Chiefs-Broncos snap counts: JuJu Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson lead wideouts

Last Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs held on for a 34-28 victory over the Denver Broncos.

Let’s see how the Chiefs used their players in the season’s 10th win.

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Starters (offensive): TE Travis Kelce, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Andrew Wylie, WR Justin Watson, WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, 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., LB Leo Chenal, CB L’Jarius Sneed, CB Trent McDuffie, S Juan Thornhill and S Justin Reid.

Did not play: RB Ronald Jones and QB Chad Henne.

Inactive: QB Shane Buechele, WR Kadarius Toney, DE Joshua Kaindoh, T Geron Christian, T Darian Kinnard and DE Malik Herring.

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Offensive takeaways

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On the offensive line, Orlando Brown Jr., Joe Thuney (back after missing two games), Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Andrew Wylie all played every offensive snap. Lucas Niang and Nick Allegrettio played only on special teams. After being active for two games, rookie Darian Kinnard sat this one out.

Fullback Michael Burton’s use was in a normal range — but for the first time since the game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7, he was used only on running plays.

After four weeks in which the Chiefs had emphasized running the ball a bit more often — with running plays taking up 42-46% of the total snaps — they reverted to form with a 66/34 run/pass split against Denver. Rookie running back Isiah Pacheco got the starting nod for the seventh consecutive game — but as we sometimes see, Jerick McKinnon was used more often. Also as usual: Pacheco got a higher percentage of snaps on running plays, while McKinnon’s use tended to be on passing plays.

Running back Ronald Jones was active for the third consecutive game, but did not see the field.

Among the tight ends, Travis Kelce and Noah Gray spent the second straight game being used equally often for passing and running plays — while for the first time since Week 7, Jody Fortson tended towards running snaps. As the season has progressed, Gray has made a stronger and stronger case for being used as an all-around tight end.

With JuJu Smith Shuster back to full health, the Chiefs seem to be settling into a pattern where he and Justin Watson get the most use, while Marquez Valdes-Scantling (with an emphasis on passing plays) and rookie Skyy Moore (with an emphasis on running plays) get the rest. All four have been lining up all over the field — demonstrating that Kansas City’s wideouts are expected to know everything about every play in the book.

Practice squad wideout Ihmir Smith-Marsette was elevated to the roster for the Broncos, getting just three snaps with both the offensive and special teams units.

After missing three games with a hamstring injury, Kadarius Toney might be back in the lineup for Week 15 against the Houston Texans. It will be interesting to see how that affects snap distribution among the wideouts.

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Defensive takeaways

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As usual, the starting safeties (Juan Thornhill and Justin Reid) and the starting cornerbacks (Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed) were on the field for virtually every defensive play.

As we normally see, Sneed played mostly in the slot — and when he did, another corner played on the outside. During the previous two games, that responsibility fell almost exclusively to Joshua Williams. Against Denver, he had just over half of those outside reps — while Jaylen Watson handled the rest.

Rookie safety Bryan Cook was on the field for 26% of the defensive plays, getting back into his typical range of use.

At the second level, linebacker Nick Bolton played every snap. Willie Gay Jr. was in the low side of his normal range. Veteran Darius Harris and rookie Leo Chenal picked up the slack.

Incidentally, Chenal (and fellow rookie linebacker Jack Cochrane) have become special-teams workhorses. They — along with veteran defensive backs Chris Lammons and Deon Bush, Bryan Cook and Noah Gray — are getting most of the work in Dave Toub’s units.

Just as in the previous two games, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo overloaded the line with edge rushers. The team averaged 2.30 defensive ends on every play — not far off the season-high of 2.46 against the Los Angeles Rams — and according to Pro Football Focus, defensive tackle Chris Jones was on the outside for 60% of his snaps against the Broncos.

Jones’ total use was a little on the low side of his typical range — and somewhat interestingly, was tilted toward running plays. Elsewhere on the interior, Khalen Saunders continued to get a bit more work than Derrick Nnadi — and defensive line coach Joe Cullen put new defensive tackle Brandon Williams right to work. Over the course of the season, departed tackle Taylor Stallworth was never on the field for more than 18% of the snaps — but Williams had 22% in his first outing.

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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