Chiefs’ Pringle leaves preseason game with hamstring injury
With his professional future potentially hanging in the balance, former Kansas State game-breaking wide receiver Byron Pringle left it all, unfortunately that included a hamstring, out on the field at Arrowhead Stadium. He didn’t even get to enjoy his 15 minutes of NFL preseason fame.
Pringle, an undrafted rookie free agent who played two seasons at Kansas State (2016-17), caught four passes for 122 yards and returned a kickoff for 47 yards before being bumped out of bounds in the Chiefs’ 33-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium. Pringle left the game with a hamstring injury in the third quarter.
The Chiefs must finalize their 53-man roster by Saturday, and Pringle figures to be one of several young players hoping they made enough of an impression to snatch a roster spot or intrigue the coaching staff enough to garner a spot on the practice squad.
“How about Byron Pringle man? What he can do, what he’s done,” Chiefs rookie quarterback Chase Litton said. “He’s special. He’s a special talent.”
A 6-foot-1 resident of Tampa, Fla., Pringle certainly appeared to make the most of his last chance to leave a lasting impression on the Chiefs coaching staff and front office. He entered the night with two catches this preseason for a total of 25 yards.
At a position where the top four sports were pretty well set and DeAnthony Thomas holding the inside track to the fifth position thanks to his ability as a return man, Pringle needed to flash on the field in a big way.
He amassed more than 2,000 all-purpose yards at Kansas State, including the second-best average yards per reception in program history (19.64) and the sixth-most kickoff return yards (1,076) despite playing just two seasons.
That playmaking ability hadn’t translated during the preseason, and Marcus Kemp, Gehrig Dieter and Jordan Smallwood were all vying for the same roster spot as Pringle. Kemp and Dieter were each with the organization last season.
Thursday against the Packers, Pringle provided big-play ability to the Chiefs offense on a night when the household name playmakers like Tyreek Hill, Sammy Wakins and Travis Kelce, were relegated to being spectators.
Pringle got inside of his defender in man-to-man coverage and hauled in a 62-yard pass from third-string quarterback Matt McGloin to set up a touchdown late in the first half.
In the second half, Pringle pulled down a 40-yard reception from Litton before exiting with the hamstring injury. He pulled up at the end of that play.
“We called a certain play and it’s an option route,” Litton said. “If the defense plays a certain way, he runs a fade. That’s what he did, and he went and got it. I told B, I nodded him pre-snap, and he knew I was coming to him. He went and made a play for me.”
Pringle, as is typically the case with players injured during the game, was not available for comment in the locker room.
“It looked like he did a pretty nice job there (in the return game),” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “There and receiver, both ends. That is one of the pluses for him. It’s too bad he got hurt. He did have a nice game.”
Reid deflected a question about whether or not Pringle’s injury hurts his chances of making the roster or the practice squad. Reid, his staff and general manager Brett Veach will have final evaluations and decisions to make on several players, Pringle included, before Saturday afternoon.
Lynn Worthy
Lynn Worthy covers the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL for The Star.
This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 12:35 AM.