These are the Chiefs’ top wide receivers options with Byron Pringle on injured reserve
Byron Pringle landing on injured reserve with an ankle injury places stress on the Chiefs’ wide receiver corps ahead of Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Instead of the normal five players at the position group, the Chiefs enter game-week preparations with Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and Sammy Watkins, whose hamstring and calf injuries have forced him to miss five games.
Never fear, however, as Chiefs head coach Andy Reid believes the team has internal options, specifically on the practice squad, to call up as needed to bolster depth.
“We got a couple of guys that we can put up,” Reid said. “They’re also good special teams players, so we’ll make that decision once we get there.”
The top two options coming to immediate mind are wide receivers Marcus Kemp and Gehrig Dieter, both of whom have been elevated from the practice squad to the active 53-player roster at various times during the season.
And Reid’s point on special teams carries importance when considering the unit is typically where a fifth wideout sees the most action.
On offense, Pringle appeared in all 10 games with two starts and totaled nine catches for 108 yards on 181 offensive snaps (27 percent of all offensive plays).
As a core special teams contributor with 128 snaps (47 percent of all special teams plays), Pringle played dual roles as a gunner and returner. With the latter area, he accounted for seven kickoff returns for a team-high 247 yards, which includes a 102-yard return for a touchdown against the Denver Broncos in Week 7.
Experience on special teams will matter and the Chiefs have that with either Kemp or Dieter.
Kemp has appeared in seven games this season, totaling 24 offensive snaps and 105 snaps on special teams. Dieter has been called up from the practice squad in the past two games and totaled three offensive snaps with 27 special teams snaps.
Whether it’s Kemp or Dieter asked to fill in during Pringle’s absence remains unclear, but Hill says whoever it is won’t need extra words of advice because the standards are already known.
“It’s pretty much things that they already know,” Hill said. “Everybody in our room, they come in, they work hard and they want to be great. That’s our standard in our room and that’s our standard on this team.”
And even though Kemp and Dieter contributed mostly on special teams during their respective stints on the active roster this season, Hill further points out the duo understands they are an injury away from being thrust in extended action.
“There’s really not much to say because everyone knows it is a next-man-up sport,” Hill said. “I mean, even if I go down, it’s the same mentality.
“If Dieter comes in for me or Sammy, it’s the same tempo. He’s going deep just as if I were in the game, so we’re just going to keep at it and just keep fighting for it and wait on our guy Pringle to get healthy.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 3:48 PM.
