 times overall as a Hawkeye, proof of just how much the Iowa offense struggled.
Taylor told the media shortly after being drafted on Saturday that he received a text message from Chicago’s top pick in the draft, and the No. 1 pick overall in the draft, former USC quarterback, Caleb Williams.
It read: “Hey, you’re not going to punt too much.”
Taylor is the 88th Iowa player to be selected in the NFL draft under Kirk Ferentz, and the first punter.
He is also just the second Iowa punter to be picked in the NFL draft, the other being Reggie Roby, who was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round of the 1983 draft.
Roby would go on to earn All-Pro accolades.