Chiefs-Rams snap counts: rookie defensive backs step up

On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs picked up their ninth win of the 2022 season with a 26-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

Let’s see how Kansas City used its players against the defending Super Bowl champions.

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Starters (offensive): WR Justin Watson, WR Skyy Moore, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Nick Allegretti, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Andrew Wylie, TE Noah Gray, TE Travis Kelce, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Isiah Pacheco.

Starters (defensive): DE George Karlaftis, DT Derrick Nnadi, DT Chris Jones, DE Frank Clark, LB Nick Bolton, LB Willie Gay Jr., DB Joshua Williams, CB L’Jarius Sneed, CB Trent McDuffie, S Bryan Cook and S Justin Reid.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne and T Darian Kinnard.

Inactive: QB Shane Buechele, WR Kadarius Toney, S Juan Thornhill, DE Joshua Kaindoh, OL Joe Thuney, T Geron Christian and DE Malik Herring.

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Offensive takeaways

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On Sunday — after 107 consecutive starts over more than six years (and with two different teams) — left guard Joe Thuney missed the first game of his career with an ankle injury. Nick Allegretti took his place, joining fellow offensive linemen Orlando Brown Jr., Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Andrew Wylie on 100% of the offensive snaps.

Geron Christian was inactive for the first time this season, while Darian Kinnard dressed for his first NFL game — although the rookie didn’t see the field. Lucas Niang was also active for the first time this season, getting half a dozen special-teams snaps — but none on offense.

Yes... that means that Kansas City didn’t run any plays with a sixth offensive lineman. And for the first time this season, the team didn’t run any offensive plays with fullback Michael Burton on the field. (Burton did, however, get his normal use on special teams). So for the third consecutive week, the team put a little bit higher emphasis on running the football — calling pass plays on 58% of the offensive snaps — but got extra blocking only with its tight ends.

Rookie running back Isiah Pacheco collected his fifth start of the season — but as we have seen before, tended to be used running plays. On passing plays, the team again leaned on Jerick McKinnon. Active for the first time this season, Ronald Jones got 15% of the snaps, which were evenly divided between running and passing plays.

Tight end Travis Kelce was in his normal range of use — but for the first time this season, had equivalent use on running and passing snaps. So tight end Noah Gray not only saw his highest usage of the season, but a substantial emphasis on running plays. Jody Fortson saw typical use.

While JuJu Smith-Schuster was on the sidelines in Week 11, the Chiefs leaned heavily on reserve wide receiver Justin Watson. Then against the Rams, Kansas City continued to give Watson the kind of work a starter would get — while choosing to work Smith-Schuster back into the mix gradually, reduce Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s workload a bit and find some more reps for rookie Skyy Moore. The second-round rookie saw his highest use of the season.

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Defensive takeaways

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With safety Juan Thornhill out, the Chiefs chose to name it defensive starters in a 4-2-5 alignment, naming cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie — along with safeties Bryan Cook and Justin Reid — as the starters. Interestingly, Joshua Williams was listed as a starting defensive back, rather than as a cornerback — suggesting he might be used in a variety of spots.

In practice, however, Pro Football Focus data suggests the fourth-round rookie was primarily lined up as an outside corner across from McDuffie; Sneed continued to be used primarily as the slot cornerback. Reid, McDuffie and Williams were on the field for every defensive snap — and if he hadn’t been shaken up in the second quarter, Sneed would have joined them; Jaylen Watson took Sneed’s place for five snaps before the versatile cornerback returned to the game. Meanwhile, rookie safety Bryan Cook was in for 87% of the plays — easily his highest use of the season.

There can be no doubt: Kansas City is now fully committed to its young defensive backs.

At the second level, Nick Bolton continues to be the defense’s central figure. He was again on the field for every defensive rep. Willie Gay Jr. continues to be his primary wingman. On Sunday, Gay saw more use than he’s seen since early in the season — and for the first time, tended toward passing plays instead of running plays. Darius Harris was in for five plays — all of them against the run.

With Frank Clark’s return to the lineup following his suspension, things seem to have setted down a little at defensive end: after a string of absences during the early part of the season, Clark, George Karlaftis, Michael Danna and Carlos Dunlap have settled into what look like normal ranges of use.

But on Sunday, the Chiefs averaged 2.46 defensive ends on the field for each snap — a season-high — indicating that coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is sometimes playing an additional edge rusher lined up on the inside.

Meanwhile, defensive tackle Chris Jones is continuing to sometimes line up on the outside — although according to PFF, he’s back to around one snap in three, instead of the higher proportions we were seeing while Clark (and others) were unavailable on the outside. Jones continues to be the most-used player on the defensive line.

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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