Chiefs vs. Chargers: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs deafened the Los Angeles Chargers, 38-28, in game one of the 2018 season on Sunday.

Here were the snap counts for the Chiefs:

Offense

Defense

Special teams (only)

Starters (offense): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Cam Erving, C Mitch Morse, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitch Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Sammy Watkins, WR Chris Conley, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB

Starters (defense): RDE Chris Jones, NT Xavier Williams, LDE Allen Bailey, LOLB Justin Houston, LILB Anthony Hitchens, RILB Reggie Ragland, ROLB Dee Ford, RCB Steve Nelson, S Eric Murray, S Ron Parker, LCB Kendall Fuller

Active, but did not play: QB Chad Henne

Inactive: S Eric Berry, RB Darrel Williams, CB Charvarius Ward, C Andrew Reiter, G Kahlil McKenzie, G Ike Boettger, DT Justin Hamilton

Takeaways (in no particular order)

• Sammy Watkins was on the field 91 percent (51 plays) of the time for the Chiefs offense. He was targeted by Patrick Mahomes five times and made three catches for 21 yards.
• By comparison, Tyreek Hill was on the field 71 percent of the time (40 plays). He was targeted by Mahomes eight times and made seven catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns.
• The running back split was as follows: Kareem Hunt - 40 plays, Spencer Ware - 9 plays, Damien Williams - 5 plays. The Chiefs are more comfortable with Hunt as a pass protector this year.
• Wide receiver Chris Conley was on the field more than I thought he would be—he had 35 snaps (62 percent of plays).
• The four players who make up the Chiefs’ base secondary—cornerbacks Kendall Fuller and Steve Nelson and safeties Ron Parker and Eric Murray—saw 100 percent of defensive snaps on Sunday. Our pal Orlando Scandrick saw 68 snaps (83 percent of the time).
• Rookie outside linebacker Breeland Speaks has probably surpassed Tanoh Kpassagnon in the eyes of the coaching staff. He out-snapped Kpassagnon, 19-10.
• The Chiefs are still easing inside linebacker Reggie Ragland back into the mix. He only had 42 snaps (51 percent) compared to Anthony Hitchens’ 78.
• The Chiefs had a little bit of a rotation going on their defensive line.
• It looks like your four-phase special teams guys are fullback Anthony Sherman (80 percent) and newcomer, safety Jordan Lucas (80 percent). Linebacker Ben Niemann played in 63 percent of special-teams snaps before he got hurt.