The Kansas City Chiefs snap counts this week are interesting because of what went down with Marcus Cooper, who has been the Chiefs starting cornerback all season. The Chiefs decided to put Cooper on the bench in favor of little known Jamell Fleming, who was signed off the Ravens practice squad in the first week of the season.
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Fleming took Cooper's spot against the Chargers on Sunday with 51 of the 52 snaps, according to snap counts from the league. Cooper did not play a single snap on defense, instead he played only on special teams. Is this just for this week? Is it permanent? Those are all questions we'll bug Andy Reid about this week. Judging by the results from Fleming, I don't think this was a slam dunk move because Fleming, a young player, had his struggles. It sounds like Cooper handled it well.
There are more notable snap counts in here than most weeks with the Chiefs benching Cooper, replacing Donnie Avery at receiver, keeping Donald Stephenson on the bench and replacing injured Chris Owens and Eric Berry. Oh, and the first round pick didn't play a snap on defense yet nobody seemed to notice.
I made it this far and I haven't even complained about Travis Kelce's (lack of) snaps. To our snap count observations....
OFFENSE
Position | Player | Snaps |
QB | Alex Smith | 74 |
OT | Eric Fisher | 74 |
OT | Ryan Harris | 74 |
G | Zach Fulton | 74 |
G | Mike McGlynn | 74 |
C | Rodney Hudson | 74 |
WR | Dwayne Bowe | 64 |
RB | Jamaal Charles | 57 |
TE | Anthony Fasano | 56 |
WR | AJ Jenkins | 50 |
TE | Travis Kelce | 39 |
WR | Frankie Hammond | 24 |
FB | Anthony Sherman | 23 |
WR | Junior Hemingway | 20 |
RB | Knile Davis | 16 |
RB | De'Anthony Thomas | 12 |
TE | Demetrius Harris | 6 |
WR | Albert Wilson | 3 |
- This is Donald Stephenson's second game back and he remains on the bench in favor of Ryan Harris. Stephenson played five snaps on special teams but none on offense.
- With Donnie Avery out, AJ Jenkins and Frankie Hammond combined to replace him. Jenkins had that 19-yard run where he stepped out of bounds early.
- Anthony Fasano played 18 more snaps than Travis Kelce, who ended up with four catches for 33 yards, including two critical ones on the game winning drive. Kelce seemed like a non factor until the second half.
- De'Anthony Thomas had three touches in his 12 snaps on offense. He saw the ball on the game's first snap with a reverse. Later he picked up a first down with a quick bubble screen.
- The Chiefs do good things when they're running the ball. Anthony Sherman not only caught a touchdown pass but had some nice blocks to keep the Chiefs running backs going. I could stand to see even more snaps out of Knile Davis.
- Albert Wilson made his first career NFL catch with his three snaps. I would consider mixing him in there more often with Avery out.
- Cyrus Gray fractured his hand in the 49ers game. He did not play on offense but did play on special teams.
DEFENSE
Position | Player | Snaps |
CB | Sean Smith | 62 |
CB | Ron Parker | 52 |
LB | Josh Mauga | 52 |
LB | Justin Houston | 52 |
S | Husain Abdullah | 52 |
CB | Jamell Fleming | 51 |
LB | Tamba Hali | 49 |
DE | Allen Bailey | 48 |
NT | Dontari Poe | 46 |
CB | Phillip Gaines | 34 |
LB | James-Michael Johnson | 28 |
S | Kurt Coleman | 23 |
DE | Jaye Howard | 17 |
DT | Kevin Vickerson | 7 |
DE | Vance Walker | 5 |
LB | Josh Martin | 3 |
S | Kelcie McCray | 2 |
- Marcus Cooper was the Chiefs starting CB but he was replaced by Jamell Fleming last game. Cooper recorded no snaps on defense but had 18 on special teams.
- Dee Ford had nine special teams snaps but no snaps on defense. I gotta admit, I thought Ford would be playing more than this even with Justin Houston and Tamba Hali ahead of him.
- Props to Phillip Gaines with his best NFL game yet. With CB Chris Owens out, Gaines saw 34 snaps and did a nice job overall. I can think of a couple of his pass breakups before any glaring screwups. The Chiefs had at least three corners on the field for more than half the snaps.
- The Chargers are a passing team so the Chiefs stayed away from Kevin Vickerson, the defensive tackle who is a good run blocker.
- Jaye Howard, the other defensive end next to Allen Bailey and Dontari Poe in the base defense, played 17 snaps. That's usually a decent barometer of how often the Chiefs were in base defense.