NFL Player Comparisons for all 5 Chicago Bears Draft Picks

Round 4 Pick 122 - Punter Tory Taylor

Michael Dickson

From a technical standpoint, there are a lot of similarities between Tory Taylor's and Michael Dickson's punting forms. Both are natives of Australia and have adapted their games to emulate parts of the "Aussie style" of kicking without becoming full roll-out punters. That is, instead of moving multiple yards laterally before kicking - the common form for Aussie punters - both Taylor and Dickson drift just feet to the right before booming the ball.

This is not the rarest thing, as the age of punters taking one or two steps straight forward is long gone, but the similarities go even deeper. Both punters tend to drop their ball with the nose pointed more downwards than normal, a mechanism that allows them to hit the ball with power without fully extending their kicking leg vertically. This is perhaps part of why both punters are great at pinning the ball near the goalline, as they can easily adjust their power while putting spin on the ball. Great punters like Shane Lechler have experimented with different drops to produce varying types of punts that spin and drop uniquely - similar to an MLB pitcher using different pitches to fake out a batter. It stands to reason that Taylor will try to add some of these "change-ups" to his game as he continues to grow, but for now, Dickson is a good comparison for the star Iowa punter.