When the Chicago Bears selected Iowa punter Tory Taylor in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, he quickly made it clear that he was excited to join the team. Taylor had told reporters how his girlfriend is from Chicago and had joked about how cool it would be to get drafted there. It turns out the two were quite serious about wanting to land in the Windy City.
Taylor recently joined Adam Rank on The Sick Podcast to discuss his first couple of weeks as a Bear, and he revealed just how much he was hoping to get drafted by Chicago. He talks about how his girlfriend was counting down the picks in the fourth round before the phone finally rang.
It got to pick 119 or 120 and I saw the Illinois number on my phone and I was like ‘no effing way. Is this really happening?’ And it’s literally like a dream come true because I really, really wanted to come to Chicago, but I was like ‘oh man, are they really going to draft a punter? They only got four draft picks.’ It was really one of those things that was probably a bit of a stretch, but I really wanted to come to Chicago because, first and foremost, it’s the sports capital of America, it’s only three hours from Iowa City, and Chicago Bears fans are like absolutely nuts.
#Bears 4th round pick Tory Taylor on what it means to be drafted by Chicago:
"I really wanted to come to Chicago because first and foremost it's the sports capitol of America, it's only 3 hours from Iowa city, Chicago Bears fans are like absolutely nuts"#BearDown #DaBears… pic.twitter.com/XbXuNaqVLk
— The Sick Podcast with Adam Rank (@sickpodadamrank) May 9, 2024
The new Bears punter also had an anecdote about one of his former roommates who rooted for the team and how he would live and die with every game, which further sold him on the franchise. Taylor, who is a native of Melbourne, Australia, came to the United States when he decided to commit to the University of Iowa. He became one of the best college punters during his four years as a Hawkeye and broke the record for most punting yards in a season with 4,479, averaging 48.2 yards per punt.
Taylor and the rest of the Bears rookies will take the first step of their professional careers during rookie minicamp, taking place May 10–11. It’s probably safe to say he’s looking forward to the experience and can’t wait to don the orange and navy.
