KC Chiefs: The four biggest surprises in free agency
By Matt Conner
Byron got real money
We’re stoked to see that Byron Pringle got paid this offseason by someone, and we sincerely hope he blossoms in a new offense for the Chicago Bears—one that could use as many playmakers as possible for Justin Fields in his second season. That said, the money he got even for a single season was a bit of a surprise.
The Bears signed Pringle for $4.125M for a single season, and the man who signed him knows him well given that Ryan Poles has been with the Chiefs for years before becoming Chicago’s general manager. Last year, Pringle had something of a breakout season with 42 catches for 568 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s a dynamite returner who is dangerous when catching the ball in space and has shown the ability to separate, all things the Bears need in 2022.
The surprise here is that he went for more money this offseason than all but two of the Chiefs’ 20-plus players scheduled to hit free agency. Only Charvarius Ward and Tyrann Mathieu got more money from other teams to leave the Chiefs, and even K.C. was able to sign JuJu Smith-Schuster for quite a bit less (more on that in a second).
Pringle got more than A.J. Green, a million more dollars than Jarvis Landry, and more than twice as much as Sammy Watkins and Jamison Crowder. For Pringle’s sake, we hope it turns out to be a good deal for Chicago, but it’s hard not to notice that Pringle’s agent got him more than a lot of other WRs this spring.