Chiefs-Broncos snap counts: Hardman in for Hill; Gore, McKinnon split

The Kansas City Chiefs eked out a 28-24 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday, closing out their season with a 12-5 record.

Let’s take a look at how Kansas City used its players in the victory.

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Starters (offensive): WR Byron Pringle, TE Travis Kelce, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Andrew Wylie, WR Mecole Hardman, WR Josh Gordon, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Darrel Williams.

Starters (defensive): LDE Chris Jones, LDT Jarran Reed, RDE Frank Clark, LB Willie Gay Jr., LB Melvin Ingram, LB Nick Bolton, LB Anthony Hitchens, LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB L’Jarius Sneed, S Juan Thornhill and S Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne, OL Austin Blythe and OL Kyle Long.

Inactive: QB Shane Buechele, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, CB Deandre Baker and T Prince Tega Wanogho.

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Offensive takeaways

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After missing the Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals with a calf injury, Orlando Brown Jr. was back on the field on Saturday. After right tackle Lucas Niang was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list before the game, offensive lineman Andrew Wylie again stepped in to take his place; it looks like Wylie will be the guy on the right side through the postseason. Brown, Wylie, left guard Joe Thuney, center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith were all on the field for every offensive play.

At tight end, Travis Kelce, Blake Bell and Noah Gray all fell into their normal ranges of use.

Running back Darrel Williams suffered a toe injury in the first half, so his snaps were impacted accordingly. Jerick McKinnon and Derrick Gore split the load in the second half.

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill was also used sparingly after suffering a heel injury during pre-game warmups. Mecole Hardman stepped right into Hill’s role, getting about the same use Hill would normally see. That allowed Byron Pringle to get more work after his dropoff in the Bengals game. Josh Gordon’s use continued to trend back toward his earlier normal range, taking some snaps from Demarcus Robinson along the way.

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Defensive takeaways

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As usual, Tyrann Mathieu, Charvarius Ward and L’Jarius Sneed were the workhorses of the defensive unit, seeing nearly every snap. Just as he was against Cincinnati, Juan Thornhill was used more often in passing situations — while Daniel Sorensen’s use declined to its lowest point since Week 9. According to Pro Football Focus data, Sorensen lined up on the line or in the box for about two-thirds of his snaps.

After being used almost exclusively on special teams in Cincinnati, cornerback Mike Hughes was back to getting some defensive work. He and Rashad Fenton split the outside snaps across from Ward when Sneed was in the slot.

At the second level, Anthony Hitchens’ usage remained higher than we have typically seen this season. Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton continued in their normal ranges — while Ben Niemann seems to be establishing a new range of use lower than we have seen for most of the season. He remains the only linebacker to be used more often in passing situations.

Defensive lineman Chris Jones was in his normal range of use — and according to PFF, split his time pretty evenly between the inside and outside.

The rest of the defensive ends also saw usage in their normal ranges — although all three (and Jones) crept away from being used more often in running or passing situations.

We also saw some changes in emphasis along the defensive interior, where all three defensive tackles were within their normal ranges.

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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