People seemed to like my Nicholas Morrow film study, so here's one on Byron Pringle.

Byron Pringle Film Study Thread

I wanted to learn more about the #Bears free agent signings, so I watched some film and I'm sharing my observations, in case others are interested.

In this thread, I look at WR Byron Pringle.

1/16

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

The conventional wisdom on Pringle is he's a decent WR, an upgrade over Goodwin/Byrd, but not more than that.

I went into this exercise thinking: he got 568 yards on a team with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Why can't he get 1000 yards with more opportunities?

2/16

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

He looked good against PIT in https://t.co/CQtSZ6Kc2M

And the advanced metrics from https://t.co/g982PFmSqi
sounded solid as well, especially being second in the NFL in yards of separation when targeted.

3/16

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

But I came out of this exercise very disappointed. Now I'm just hoping that he is up to Goodwin/Byrd's level.

I watched 2 games: the last regular season game at Denver (5/56/0 on 8 targets) and the playoff game vs. Buffalo (5/29/1 on 7 targets).

4/16

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

We'll start with his TD catch. He runs a good route; nothing fancy, just a step to the outside setting up a simple in. Just plays his leverage and makes a good catch.

Pringle did his job here, but you would expect any starting NFL WR to be able to do this.

5/16 pic.twitter.com/EYDzpCJgrN

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Here's another example where Pringle did his job, but not by actually beating anyone. It's just a curl that works because of the cushion.

Over and over, that's what I saw. When Pringle made a catch, it was because the scheme got him open, or the defense left him open.

6/16 pic.twitter.com/ReW0qc5JGa

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Speaking of the defense leaving him open...

This play certainly padded that yards of separation stat.

7/16 pic.twitter.com/m1U9u1ndim

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Here he's matched up on a LB, so we should have been able to finally see him beat someone. But we got robbed of the experience because the LB decided to guard a patch of grass instead.

8/16 pic.twitter.com/uGj50M8QQ0

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Now let's look at some plays where he didn't make a catch.

This one is just a drop, plain and simple. The ball hit him square in the chest.

9/16 pic.twitter.com/TFfZCDy1mT

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Is this play technically a drop? I'm not sure. It's certainly not an easy catch, but he did get his hands on it.

I feel like this is the kind of play that separates a true WR1 from a decent NFL WR, and Pringle is not a WR1.
Not that anyone was saying he is.

10/16 pic.twitter.com/N3PZXcC4vt

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Here's a play where I think Pringle came out of his break slower than he was supposed to. Maybe he ran it right, and Mahomes's throw was just off, but Pringle is certainly nowhere near top speed, and it probably would have been a catch if he had been.

11/16 pic.twitter.com/w9trxrdCq4

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

This looks like the same thing to me, where Pringle is just slower out of his break than Mahomes expects.
He's beating his guy and getting open, and then just not closing the deal.

I find this trend concerning.

12/16 pic.twitter.com/UK5XaI6kXL

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Having WRs that can block opens up a lot of fun stuff in an offense, so I paid special attention when I saw Pringle blocking.

Unfortunately, while he seemed enthusiastic about blocking, the results were inconsistent.

Here, he whiffs on a LB.

13/16 pic.twitter.com/e4ysjpb1JO

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

This time, he seals his guy off effectively. There are many more examples like this, but also many more like the previous play, where he misses badly.

14/16 pic.twitter.com/U81WJDE75Y

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

Finally, here's a weird play where, despite Pringle's block looking awkward as heck, he somehow manages to slow down 2 guys enough to spring Hardman for a big gain. Without Pringle's block, this like a 4 yard gain instead of 44.

15/16 pic.twitter.com/hUsnLq7ixg

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022

If you watch Pringle's highlights, he's got some traits that didn't show up much in these games, like breaking tackles and getting open when Mahomes scrambles.

So although I have revised my expectations down, and it makes me sad, I still feel like Pringle can contribute.

16/16

— ImLittleJon (@ImLittleJon) April 17, 2022