The Bears signed former San Francisco 49er and Cincinnati Bengal receiver Trent Taylor to the active roster on August 31. The Louisiana Tech product was drafted by San Fran in 2017 and played there for three years before signing with the Bengals for the past two seasons. Taylor has spent the majority of his career as a punt return man and a good one. He has over 100 punt return yards three times in his career and 280+ twice. Last season, he gathered 340 yards on punt returns, with 10.3 yards per return. He also led the league in 20+ yard returns with five. Both of the Bears punt returners last season, Velus Jones Jr. and Dante Pettis, had 7 and 9.1 yards per return, respectively. They also had under 200 total return yards combined. Jones Jr. has also muffed multiple punts, including one this preseason against the Titans. With the Bears struggling with finding a punt returner over the past few seasons, getting Taylor is huge. Having a reliable return man that can return, let alone field, punts takes a big weight off the shoulders of the special teams unit. Not only will it help the special teams, it’ll help the entire team. The offense will have better field position consistently and the defense will stay off the field longer. Adding a solidified punt returner not only makes this team more dangerous, it also makes it well rounded. Taylor is a hugely underrated signing and will consistently perform for the Bears this season.
