Tory Taylor is Heating Up

We check in on the rookie punter with updated tracking on his last four games

Welcome back to the Tory Taylor Tracker as we talk punting for the third time this year. We will come back at the end of the season and wrap things up, but let’s talk about the third quarter of Taylor’s rookie season.

If you’re new to the series, check out the original article where I lay out my methodology. In an attempt to make it easy to understand, I’d suggest looking at the charts below this way:

• The circle is where the Chicago Bears' line of scrimmage was at the time of the punt.
• Each line and rectangle represents the punt and resulting opponent line of scrimmage.
• A blue line and rectangle indicates a punt above expectation (good!) with the number inside the box indicating how many additional yards above expectation (average) the punt gave the Bears in field position.
• An orange line and rectangle indicates a punt below expectation (bad!) with the number inside the box indicating how many yards below expectation (average) the punt cost the Bears in field position.
• No box indicates the punt was exactly average.
• Average and expectation data is pulled from our friends at Puntalytics.
• Green dotted lines break up the games.
• Trapezoids (blue=positive, orange=negative) add up the punts in each individual game.

Taylor has turned in four straight positive games, including what is probably his second-best game in Week 14 against the 49ers. Overall, Taylor’s value has shown up most consistently in punts where he can flip the field whereas his signature pinning ability has not revealed itself. If that part of his game returns to form, Taylor could jump up to the upper tier of punters in the league.

Relative to other punters in the league, our friends at Puntalytics have Taylor ranked essentially even in a clutch of punters at 10th-13th. If it matters, Pat O’Donnell has played four games for the 49ers and ranks second to last, and Trenton Gill has logged eight games for the Bucs and ranks third to last.