Chiefs-Saints: Making sense of snap counts

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs faced one of their most challenging opponents of the season — and defeated the New Orleans Saints 32-29 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Let’s take a look at how the Chiefs made use of their players in the team’s 13th win.

---

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

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

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

Inactive: CB BoPete Keyes, RB Darwin Thompson, LB Damien Wilson, T Mike Remmers, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, DE Tim Ward and DT Khalen Saunders.

---

Offensive takeaways

---

With Mike Remmers out for the game, the Chiefs kicked Andrew Wylie to the outside and put Stefen Wisniewski (who was moved from the practice squad to he active roster on Saturday) at right guard. Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Wisniewski and Wylie played every offensive snap.

Tight end Travis Kelce’s use was a bit below where we normally see it. And with the re-worked offensive line, the Chiefs brought tight ends Nick Keizer or Deon Yelder on the field a bit more often.

At running back, Clyde Edwards-Helaire lost some snaps when he left after his late-game injury. But Le’Veon Bell and Darrel Williams had already been seeing more use in the game.

Among wide receivers, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman all saw usage within the ranges we have been seeing. Byron Pringle, however, saw more use on special teams than he’s had all season — and was on the field for only a small percentage of offensive plays.

---

Defensive takeaways

---

As usual, safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen played every defensive snap — and Bashaud Breeland and Charvarius Ward were right behind them.

L’Jarius Sneed saw more use on both defense and special teams than he’s seen since Breeland missed the season’s opening games with a suspension. Rashad Fenton’s use continued to ping-pong, while Juan Thornhill’s declined only a bit — and on Sunday, Thornhill played almost exclusively on passing downs.

Cornerback Deandre Baker — elevated from the practice squad for this game — played only on special teams, where he was used on 21% of the plays.

At linebacker, there was little change from the Week 14 game against Miami. With Damien Wilson out, Ben Neimann again got most of the extra snaps, while Rookie Willie Gay Jr. was on the field for just 23% of the plays.

At defensive end, Frank Clark’s use remained within the normal range — as did Michael Danna and Tanoh Kpassagnon — while Alex Okafor’s use continued to rise steadily. He had a greater percentage of snaps than he’s seen all season.

On the defensive interior, Chris Jones remained the linchpin, while the use of run-stoppers Derrick Nnadi and Mike Pennel (and rookie pass-rusher Tershawn Wharton) continued to vary on a game-by-game basis.

---

Data

---

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