{"id":388663,"date":"2024-04-28T01:11:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T01:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=388663"},"modified":"2024-04-28T04:07:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T04:07:12","slug":"aussie-lost-for-words-after-nfl-dream-realised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=388663","title":{"rendered":"Aussie 'lost for words' after NFL dream realised"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia will have another player in the NFL<\/a> next season, with Melbourne-born punter Tory Taylor<\/a> drafted by the Chicago Bears<\/a> in the fourth round.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old is coming off a record-setting career at Iowa, \ufeffwhich saw him set an NCAA mark last season with 4,479 yards punting while playing for a team with the worst offense in the nation.<\/p>\n

Taylor is the Hawkeyes' career leader in punts (295) and yards punting (13,657).<\/p>\n

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Chicago has now addressed a clear issue in their ranks, with the side one of the worst punting groups in the entire NFL last season with Trenton Gill in the role.<\/p>\n

"He's going to help our defence," scot Drew Raucina said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Everything about that he's going to help us, come in here immediately and make an impact. The leg strength. The way he can flip the field [will help us].<\/p>\n

Taylor's selection at No.122 in this year's NFL Draft makes him just the fifth punter to sneak into the fourth round in the past 15 years.<\/p>\n

In an emotional video posted to social media, Taylor was at home with family and friends when he was informed by the Bears of their decision to select him. \ufeff<\/p>\n

In a later video, Taylor expressed his jubilation ahead of the jump from college football to the NFL with the franchise.<\/p>\n

"I'm really excited to be a Bear and can't wait to get to work," he said.<\/p>\n

"I'm a little lost for words at the moment \u2026 it hasn't really sunk in.<\/p>\n

"I appreciate all the coaches and I know a lot of things go into this. I really appreciate everyone's support and go Bears."<\/p>\n

Chicago has had an incredible weekend at the Draft, landing star quarterback Caleb Williams with the No.1 overall pick<\/a>, before acquiring wide receiver Rome Odunze.\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChicagoBears\/status\/1784295457109225535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Taylor however revealed a text message from Williams, who is the new great white hope for the Bears, claiming he might not be required much in 2024.<\/p>\n

"Caleb just texted me before saying 'Hey you're not going to punt too much here,' which is great … that was pretty funny," the Aussie said.<\/p>\n

"Certainly the NFL is going to be a lot different than Iowa. I punted 90-something times, nearly 300 times in my career almost. I know it's not going to be like that in the NFL.<\/p>\n

"But as long as I'm punting balls, I don't really care what happens."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia will have another player in the NFL next season, with Melbourne-born punter Tory Taylor drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":356934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=388663"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388665,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388663\/revisions\/388665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/356934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=388663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=388663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=388663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}