Chiefs-Buccaneers snap counts: Thornhill, Wharton get surprising usage

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Tampa, picking up a 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Let’s see how the team used its players in the their tenth victory of the season.

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Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Nick Allegretti, C Austin Reiter, RG Andrew Wylie, RT Mike Remmers, WR Demarcus Robinson, TE Travis Kelce, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire and WR Sammy Watkins.

Starters (defensive): LDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, DT Derrick Nnadi, LDT Chris Jones, RDE Frank Clark, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB Bashaud Breeland, SS Daniel Sorensen, DB L’Jarius Sneed and CB Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne, C Daniel Kilgore and T Martinas Rankin.

Inactive: CB BoPete Keyes, LB Darius Harris, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, DE Tim Ward and DT Khalen Saunders.

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Offensive takeaways

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The offensive line of Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Andrew Wylie and Mike Remmers played together for every offensive snap.

At running back, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Le’Veon Bell had most of the snaps, showing a clear preference between them on running and passing plays. Darrel Williams was in for just 8% of the snaps — all of them passing plays.

At tight end, Travis Kelce, Nick Keizer and Deon Yelder had normal counts and usage.

After missing five games with a hamstring injury, wide receiver Sammy Watkins came back with a close-to-normal count — mostly at Mecole Hardman’s expense. Tyreek Hill and Demarcus Robins had counts in a normal range, while Marcus Kemp — now moved permanently to the active roster — was on the field for 4% of the snaps.

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Defensive takeaways

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As we have come to expect, cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Charvarius Ward — and safety Daniel Sorensen — were on the field for all the defensive snaps. Tyrann Mathieu was out for 7% of the passing plays but was on the field for all of the running plays. Even after all the discussion about safety Juan Thornhill’s use in the past week, he was on the field for a near-normal percentage of plays. Meanwhile, rookie cornerback L’Jarius Sneed — after a reduced count in his return from injury a week ago — had his highest use since Week 2.

Once again, we had evidence that rookie linebacker Willie Gay is being used on defense only when the Chiefs think he’ll be effective against a particular opponent. In fact, it’s pretty clear that linebackers were little-used against Tampa Bay.

Along the defensive line, snap counts were near-normal for everyone — except for rookie Tershawn Wharton, who had the greatest use of his rookie season. When compared to fellow defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, it’s pretty clear which interior lineman the Chiefs want on the field during passing and running situations. Mike Pennel’s use was as low as it’s been all season.

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Data

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Offense

Defense

Special Teams

All Snaps

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