Chiefs vs. Steelers: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs dropped their second preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night.

Here were the snap counts for the Chiefs:

(Note: columns from left to right: offensive snaps, defensive snaps and special teams snaps)

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Starters (offensive): WR Tyeek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Andrew Wylie, C Austin Reiter, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitch Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Sammy Watkins, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Damien Williams, FB Anthony Sherman

Starters (defensive): LDE Alex Okafor, LDT Chris Jones, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, WLB Anthony Hitchens, SLB Damien Wilson, LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB Bashaud Breeland, FS Daniel Sorensen, SS Tyrann Mathieu

Did not play: WR Gehrig Dieter, CB Morris Claiborne, CB Michael Hunter, H-back John Lovett, LB Darius Harris, OL Abdul Beecham, WR Davon Grayson

Takeaways, in no particular order

• After Andy Reid said before the game that QB Patrick Mahomes would get the entire half, he was taken out after just two drives and nine plays. WR Sammy Watkins (9), WR Tyreek Hill (8), TE Travis Kelce (7) and RB Damien Williams (5) all followed suit. The first-team offensive line took 20 snaps in the game.
• RB Darwin Thompson registered 16 offensive snaps and was pulled from offense in the third quarter (Thompson had a second-half kick return). In some cases, where players don’t get snaps could be an indication of how teams feel about them. RB Carlos Hyde had 14 offensive snaps in the game.
• Blake Bell was on the field for 39 offensive snaps, or 52 percent. Especially given Deon Yelder’s injury, Bell is the guy to beat at TE2 at the moment.
• For the second week in a row, the Chiefs wasted no time getting S Tyrann Mathieu out of the game (two snaps). Mathieu reportedly banged up his shoulder but he should be fine.
• Steve Spagnuolo took his other key defensive players—LB Frank Clark and DL Chris Jones—out after eight snaps. CB Bashaud Breeland and LBs Damien Wilson and Anthony Hitchens were in for just nine snaps.
• S Juan Thornhill and S Daniel Sorensen took 38 and 37 snaps, respectively. Thornhill entered the game for Mathieu early when he hurt his shoulder.
• RB Tremon Smith was limited to just four special-teams snaps, and he did not see the field on offense. That is not a good sign for Smith’s chances of making the final roster.