Chiefs Snap Counts vs. Browns: Lasting Impressions

KC's snap shares from their preseason finale against Cleveland provided quality context to the roster picture.

The Kansas City Chiefs are less than two weeks away from their regular-season opener against the Detroit Lions, and a close preseason win over the Cleveland Browns sent the team off in strong fashion as the NFL's roster cutdown deadline approaches.

With training camp and the preseason now firmly in the rearview mirror, general manager Brett Veach and his staff are tasked with trimming down the team to an initial 53-man roster. A 16-man practice squad is also allowed, which gives Kansas City a bit of flexibility as it looks to keep its premier talents around. While camp and the first two preseason games undoubtedly carried the bulk of the load as far as influence and opportunities were concerned, Saturday's finale was a fitting last step. 

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.

Good morning. #Chiefs snap counts from their preseason finale against the Browns: pic.twitter.com/84FSK2CDEP

— Jordan Foote (@footenoted) August 27, 2023

1. Plenty of reps for the backup interior offensive linemen

The Chiefs' starting offensive line is set, as the quintet of Donovan Smith, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Jawaan Taylor will be the left-to-right alignment for Week 1. Veteran Nick Allegretti is a shoo-in as the highest-profile backup interior lineman, and rookie Wanya Morris projects favorably as a swing tackle. There's likely one more tackle spot to be decided between Prince Tega Wanogho and Lucas Niang, but the interior of the line has a few different candidates to make the team. On Saturday, three of them got extended looks.

Austin Reiter, Mike Caliendo and Darian Kinnard all shared the game-high mark for snaps played with 60 each, which was good for 80% of those available. Reiter, a veteran with experience on Kansas City's practice squad, is likely the first man out due to the Chiefs' security at the center position and his struggles this preseason. Caliendo, who is entering year No. 2 in the NFL as an undrafted free agent, probably falls in line next. Kinnard may be the favorite of this group because of the team's somewhat recent draft investment in him. If the Chiefs end up keeping just nine offensive linemen, it's possible that Kinnard did just enough to beat out the other two for the second reserve interior lineman spot. 

2. Legitimate chances for Matt Bushman and Deneric Prince 

Entering the preseason, the Chiefs' tight end and running back rooms appeared to be relatively open-and-shut cases in terms of sorting out the depth chart. In the former group, Travis Kelce was going to lead the way with the trio of Noah Gray, Blake Bell and Jody Fortson behind him. Matt Bushman was squarely on the outside looking in. At running back, the same unit of Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon and Clyde Edwards-Helaire was favored to be accompanied by undrafted rookie Deneric Prince. The preseason saw some things change, however, and the final outing against Cleveland saw both Bushman and Prince get extended looks while under the microscope. 

Playing 38 offensive snaps and working 20 special teams reps, Bushman hauled in just two of his five targets for 24 yards. He did score a touchdown, although he also had a drop during the game as well. Prince logged three times as many carries as the next-closest Chiefs rusher with 12, but he averaged just 3.8 yards per attempt in his 35 snaps played. Neither Bushman nor Prince managed to impress in the finale despite getting serious chances to do so, which could spell doom for their respective roster outlooks. 

3. Another hefty workload for Charles Omenihu

When the Chiefs finalize their 53-man roster, defensive end Charles Omenihu will be placed on the reserve/suspended list as he misses the first six weeks of the 2023 regular season. That didn't stop the team from finding him some work during the preseason, however, as the spring free agent signing played 21 snaps against the Arizona Cardinals and 16 versus the New Orleans Saints. In Saturday's game, the 26-year-old saw his workload spike to 30 reps (44% of available snaps). 

Working as a defensive end and an interior pass-rush specialist, Omenihu had quite easily his best game of the preseason. He generated pressure on numerous occasions and even came away with a sack, terrorizing Cleveland's offense when he was on the field. Knowing that Omenihu wasn't going to be getting any more in-game reps for well over a month, Kansas City did a good job keeping him involved to close out the preseason. Now, their hope is that Omenihu can pick up where he left off when he's eligible to return for the rest of the games that matter.

Read More: Four Takeaways From the Chiefs' 33-32 Win Over the Browns