Chiefs-Jaguars: Making sense of snap counts

Starting with Week 1 of the 2019 season, Arrowhead Pride is collecting snap count information from a different source: the NFL’s game stats and information system.

We’re making this change because the data we can get there is more detailed. For example, it allows us to see not only how many snaps a player had on offense or defense but also how many of those snaps were on running plays or passing plays. We believe this will give us an improved understanding of how players are used.

(Editor’s Note: Because the GSIS data ignores plays that were nullified by penalties, total offensive and defensive snap counts will vary from other sources, which get their data from NFL Gamebooks)

Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Andrew Wylie, C Austin Reiter, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitchell Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Sammy Watkins, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Damien Williams and WR Demarcus Robinson.

Starters (defensive): LDE Alex Okafor, LDT Chris Jones, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB Bashaud Breeland, CB Kendall Fuller, FS Juan Thornhill and SS Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: T Cameron Erving.

Inactive: S Jordan Lucas, LB Reggie Ragland, G Ryan Hunter, G Nick Allegretti, T Martinas Rankin, TE Deon Yelder and DT Khalen Saunders.

Offensive takeaways

• We got our answer as to who is starting at left guard — it’s Andrew Wylie. Cam Erving was the only active Chiefs player who did not enter the game.
• One of the early surprises of the day is the Chiefs deciding to make LB Reggie Ragland inactive. With TE Deon Yelder inactive, Blake Bell came on for 32 percent of offensive snaps.
• WR Sammy Watkins led the Chiefs in offensive snaps with 57, or 95 percent of the Chiefs’ plays. Watkins even saw more time on the field than QB Patrick Mahomes, with Matt Moore relieving him for eight plays to close the day out.
• WR Tyreek Hill left the game after 11 offensive plays, giving way to rookie Mecole Hardman, who saw 46.
• Running back snap breakdown: Damien Williams, 39 (24 pass, 15 run); LeSean McCoy, 18 (8 pass, 10 run); Darwin Thompson, 2 (pass); McCoy after the game: “I study all day, all night, all morning. I get up early, workout, and get back and study. I’ve been prepared. Honestly, I don’t know all the different terminologies the guys had in camp, but they simplify it a lot more just based on game plan. I feel comfortable in there. I probably had one mess up mentally, but other than that I was locked in. I want to earn myself on this team. I don’t want it just because of my name or what I’ve done in the past. I want to earn it. These guys are already established. It’s been a great offense before I got here and if I wasn’t even here it would still be a great offense. I just want to be a part of it, earn every play I get and every possession.”
• It seems Thompson will be out of the RB mix unless there is an injury to Williams or McCoy. I would also expect this to trend in the direction of an even 50-50 split. McCoy managed 81 yards on only 10 carries.

Defensive takeaways

• As we expected, Juan Thornhill is indeed the starter at safety. He played every snap on defense (51). Other iron men include CB Bashaud Breeland, LB Anthony Hitchens and CB Charvarius Ward. S Tyrann Mathieu played all but one snap.
• S Daniel Sorensen, one of last year’s “starters,” only saw 11 snaps on defense.
• LB Tanoh Kpassagnon went from a player we thought would be cut to being active on the same day Ragland wasn’t, and he compiled 32 defensive snaps in the process.

Special teams takeaways

• The key special-teams contributors were FB Anthony Sherman (24 snaps), LB Ben Niemann (22), LB Dorian O’Daniel (22) and Sorensen (22).