KC Chiefs Week 14 Snap Counts vs. Bills: Next Man Up

Taking a closer look at how Kansas City divvied up its snaps in a Week 14 loss to the Bills.

The Kansas City Chiefs' Week 14 slate is in the books, with Andy Reid's club dropping its second game in a row.

For the third time in four weeks, Kansas City had a chance to defeat a potential playoff opponent but suffered a narrow defeat instead. It's been a rough last month-plus for the Chiefs, who now sit at 8-5 and need some serious help to secure the AFC's No. 1 seed come playoff time. The division is now a point of emphasis as well, especially considering that the new-and-improved Denver Broncos are just one game back in the win column with four to play.

Reid's group is showing some signs of improvement on the offensive side, yet it's still making the same crushing mistakes it has for months. On the opposite side of the ball, Steve Spagnuolo's defense remains potent but can't carry the team against more talented clubs. The Chiefs also came into Sunday's loss to the Buffalo Bills banged up, leading to a reliance on depth and inexperience to help lead the way. 

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.

Rashee Rice reaches a rare mark 

As far back as the Chiefs' bye week, many have been clamoring for rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice to receive as many reps as possible. He's the club's most productive wideout on the year, of course, so it only made sense to continue fielding him as often as the coaching staff could do so. For the first time this year, Sunday's game saw Rice finally lead the receiver room by a very healthy margin.

Rice logged a career-high 56 snaps in Week 14's loss, good for 85% of those available. Prior to Sunday, his previous best marks were 46 snaps and 69% participation (that was in Week 13). In Rice's last three games, he's been targeted a combined 29 times and hauled in 23 passes for 243 yards and a pair of scores. Elsewhere for Kansas City, Justin Watson was the clear No. 2 wideout with 36 snaps played. Behind him, the trio of Kadarius Toney (29), Skyy Moore (23) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (22) got over 20 reps. Richie James (11) saw a slight uptick. Of that group, Toney getting more reps and Valdes-Scantling getting much less is something to monitor.

An even balance without Isiah Pacheco available

Despite not playing on Sunday, Isiah Pacheco still finds himself within striking distance of a top-five ranking in rushing yards this season. Had he accounted for just 28 yards on the ground in Week 14, he'd have passed Travis Etienne and taken claim to that fifth spot. The second-year running back was coming off one of the best games of his young career in Week 13, recording 110 rushing yards and a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers. With him out of the lineup for this outing, though, Kansas City got back to the basics and executed a near-perfect split between his backups.

The Chiefs' two primary running backs on Sunday, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon, logged respective snap totals of 32 and 30. Edwards-Helaire got more involved (13 total touches) in the box score, although McKinnon scored a touchdown and was also a trusted pass-protecting option as many anticipated. In his return from a two-game absence due to a nagging groin injury, McKinnon played more snaps than he had in any other game all season. With the final stretch of the 2023-24 campaign now here, that seems noteworthy. Both halfbacks proved to be valuable against a tough opponent.

The Chiefs trust Mike Edwards and, to a degree, Chamarri Conner

Kansas City placed second-year safety Bryan Cook on the injured reserve list over the weekend due to an ankle injury, prompting many to ponder what Steve Spagnuolo's adjusted rotations would be in the secondary. An increase in workload for Mike Edwards seemed natural, along with a possible small bump for rookie Chamarri Conner. The Chiefs took that and ran with it in Week 14, leaning on both players to perform at a high level.

Edwards played all but two defensive snaps on Sunday, which was far and away his highest clip of the season. Conner set a new career-high mark with 41 reps on defense — good for 53% of those available — while also logging another 21 snaps on special teams. Justin Reid missed a handful of snaps due to injury which added some snaps to Conner's plate, but that doesn't explain the whole pattern. This marks five games in a row that Conner was on the field for double-digit plays on defense. In addition to having complete trust in Edwards to get the job done, Spagnuolo and company are showing that they have decent faith in their rookie, too. 

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