Bear Digest

Bears Release Trenton Gill After Drafting Iowa's Tory Taylor

The departure of punter Trenton Gill seemed a foregone conclusion after the Bears drafted Tory Taylor and they didn't even get to rookie camp before releasing their 2022 draft pick.

Gene Chamberlain

Trenton Gill celebrates with kicker Cairo Santos after a field goal by Santos.
Trenton Gill celebrates with kicker Cairo Santos after a field goal by Santos. / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
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It was more inevitable than Thanos and tax day.

The Bears selected Iowa punter Tory Taylor in Round 4 on Saturday at the draft and the handwriting on the wall since then became fact Wednesday as the team announced it had given punter Trenton Gill his release

Gill was a seventh-round pick from North Carolina State in 2022 by GM Ryan Poles, No. 255 overall. In two seasons, Gill averaged 46.0 and 46.1 yards but his net punting average was 39.0 yards and 38.0 yards.

Some of this falls on the coverage teams but in many cases the lack of consistent hang time put coverage teams in trouble.

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Gill had 20 punts inside the 20 with only three touchbacks in 2022 and 18 last year with eight touchbacks. In 2022, Gill set the team's rookie record for punting average at 46.0 yards, breaking the mark of 44.8 set in 1947 by George Gulyanics.

Taylor, who is 6-foot-4, 232 pounds, is an Australian punter who had 39 punts killed inside the 20 last year, won the Ray Guy Award for top college punter. His 67-yard punt last year in the Citrus Bowl allowed him to break the NCAA single-season record for punting yards and push it to 4,186 yards.

With the Bears needing defensive line help at No. 122 in Saturday's draft, GM Ryan Poles opted instead to draft Taylor.

"He's got an innate gift to be able to spin the football," coach Matt Eberflus said. "It's exciting to watch."

The Bears also have punter Corliss Waitman on the roster. He has punted 103 times for Denver and Pittsburgh in two past NFL seasons.

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.