KC Chiefs Week 8 Snap Counts vs. Denver Broncos: Changes on the Horizon?
After an ugly showing against the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs will be looking to bounce back on Sunday versus the Miami Dolphins. Taking one last look at Week 8, though, could provide some context for the rest of the season.
In hostile territory, Kansas City struggled to play clean football with a feisty opponent on the other side of the field. Turning the ball over five times and looking out of sync offensively all outing, it was a rough afternoon for Andy Reid's team overall. The defense put together an effort that would've been good enough for a win in most instances, albeit not with such a dreadful performance from the rest of the squad.
Now that snap counts have been released, what jumped off the page? Let's take a look at three notable takeaways from another week of Chiefs football.
A sign of things to come at wide receiver?
Just like every other week this season, the Chiefs' wide receiver room is the popular subject of discussion. Sunday was another low point for the group, as the Broncos did a good job containing Travis Kelce and no one else could elevate their play to help quarterback Patrick Mahomes sustain drives. Turnovers didn't help, with Marquez Valdes-Scantling fumbling the ball on offense and Mecole Hardman muffing a punt on special teams. The workload splits from Week 8 are consistent with season-long involvement for some players, but they also could serve as foreshadowing for others.
Rookie Rashee Rice led all Chiefs wideouts with 37 snaps on Sunday, good for a career-high 61% of available reps. This is something folks have been clamoring for as of late. Behind him, the duo of Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore remained on the field over half the time; Reid will have a difficult time peeling their snaps back too much. Veteran Justin Watson logged 22 snaps in his return and should play more moving forward once he's off a pitch count of sorts.
Outside of Rice's snap count, the noteworthy wideout story is once again the dynamic between Hardman and Kadarius Toney. Hardman's reps doubled (11 to 22) from Week 7 to Week 8, and Toney has now played a combined 25 snaps in the last two weeks after having 30 the game prior. As Kansas City continues to tweak its rotations at receiver, it's becoming clear that Rice is favored at the top and Toney is merely a specialty player near the bottom.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire is virtually phased out of the offense
Everyone knew that Isiah Pacheco was going to be the Chiefs' go-to running back once again entering this season, but a decent role for Clyde Edwards-Helaire was expected to still be there. With 31-year-old Jerick McKinnon continuing to play a steady 18-25 snaps on offense every week, though, that's left the former first-round pick as the odd man out in a contract year. Against the Broncos, Edwards-Helaire was a minimal part of the offensive attack.
Recording one carry for the second time all season, Edwards-Helaire logged a season-low two offensive snaps. That came after involvement splits of six, nine, nine and seven in his previous four games. There would be wiggle room for a path to more work if he were in McKinnon's shoes (a player the team likes to ramp up in time for the postseason) but given Edwards-Helaire's circumstances, it's getting harder to see him ever being anything more than an end-of-roster depth piece after he got a bit of run earlier in the season. Barring an injury to someone ahead of him, this could be the new and unfortunate normal for the fourth-year halfback.
Leo Chenal's rise and something to watch in the secondary
With Nick Bolton on the shelf after dislocating his wrist and undergoing surgery, there were suddenly quite a few available linebacker snaps to divvy up for the Chiefs. Drue Tranquill assumed the starting role and took a lot of them, but one player benefitted a ton from more work on Sunday: Leo Chenal. The sophomore linebacker played 49 snaps in Week 8, easily a career-high mark for him. He made the most of them, recording 10 tackles (two for loss) and a sack. Part of his high usage rate was due to the Broncos' offensive scheme playing into it, but he also earned more reps by default because of the injury and did mostly well with them.
At the safety position, Justin Reid has been the clear-cut top option for the Chiefs in 2023. Behind him, second-year man Bryan Cook was given a starting role out of the gate and has kept it all year long. On Sunday, however, the 2022 second-round pick played a season-low 40 snaps (56%). Offseason free agent pickup Mike Edwards, on the other hand, logged a season-high 48 (68%). Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo recently admitted that Edwards was probably deserving of more snaps, which is exactly what he got in Denver. That's something to keep an eye on moving forward.
