Former Chiefs wide receiver Byron Pringle arrested for reckless driving

Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested on Saturday for reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.

The Kansas City Chiefs completely overhauled their wide receiver room this offseason, trading away Tyreek Hill, and bringing in JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez-Valdes-Scantling. They also let veterans Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle go.

I wasn’t too upset to see Robinson go, but I did enjoy seeing Pringle play. He went on to sign a contract with the Chicago Bears earlier in free agency. Unfortunately, his first impression upon his new team is not great given the news that, on Saturday, Pringle was arrested.

According to NBC, Pringle was caught doing doughnuts on a public road with a suspended license. He also had his child in the car, which obviously didn’t help matters, and he was charged with reckless driving.

Thankfully the child and Pringle are both safe, but this was just a case of poor judgment. Luckily Pringle no longer plays for the Chiefs or this would probably be a bigger story given the offseason our WR room has had.

Pringle’s arrest does follow an unsettling trend of Chiefs players (current and present) getting into legal trouble. Last offseason, Frank Clark was arrested for having an UZI in his vehicle without a proper permit.

Of course, NFL players all over the league get into legal trouble all the time, so it’s not particularly a Chief issue. But the Chiefs do have a history of giving players a second chance. Sometimes it works out, as in the case of Tyreek Hill, and others it doesn’t, as in the case of Damon Arnette.

Because of these examples, and others, the Chiefs have developed a bit of a reputation for signing troubled players. I don’t think this is completely true, but I get it. In the case of Pringle, it’s good that he wasn’t arrested for anything more serious (although reckless driving can be very serious), and nobody was harmed.