‘Thought I may have gone a little bit earlier’

Taylor’s aiming to vary that Bears historic footnote.

His resume would provide loads of cause as to why he can. Then there’s the added issue that he starred usually instances taking part in within the harsh weathers of the Big Ten. He’s wanting ahead to his first time setting foot on Soldier Field, regardless of the forecast.

“Just playing at Soldier Field and being a Chicago Bear,” Taylor stated of what he’s wanting ahead to most. “I’m obviously being pretty biased, but it’s the Chicago Bears, you know what I mean? There’s just something about it.”

As Taylor’s story goes, he hoped to land in Chicago, however with the Bears holding simply 4 picks getting into the draft (Poles and Co. traded again in for a fifth choice) he believed it was an unlikely situation.

Then his cellphone rang and the Aussie with the massive leg was certain for the Windy City.

“I saw the Illinois number on my phone, and I was just like, ‘No effing way. Is this really happening?’” he stated. “And it’s literally like a dream come true. Because I really, really wanted to come to Chicago. But I was like, ah, man, are they going to draft a punter? They’ve only got four draft picks. It’s really one of those things that was probably a little bit of a stretch. But I really wanted to come to Chicago.”

Taylor arrived Thursday for rookie camp. Along along with his baggage, he arrives as a two-time All-American and a one-time Ray Guy Award winner as school soccer’s prime punter. In the 2023 season wherein he garnered the Ray Guy {hardware}, he set an NCAA single-season report with 4,479 punting yards, coming with a mean per punt of 48.2 yards.

Of course, as he joins the Bears, he joins a squad trying to flip issues round following three straight shedding seasons. Thus, the much less Taylor seen on the sector, the higher for the Bears, greater than seemingly.

It was a level made via text by Caleb Williams, the No. 1 general choose of the ’24 draft and the Bears’ new quarterback. Shortly after Taylor was taken on Day 3 of the draft, the USC product despatched a textual content message to Chicago’s latest particular teamer that learn, per Taylor, “Hey you’re not going to punt too much.”

Prior to that, Taylor actually didn’t know Williams, however he favored the message.

“I never actually met him at the combine,” Taylor stated. “I ran into him in the hallway a couples times and I was like, what’s up, man? But he would not have any idea who I was, he would not remember that. Obviously, I’m like it’s Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick, obviously I knew who he was. So, I’d seen him a couple times, but never really met him, I guess. But yeah to get a text from him was certainly pretty cool and possible when he said, ‘Oh you’re not going to be punting much,’ I was like, that’s cool with me, let’s go win some games.”

That’s the hope of the fourth-round punter and all of Chicago.