Bears writer believes the Bears have made an Akiem Hicks signing 2.0.
While the Bears have been pretty quiet in the off-season so far, they still sign a few very promising players. One of them clearly is WR Byron Pringle.
According to Bears writer Erik Lambert, Pringle could turn out to be a very underrated move.
When the Chicago Bears signed Akiem Hicks in 2016, they got him for a modest $10 million over two years. Most analysts felt it was a decent signing at the time. Hicks had played well for the New England Patriots the year prior and might be able to help their retooling defensive line. Then he racked up seven sacks and 17 QB hits in his first season, playing at a Pro Bowl level. Suddenly that contract the Bears got him for looked like thievery. There is a chance Byron Pringle may follow a similar path.
One reason for thinking this comes from their paths to reach this moment. Hicks had to fight his way into the starting lineup with the New Orleans Saints before getting traded to New England. He only played 399 snaps in 2015 but was still productive. Then his workload increased to 930 snaps the next year, and he took off. Pringle can be seen much the same way. He played 586 snaps at wide receiver last year. Nowhere close to the 926 Travis Kelce or the 867 Tyreek Hill played.
One reason for thinking this comes from their paths to reach this moment. Hicks had to fight his way into the starting lineup with the New Orleans Saints before getting traded to New England. He only played 399 snaps in 2015 but was still productive. Then his workload increased to 930 snaps the next year, and he took off. Pringle can be seen much the same way. He played 586 snaps at wide receiver last year. Nowhere close to the 926 Travis Kelce or the 867 Tyreek Hill played.
When you look at it this way, there are a lot of similarities between those two signings. Hopefully, Pringle turns out as well as Hicks did!
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