Largest Bears NFL Draft error in 2024
The Bears made some errors in the NFL Draft of 2024.
Written by Shane ShoemakerAt 5:15 p.m. ET on May 6, 2024
The 2024 NFL Draft for the Chicago Bears had what might be seen as a franchise-altering selection. And that was probably all because of one player—possibly even two.
Of course, Caleb Williams, the quarterback for USC, is the key player in question here. The former Trojans intend to provide Chicago with the long-needed signal-caller they’ve been searching for, seemingly since the dawn of time. Rome Odunze, a wide receiver for Washington, was also a pick that you cannot ignore.
These two selections hold great significance because, in addition to being the Bears’ first two picks, they both came out of the first round among the top 10 picks. Odunze was No. 9 overall, and Williams was No. 1. These two have the potential to be the cornerstones of a new era in Chicago basketball, leading to advancements on the offensive end.
It’s not like the Bears have a lot of fresh players to add to their roster for the upcoming season—five total—after the 2024 NFL Draft. They may have addressed the most important need of all—a quarterback—but they weren’t perfect in this year’s selection. So let’s examine them now.
Punter Tory Taylor is chosen by the Bears in the fourth round.
After making two first-round decisions, though, Bears general manager Ryan Poles had to be a little more deliberate in his selections at that point. In the first round, the Bears had two picks in the top 10, but they did not select again until the 75th pick of the third round, when they chose Yale offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie. After trading for Montez Sweat in October of last year with the Washington Commanders, the team was deprived of a second-round pick.
Furthermore, the Bears have just four draft picks overall going into the 2024 NFL Draft. In exchange for wide receiver Keenan Allen, they handed another pick (fourth round) to the Los Angeles Chargers.
For this reason, Poles’ decision to pursue a punter in the fourth round seemed strange.
Tory Taylor of Iowa was undoubtedly the punter to target in this year’s draft if there was one. According to Sports-Reference, he had the most punts in the FBS in 2023 with 4,479 punting yards, averaging 48.2 yards per punt. According to ESPN’s Steve Muench, he set a record for NCAA single-season punting yards last season when he punted for 67 yards against Tennessee in Iowa’s Citrus Bowl match. The record had stood for 85 years. After essentially taking over as the Hawkeyes’ offense, he was also awarded the Ray Guy Award the previous season.
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