5 interesting notes from Chicago Bears week 1 snap counts

4. Chicago Bears Dante Pettis playing over Byron Pringle

During the offseason, Byron Pringle was one of the bigger contracts the Chicago Bears dished out. He was expected to be the number two wideout behind Darnell Mooney, and serve as the gritty teammate who blocked and ran the tough routes.

However, a preseason injury had him sidelined most of the off-season. This may have led to him being eased in, as he played 10 snaps in the season opener. On the flip side, Dante Pettis has been looked at a bust who was on the roster bubble all summer. However, he played 23 snaps, 13 more than Pringle.

The split was 40% for Pettis, and 17% for Pringle. The reality is that Pringle is not competing with Pettis as much as Equanimeous St. Brown, who held down the WR2 role with 44 snaps, a 76% share.

Pringle and ESB do the same things and share a similar role. They combined to play for 93% of the snaps, as Pringle was often subbing for ESB. So, if ESB is healthy, will this trend continue? We should expect it to, yes. Pettis serves a different role that is needed, while the team only wants one of ESB or Pringle out there. ESB has done nothing to lose his job, and should remain the WR2 in snaps.