Chiefs-Steelers snap counts: How the Chiefs coated for Chris Jones’ absence

In Week 17, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs recorded a 29-10 highway victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers to clinch the AFC’s No. 1 postseason seed.

Let’s contemplate how Kansas Metropolis used its gamers because it set a brand new franchise document for regular-season wins.

Starters (offensive): WR Marquise Brown, TE Travis Kelce, LT Joe Thuney, LG Mike Caliendo, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Jawaan Taylor, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR Xavier Worthy, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Isiah Pacheco.

Starters (defensive): DT Tershawn Wharton, DT Mike Pennel, DE Michael Danna, LB Leo Chenal, LB Nick Bolton, LB Drue Tranquill, CB Trent McDuffie, CB Joshua Williams, CB Christian Roland-Wallace, S Bryan Prepare dinner and S Justin Reid.

Didn’t play: QB Carson Wentz.

Inactive: DB Chamarri Conner, LB Joshua Uche, OL C.J. Hanson, T D.J. Humphries, OT Ethan Driskell, DE Malik Herring and DT Chris Jones.

The massive takeaway

In Wednesday’s matchup, defensive sort out Chris Jones was on the sideline with a calf harm.

As we see right here, Jones persistently performs at the very least 70% of the snaps — sometimes greater than 80%. Nobody else on the defensive position will get almost as a lot work. Due to this fact, going into the sport, one of many greatest questions was how the Chiefs would exchange Jones if he didn’t play.

Right here’s the quick reply: by virtually doubling the latest use of defensive sort out Tershawn Wharton. Like Jones, Wharton is usually used extra typically on passing performs — so on that foundation, it’s not terribly stunning.

Nonetheless, it will have been affordable to foretell that defensive finish Charles Omenihu would have seen a pointy enhance in use in Jones’ absence — however as proven right here, that isn’t what occurred. Whereas it did enhance over earlier video games, it appears to be like extra like Kansas Metropolis was merely persevering with to ramp him as much as his 2023 use: between 50-70% of the defensive snaps.

In his first sport enjoying for the Chiefs, defensive sort out Marlon Tuipulotu was in for 18% of the snaps.

We additionally see one thing attention-grabbing with defensive ends George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah.

On Christmas, Karlaftis’ use dropped under his regular vary of use, whereas Anudike-Uzomah’s jumped upwards. Was this in response to Jones lacking time? That appears seemingly.

In any other case, defensive linemen Michael Danna (52%), Derrick Nnadi (25%) and Mike Pennel (16%) have been all of their regular ranges of use.

Offensive takeaways

For under the third time this season — and the primary time because the Chiefs’ Week 11 highway loss to the Buffalo Payments — the offense (45%) was on the sector for fewer snaps than the protection (55%). The offense’s cross/run ratio of 64/36 was proper within the crew’s regular vary.
Left guard Joe Thuney continued to play at left sort out, whereas reserve offensive lineman Mike Caliendo once more took his place at left guard. They — together with middle Creed Humphrey, proper sort out Trey Smith and left sort out Jawaan Taylor — performed each offensive snap. Wanya Morris (2%) was in for one.
Tight finish Travis Kelce (88%) was in his regular vary, whereas his No. 2 Noah Grey (42%) was considerably under his regular use. A part of this was as a result of Peyton Hendershot (5%) was again from the Reserve/Injured checklist, however the crew additionally averaged 1.36 tight ends for each play, which was the season’s lowest determine.
It appears this was as a result of the crew may lastly shift its emphasis towards the wideouts. Kansas Metropolis averaged 2.63 huge receivers for every play — the season’s highest determine. Xavier Worthy (88%) led the group, adopted by JuJu Smith-Schuster (53%), DeAndre Hopkins (44%), Marquise Brown (42%) and Justin Watson (34%). (That was a season-high for Brown — and a season-low for Watson). Nikko Remigio (2%) had one offensive snap.
Whereas working again Isiah Pacheco (34%) began the sport, Kareem Hunt (49%) had considerably extra snaps. Samaje Perine (17%) continued for use principally within the passing sport.

Defensive takeaways

Whereas gamers like cornerback Trent McDuffie (85%) and security Justin Reid (84%) are sometimes on the sector for the entire defensive snaps, each received a while off within the fourth quarter. This allowed gamers like cornerback Keith Taylor (32%) and observe squad security Deon Bush (14%) to get extra snaps.
Security Jaden Hicks (70%) and cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace (67% — virtually all of it within the slot) each had their highest use charges of the season. Cornerbacks Joshua Williams (55%) and Nazeeh Johnson (47%) each performed virtually all of their snaps on the skin.
Linebacker Nick Bolton (78%) additionally received a while off within the Steelers’s closing drive, permitting reserve Cam Jones (8%) and observe squad participant Swayze Bozeman (10%) to get some work on protection. Drue Tranquill (73%) and Leo Chenal (40%) have been each of their regular ranges of use.

Knowledge

Offense

Offense All Cross Run

Complete 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Mike Caliendo 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Creed Humphrey 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Patrick Mahomes 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Trey Smith 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Jawaan Taylor 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Joe Thuney 59(100%) 38(100%) 21(100%)

Travis Kelce 52(88%) 34(89%) 18(86%)

Xavier Worthy 52(88%) 34(89%) 18(86%)

JuJu Smith-Schuster 31(53%) 20(53%) 11(52%)

Kareem Hunt 29(49%) 17(45%) 12(57%)

DeAndre Hopkins 26(44%) 18(47%) 8(38%)

Marquise Brown 25(42%) 19(50%) 6(29%)

Noah Grey 25(42%) 16(42%) 9(43%)

Isiah Pacheco 20(34%) 13(34%) 7(33%)

Justin Watson 20(34%) 10(26%) 10(48%)

Samaje Perine 10(17%) 8(21%) 2(10%)

Peyton Hendershot 3(5%) 1(3%) 2(10%)

Wanya Morris 1(2%) 0(0%) 1(5%)

Nikko Remigio 1(2%) 0(0%) 1(5%)

Protection

Protection All Cross Run

Complete 73(100%) 42(100%) 31(100%)

Tershawn Wharton 69(95%) 40(95%) 29(94%)

Trent McDuffie 62(85%) 37(88%) 25(81%)

Justin Reid 61(84%) 35(83%) 26(84%)

Nick Bolton 57(78%) 34(81%) 23(74%)

Bryan Prepare dinner 53(73%) 31(74%) 22(71%)

Drue Tranquill 53(73%) 30(71%) 23(74%)

Jaden Hicks 51(70%) 30(71%) 21(68%)

George Karlaftis 49(67%) 31(74%) 18(58%)

Christian Roland-Wallace 49(67%) 28(67%) 21(68%)

Charles Omenihu 48(66%) 28(67%) 20(65%)

Joshua Williams 40(55%) 25(60%) 15(48%)

Michael Danna 38(52%) 25(60%) 13(42%)

Nazeeh Johnson 34(47%) 20(48%) 14(45%)

Leo Chenal 29(40%) 15(36%) 14(45%)

Keith Taylor 23(32%) 13(31%) 10(32%)

Felix Anudike-Uzomah 21(29%) 10(24%) 11(35%)

Derrick Nnadi 18(25%) 9(21%) 9(29%)

Marlon Tuipulotu 13(18%) 5(12%) 8(26%)

Mike Pennel 12(16%) 6(14%) 6(19%)

Deon Bush 10(14%) 5(12%) 5(16%)

Swayze Bozeman 7(10%) 3(7%) 4(13%)

Cam Jones 6(8%) 2(5%) 4(13%)

Particular Groups

Particular Groups Snaps

Complete 25(100%)

Leo Chenal 21(84%)

Cam Jones 18(72%)

Swayze Bozeman 18(72%)

Nazeeh Johnson 17(68%)

Deon Bush 15(60%)

Peyton Hendershot 13(52%)

Christian Roland-Wallace 13(52%)

Carson Steele 13(52%)

Bryan Prepare dinner 12(48%)

Jaden Hicks 12(48%)

Harrison Butker 10(40%)

Matt Araiza 9(36%)

Noah Grey 9(36%)

Keith Taylor 9(36%)

James Winchester 9(36%)

Samaje Perine 8(32%)

Nikko Remigio 8(32%)

Joshua Williams 7(28%)

Justin Watson 5(20%)

Mike Caliendo 4(16%)

Creed Humphrey 4(16%)

Wanya Morris 4(16%)

Hunter Nourzad 4(16%)

Trey Smith 4(16%)

Kingsley Suamataia 4(16%)

Jawaan Taylor 4(16%)

Nick Bolton 3(12%)

Michael Danna 3(12%)

George Karlaftis 3(12%)

Derrick Nnadi 3(12%)

Tershawn Wharton 3(12%)

Mike Pennel 2(8%)

Justin Reid 2(8%)

Felix Anudike-Uzomah 1(4%)

Trent McDuffie 1(4%)

Drue Tranquill 1(4%)

All Snaps

All Snaps Off Def ST Complete

Complete 59(100%) 73(100%) 25(100%) 157(100%)

Felix Anudike-Uzomah 0(0%) 21(29%) 1(4%) 22(14%)

Matt Araiza 0(0%) 0(0%) 9(36%) 9(6%)

Nick Bolton 0(0%) 57(78%) 3(12%) 60(38%)

Marquise Brown 25(42%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 25(16%)

Harrison Butker 0(0%) 0(0%) 10(40%) 10(6%)

Mike Caliendo 59(100%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 63(40%)

Leo Chenal 0(0%) 29(40%) 21(84%) 50(32%)

Bryan Prepare dinner 0(0%) 53(73%) 12(48%) 65(41%)

Michael Danna 0(0%) 38(52%) 3(12%) 41(26%)

Noah Grey 25(42%) 0(0%) 9(36%) 34(22%)

Peyton Hendershot 3(5%) 0(0%) 13(52%) 16(10%)

Jaden Hicks 0(0%) 51(70%) 12(48%) 63(40%)

DeAndre Hopkins 26(44%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 26(17%)

Creed Humphrey 59(100%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 63(40%)

Kareem Hunt 29(49%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 29(18%)

Nazeeh Johnson 0(0%) 34(47%) 17(68%) 51(32%)

Cam Jones 0(0%) 6(8%) 18(72%) 24(15%)

George Karlaftis 0(0%) 49(67%) 3(12%) 52(33%)

Travis Kelce 52(88%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 52(33%)

Patrick Mahomes 59(100%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 59(38%)

Trent McDuffie 0(0%) 62(85%) 1(4%) 63(40%)

Wanya Morris 1(2%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 5(3%)

Derrick Nnadi 0(0%) 18(25%) 3(12%) 21(13%)

Hunter Nourzad 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 4(3%)

Charles Omenihu 0(0%) 48(66%) 0(0%) 48(31%)

Isiah Pacheco 20(34%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 20(13%)

Mike Pennel 0(0%) 12(16%) 2(8%) 14(9%)

Samaje Perine 10(17%) 0(0%) 8(32%) 18(11%)

Justin Reid 0(0%) 61(84%) 2(8%) 63(40%)

Nikko Remigio 1(2%) 0(0%) 8(32%) 9(6%)

Christian Roland-Wallace 0(0%) 49(67%) 13(52%) 62(39%)

Trey Smith 59(100%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 63(40%)

JuJu Smith-Schuster 31(53%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 31(20%)

Carson Steele 0(0%) 0(0%) 13(52%) 13(8%)

Kingsley Suamataia 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 4(3%)

Jawaan Taylor 59(100%) 0(0%) 4(16%) 63(40%)

Keith Taylor 0(0%) 23(32%) 9(36%) 32(20%)

Joe Thuney 59(100%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 59(38%)

Drue Tranquill 0(0%) 53(73%) 1(4%) 54(34%)

Marlon Tuipulotu 0(0%) 13(18%) 0(0%) 13(8%)

Justin Watson 20(34%) 0(0%) 5(20%) 25(16%)

Tershawn Wharton 0(0%) 69(95%) 3(12%) 72(46%)

Joshua Williams 0(0%) 40(55%) 7(28%) 47(30%)

James Winchester 0(0%) 0(0%) 9(36%) 9(6%)

Xavier Worthy 52(88%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 52(33%)

Swayze Bozeman 0(0%) 7(10%) 18(72%) 25(16%)

Deon Bush 0(0%) 10(14%) 15(60%) 25(16%)

Editor’s Notice: Arrowhead Pleasure obtains snap rely knowledge from the NFL’s sport stats and data system, which permits us to interrupt out snap counts by run or cross on offensive and defensive performs. As a result of GSIS knowledge ignores performs that have been nullified by penalties, whole offensive and defensive snap counts will range from different sources, which get their knowledge from NFL Gamebooks