Tory Taylor NFL draft projection: How high will the Iowa punter go?

Senior punter Tory Taylor of the Iowa Hawkeyes officially broke the NCAA record for the most punt yards in a single season in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

Taylor has been doing exceptionally well throughout his four-year collegiate career with the Iowa Hawkeyes. He has posted 288 punts for 13,297 yards (46.2 yards per punt) and it places Taylor at fifth all-time in career punting yards.

He is eligible for the 2024 NFL draft and could be entering the draft pool after the game. If he does, how high can Taylor get in the draft pool?

How high can Tory Taylor get drafted?

Tory Taylor still has another season of eligibility to remain in college football. However, if he enters the draft class, seeing where he is selected will be interesting.

It isn't easy to imagine Tory Taylor being anything but a Day 3 pick, as punters are not viewed as a valuable position for NFL general managers during Draft Day. With so many other positions of need that are on the field more often than a punter, expecting Taylor to be a fringe Day 2 pick seems a bit excessive.

It is not talking down on Taylor's ability, as he is one of the best punters in college football, but just the position not being viewed as valuable.

What is the highest that a true punter has been selected in the NFL draft?

Very seldom has a member of the special teams unit been selected high in the NFL draft, but it has happened. There have been two players in NFL draft history who have been selected in the first round. Pro Football Hall of Famer punter Ray Guy was the 23rd selection in the 1973 NFL draft by the then-Oakland Raiders.

It only took two years for a team to draft a punter at an even higher position as in the 1978 NFL draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Steve Little. He struggled before getting cut by the team before finishing his contract and suffered a car crash hours after being cut, which left him a quadriplegic.