Chiefs-Patriots snap counts: Willie Gay on the field, Darwin Thompson off

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots 26-10 in Monday night’s Week 4 game. Let’s see how individual Chiefs players contributed to the win:

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Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Kelechi Osemele, C Austin Reiter, RG Andrew Wylie, RT Mitchell Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Mecole Hardman, WR Sammy Watkins, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Starters (defensive): LDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, LDT Mike Pennel, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LB Willie Gay Jr., LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB Rashad Fenton, FS Juan Thornhill and SS Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne and C Daniel Kilgore.

Inactive: LB Darius Harris, DE Demone Harris, OL Yasir Durant, TE Ricky Seals-Jones and DT Chris Jones

Editor’s Note: Arrowhead Pride obtains snap count data from the NFL’s game stats and information system, which allows us to break out snap counts by run or pass on offensive and defensive plays. Because 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

Offensive takeaways

Travis Kelce’s overall use continued to decline slightly from previous weeks, while the gulf between his use in passing and running plays widened. Nick Keizer and Deon Yelder (logging his greatest percentage of snaps so far this season) took up the slack. Keizer, however, is still getting more snaps.

After having his use peak against the Los Angeles Chargers, wide receiver Mecole Hardman is coming back into play — although he’s now being used more often in passing plays. Demarcus Robinson also had his most use against the Chargers, but his use is trending down.

Running back Darwin Thompson had no offensive snaps against the Patriots, but continued to get on the field with special teams.

Defensive takeaways

Rookie Willie Gay Jr. got his first start for the Chiefs on Monday. Here’s how all of the linebackers’ snap counts have shaken out over the first quarter of the season.

Tershawn Wharton’s counts were up, while Michael Danna’s were down. Mike Pennel — starting for the first time since the 2019 postseason — was on the field for about three in five of the defensive snaps, mostly on running plays. After missing two games, Alex Okafor went right back to work. Charvarius Ward was on the field almost full time.