<
>

Chiefs see big plays delivered by 'non-scholarship' players

Byron Pringle and Daniel Sorensen share a locker room with Patrick Mahomes, Tyrann Mathieu and the other Kansas City Chiefs stars, but they didn't arrive as first-round draft picks or on big free-agent contracts.

They joined the Chiefs as undrafted free agents, Pringle in 2018 and Sorensen four years earlier.

But as much as Mahomes or any of the Chiefs' other bigger name players, Pringle and Sorensen were reasons for the Chiefs' 43-16 win over the Broncos in Denver on Sunday. They delivered the game's two biggest plays, Pringle on a 102-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Sorensen on a 50-yard interception return for a score.

The plays, both coming in the second quarter, helped the Chiefs convert a 10-6 lead into 24-9.

"Two of my favorite guys," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. "Non-scholarship.

"They came in not on scholarship and they ended up earning it, and rightly so. They did a great job."

Pringle hasn't been the Chiefs regular kickoff returner. He returned two last season and none this year until Sunday. But he returned in college at Kansas State and scored a couple of touchdowns and the Chiefs finally gave him his chance.

He rewarded them with a big play on his first try.

"He was a good player in college with the return game," Reid said. "He was good in preseason [in previous years] when we did it. He's healthy, and so we wanted to give him an opportunity back there to return. You see how he hits it. That becomes important on kickoff returns."

Pringle is a wide receiver who plays sparingly but makes the most of limited playing time. He had the Chiefs' longest catch of 38 yards in last week's win over the Buffalo Bills.

"I've always thought highly of Pringle," Mahomes said. "He comes in every single day, he works extremely hard, and when his number gets called, he makes plays."

Pringle made another big special teams play on Sunday when he downed a punt on the 1. The two special teams plays made for a big game, but Pringle said he wasn't satisfied. He was in the area when the Broncos fumbled a punt return and regretted not making the recovery.

"I wish I would have taken advantage of that," he said.

Sorensen also had an interception last week against the Bills. This was his third career touchdown off an interception return.