LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) — A 6-foot-4 punter with a booming right leg, pinpoint placement and a thick Australian accent should have a nickname by now, right?
Especially when he plays for a head coach in Matt Eberflus who has a long list of nicknames for his Bears players, you'd think that rookie punter Tory Taylor almost certainly has to have an affectionate moniker.
No, not yet — and Taylor is just fine with that.
“If no one knows who I am, that usually means I’m doing a pretty good job,” Taylor said.
Despite that claim, Taylor isn’t the average rookie punter going through his first NFL training camp.
The Bears selected Taylor with a fourth-round pick in the NFL Draft in late April and have touted him as a weapon for their entire team. He averaged 48.2 yards per punt at Iowa in 2023 and pinned 43.1% of his career punts in college inside the 20-yard line. Taylor earned the Ray Guy Award last season as the nation’s top punter.
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams famously told Taylor after they were drafted that Chicago wouldn’t need a punter, but Taylor's skill set should be a key weapon in flipping field position or pinning an opponent near its own goal line.
Taylor boasts a mindset that has caught the eye of his coaches and teammates.
“One thing clearly evident with Tory Taylor is he doesn’t give a damn about anything but winning,” Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. “And that’s how (he thinks). So, that’s why I really love this kid. And he wants to work on his craft every day, so he could put the team in a position to own the field. That’s how he thinks. He doesn’t think, like, ‘Oh, it’s my time to punt.’ Or, ‘I just trot out there.’ He’s like, ‘I’m owning the field. This is my field when I’m out here and I’m going to pin ‘em for my defense.’ And that’s the kind of mentality punter I want. That’s a go-getter. That’s what I want. So that’s what I’ve grown to learn about him.
“He’s got a chance to be really good. Now, it’s still early and we still got a lot of work to do. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, obviously. But the kid is wired the right way. He’s really wired the right way. Hell, I can be up here talking about Tory Taylor for a long time.”
The 27-year-old Taylor didn't punt during the Bears’ preseason opener last Thursday in Canton, Ohio, which Hightower called an organizational decision. The Bears held Taylor out because they want to prevent opponents from getting an early read on his punting abilities and tendencies.
Taylor can create big hangtime on his punts and even puts some spin on the football – which is different from most punters in the NFL. Like a golfer playing an approach shot to the green, Taylor has many clubs to utilize in his bag, so to speak.
“With a normal righty, when the ball turns over, it's going to fall to my left,” Bears veteran returner DeAndre Carter said. “Tory has a ball where it looks like it's turning over, but then almost like it dies and comes back and spins to the right. So, you kind of got to keep your feet moving.
“If you haven't (seen it), it can catch you off guard because you're moving to your left and you got to move to the right at the last minute.”
Iowa went 10-4 in 2023 despite averaging just 15.4 points per game – the second-worst mark of any team in the FBS ranks. The Hawkeyes’ defense was one of the nation’s best, allowing just 14.8 points per game. And Taylor was a key part of Iowa’s team success, punting 93 times in 14 games and consistently creating field position problems for opponents.
Taylor became a heralded name in college football as part of the Hawkeyes’ unique style of winning games. While it hasn’t led to a nickname for Taylor, he enters the NFL with a mindset that matches his talent.
“If I'm going to be one of the very few players with the ball in my hand, I'm really going to go out there and try to dominate the game the way I want to,” Taylor said.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.