5 things to know about Chicago Bears new signing Byron Pringle

4. Byron Pringle is much better against zone than man

Bryon Pringle has some strong splits in and out of the slot, but the same shows when he is against man coverage or when he is able to play against zone. Pringle does not beat man very well. Of his 74 targets, only 19 came against man coverage.

That includes just 127 yards out of his 568 season total.

He was not getting open to create the openings and was not getting the football at all. That shows in his 0.97 yards per route run against man.

However, the light switch turns on against zone coverage. He has 41 targets for 389 yards when he is taking on zone coverage. That includes a yards per route run rate of 1.49.

He creates over half of a yard more per route run when he is lined up against zone compared to man. This makes sense considering how often he plays in the slot, and that is often an area where you have to play zone because of all the switching and clutter in the middle of the field.

This sticks from last season as well. In 2020 he averaged just 0.45 yards per route run against man and 1.01 against zone. It is a clear split.

Still, Pringle is even better against zone coverage than he is in the slot. If he plays the outside, he hardly can get open against man coverage, but can still find areas to sit in the zone when defenses are playing him off.